Word that a Scientology minister would be presiding over the tribute in a a Christian church on Monday produced angry chatter on the Internet against both groups... David Porter, with whom Mr. Hayes wrote “Soul Man” and other hits for Stax Records, when asked what he made of the two factions coming together on one stage, Mr. Porter laughed. “Each of those components,” he said, “loved Isaac Hayes.”
Over 3000 were in attendance, Bootsy Collins, wore a get-up involving wide pinstripes, a kerchief, and rhinestone-coated sunglass lenses with peepholes in the shape of stars, and the actual royalty, Princess Naa Asie Ocansey of Ghana, who wore gold and red African finery and managed to get surprisingly low to the ground when she danced.
Stories fit into two general categories. Anne Archer and Kelly Preston, both actresses and Scientologists, detailed Mr. Hayes’s humanitarian work here and in Africa, while Al Bell, a co-owner of Stax, told how he came up with the name of Mr. Hayes’s first big album, “Hot Buttered Soul,” from a magazine advertisement for hot buttered rum.
All credit to our source SHAILA DEWAN of The New York Times
who has more details of a wonderful celebration of Isaac Hayes and the lives he has touched.