Oh Yeah: Did you catch Mark Steyn's wonderful tribute to Ray Charles in the Atlantic? Steyn has a knack for the brief obit sketch, with a Brit's eye for the uncanny, the unknown, or the almost known. His obit for Bart Howward, the composer of "Fly Me to the Moon," was an oddly touching story of the prototype one-hit wonder. Sadly, neither of these is online at the Atlantic site, which jealously guards its best material. Anyhow, Steyn is relating the story of Ray Charles's notorious casting couch for his backup singers. "You can't be a Raelette," quipped Charles, "unless you let Ray."

Classic Ray.

By the way, you can go here and read some of Steyn's other obits to see what I mean about his style. Don't miss the farewell to Brando:

In his penultimate moment in the spotlight, [Brando] made the papers a year or two back when it emerged that he and Jack Nicholson had temporarily moved in together. “Get the buttah!” was no longer a roar of sexual liberation to a Parisian bedmate but a reminder to Jack as he headed out to the supermarket.