Ray Charles and Steve Hoffman (Question for Steve)

Hello Steve,
I saw one of the Ray Charles cds that you remastered for sale in the classifieds and I wondered what it must have been like to sit next to him and work. Then I thought to myself, "hey this is his forum, why don't I just ask him?"
So here goes. I'm not a pro at this so please excuse my ignorance.

Steve,
What was it like to sit next to Ray and do those songs? Was one album easier to do that the others? Was it nerve racking working with a legend? Did Ray have a lot of input. Did he listen to you if you had an idea about some of the songs. Did Ray sing along with the songs while you worked. Were there any songs that Ray didn't like so much. Did he try to make you work in the dark? ( )Are there any songs laying around somewhere that you wish would get released? Is there a song that you wish more work could have been done on?
Sorry if some of these questions seem naive or silly, you've got a lot of history in music and until you write a book, I hope you don't mind sharing.

 

I've heard Steve tell some cool stories in person - hope you get to hear him share.

He was VERY impressed with Ray. And Ray was impressed with his work.

Jeff

 

Check the FAQ, there's some very specific stuff there written by Steve.

 

I once heard Steve share that the only nerve racking part about working with Ray, was that he always insisted on driving to and from lunch...just kidding.

Seriously, as Jeff shared, I've been fortunate in hearing Steve share some awesome stories about working with Ray.

One of my favorites was when he and Ray, along with another person I can't recall at the moment, went into a Best Buy store. I'm hoping he'll read this thread and share some more.

 

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/archive/index.php/t-54.html

 

Did you ever see any of his appearances on the Super Dave Osbourne show?

 

I'm another lucky one whose heard tales from the horses mouth

I like the stories we can't repeat here the best

 

Speaking of Ray, for $4.99 at the Electric Fetus in Duluth, Minnesota, I picked up the 1998 CD "Ray Charles and Friends' Super Hits" which really amounts to the second CD issue of his 1984 country duets album, "Friendship."