For some reason Curtis Mayfield is pretty hit and miss with me, sadly a lot more misses than hits. I love a few albums that he produced but didn't perform on.

I listen to the genera and era a lot, don't know what the disconnect is.

Stare and Stare was THE GREATEST SONG EVER OF THIS WEEK a few months back. I must have listened to a few dozen times that month.

It's a damn fine song and a delicate performance by Mayfield and the band, I love love love it.

As a bartender I would often pick and album for one person in the bar. It might be a shot in the dark for a person who I didn't know but might be looking for something.

So the room is filled with a bunch of Caucasian people I know, who want to hear the latest LCD Soundsystem or what not, I'm not into self hurting so I just can't do that to myself. An older black man say in his 50's is drinking alone. I put on a classic soul album and see that he is digging it. No one else is digging anything for the most part, they just want to hear the latest War On Drugs for 1000th time, so I put on another soul platter and watch the old guy nodding along with his eyes closed looking like he is living in the tunes. The guy has two drinks, settles with me and says something along the lines of "Thank you so much for playing that good music, you really don't hear anyone play that stuff anymore." I tell him that we are glad he enjoyed himself blah blah whatever.

Week or two goes by, same guy comes in, I'm with the same bartender as last time and we are once again spinning records. What ever we were playing ends and I slap on a soul record, I think it was a Rufus Thomas record. The room starts heating up and by the time the Rufus's album ends I don't have a lot of time to crate dig for the next album. The guy I'm working with always has some Mayfield in his crate and it's the first soul record I come across so despite the fact that I'm no Mayfield fan, and I've had to listen to this damn disc every Wednesday for months, it's soul and my old guy who drinks alone will probably enjoy it, it goes on.

Little break in the action a few songs in and the old guy comes up to me.

He says "Thank you so much for playing this record. My name is Richard Mayfield, and Curtis Mayfield was my uncle. I never thought I'd hear a whole Curtis Mayfield album played in a bar again in my life." He went on to tell us a bunch of Curtis Mayfield stories, stuff like the time Stevie Wonder played the Mayfield family barbecue." Never saw the guy after that night but his credit card read "Richard Mayfield."