"Sweet Daddy Ray"

A friend of mine passed away recently from kidney and heart complications while waiting on a kidney transplant.  Unfortunately, his kidneys and heart did not hold out while he waited for a donor kidney.  Ray Burnett was a well known blues and jazz phenomenon in the North Carolina Piedmont area and was well loved among his friends and fellow musicians.  After his death, several videos and pictures were posted of Ray playing the music he loved so much.  Ray and his fellow musicians can be seen playing the blues in memorable videos of his favorite songs.  Posts can be seen on YouTube and Facebook for those who cherished Ray and his musical talent.

Sometimes an event will take place that will cause the popularity of a video to go viral.  Unfortunately the death of a person will bring to light the talent and appreciation of someone that we sometimes take for granted or are just not aware of the presence of that talent.  This seems to be true of the passing of Ray with the outpouring of appreciation of his musical talent and humble personality.  Videos were posted on YouTube and Facebook that were not seen before and people really saw how much this man meant to so many people.

By uploading amateur videos, people are able to get the word out about something they want others to see and hear.  In this case friends of Ray wanted others to see examples of his talent and his music association with so many other talented people.  It enabled people to express their appreciation of a good friend and mourn with respect.  This was a positive way for people to relay memorable information to others and to get the word out of tributes taking place across the Piedmont which included the memorial service and musical celebration of life of this man at several musical arenas (the summitstation.com) in the area.

 Featured in the videos of Ray are other talented musicians in the Piedmont Area.  I think Ray would have been thrilled to know of his importance to so many people as a friend and musician.  Keeping his love for blues and jazz alive is something other musicians can do to keep Ray's memories with us.  Through the videos of  Ray we can see other talented musicians and we can keep up with them today and in the future.  Other musicians can keep the music alive by continuing their blues and jazz music and spreading the word through their videos through YouTube (www.youtube.com) and Facebook (www.facebook.com).  Listeners can keep up with future shows by tuning in to postings on these sites. Although there can be downsides to posting amateur videos in many situations which can lead to people being sued and compromised, I have seen nothing but positive outcomes from the videos that were posted for Ray. teresa0202000@yahoo.com