Good-Bye to the Great site, Gray Charles.com

In a posting on the great site that has been GrayCharles.com, I left him a good-bye note. It goes like this:

Hi Gray. I've not been a regular poster but always check in. The only time you and I really made contact was right before you had to stop with the cool t-shirts. I had come across the info that sites were going to be getting hits to advise them to stop any promotional material sales with or about Hicks. I had expected this to eventually happen. I had tried to market Bo Bice tees in AI 5 and had to stop - same scenario. Anyway I had contacted you about the news; then you were indeed contacted.

You and I were the first bloggers about Hicks. When I began there was not one website on Taylor - I checked. So I fashioned my modest blog, and then found you. Loved your take and your 'voice' immediately. You were my first link outside of A.I. I used to carry a link to you on the top of my site "Visit the Great Gray Charles Site!" Right below you was the WOOO Radio site link - that was a cool site too.

I became a fan of yours immediately. I figured you could possibly be a famous writer in the music world "someplace out there" who took a shine to Taylor Hicks. Love your taste in music. I always loved the fact you did not go forum. Your site was set up much more user friendly, with an intimate feel you miss out on when there is a forum to navigate.

I will miss your internet presence - good luck to you and I know your family will welcome having you around more. I can only imagine with as famous as your site became what you had to go through in maintenance time. It was so very generous of you to have the format you did that welcomed and featured the visitors comments, that had to be a drain on bandwidth, a drain on your personal time as well. That the reason I had to keep a simple blog, but as simple as mine is it is still work to keep news fresh and keep a current chronicle going about The Soulman.

Groove on Gray Charles, whoever you truly are.

He will be missed.