Charles Bradley: Magical Black Man

Separated at birth?

Charles Bradley is a magical black man, or I should say that he is one to me, and there is a very good reason why this man is my personal Bagger Vance or Ellis Boyd Redding. 

You see when Mr. Bradley really hits those notes, when he really pours out his soul in a song, he mashes up his face just like in the picture to the left, and he ends up looking like one of the California Raisins.

I first noticed this while I was at Starbucks waiting for my venti Chai Tea Latte with an extra pump when I grabbed one of those little "Pick of the Week" iTunes

cards they give out for free. That is the first time I saw Mr. Bradleys wonderfully puckered face,  and almost immediately I mentally shaved him bald, stuck a pair of over sized dress shoes on him, and slapped a bow tie around his neck. Without even giving it a second thought I turned Charles Bradley into Tiny Goodbite, lead singer of the Raisins. Beyond giving me a really good chuckle, the image manage to dig up some interesting memories from my childhood. And this folks is where the Charles to raisin transformation becomes important. 

Me thinks yes.

I didn't grow up rich, or even that well off, so most of the toys I owned were garage sale purchases. Old Transformers, random Lego sets, the occasional comic character, and of course the California Raisins. I couldn't afford to get whole sets of new toys, don't get me wrong I was lucky to even have toys, but I often had to improvise. Believe me trying to come up with a reason why Wolverine was standing face to face with a singing dancing Raisin took all of the muscle my little imagination could muster. Yet imagine I did, and with great joy as well, Wolverine even managed to get his ass kicked more than once by the piece of sentient dried fruit known as Tiny Goodbite Destroyer of Worlds. Ha ha, he could shoot fireballs. Good times.

Anyway, for being able to take me back to so many good memories of care free fun from my youth, Charles Bradley will always be my magical black man. 

Also his music is pretty damn good too.