Madison honors the life and legacy of Otis Redding

by A. David Dahmer Otis Redding was a singer of such commanding stature that to this day he embodies the essence of soul music in its purest form. His influence can be seen in many of today's artists. His name was synonymous with the term "soul." He was a singer and performer who even at a very early age commanded tremendous "R.E.S.P.E.C.T." On Dec. 10, 1967, Redding was scheduled to play two back-to-back shows at The Factory, a Madison live music club that we now know as Avol 's Bookstore (and formerly Canterbury Books), located on Gorham Street just off State Street. But before that could happen, the small plane carrying 26-year-old Otis Redding and his road band, the Bar-Kays, crashed into Lake Monona, ending the life of one of American music's most uniquely promising artists, a young man poised for superstardom. A large group gathered at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center Dec. 3 to remember the life and legacy of Otis. "Madison might not necessarily want this honor, but I think Otis Redding would be pleased with what is going on in Madison right now," said Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz. "We have a very vibrant local music scene. I think the greatest way to honor Otis Redding is to make great music, and we certainly do that on the shores of Lake Monona." Though the icy water took his life, his memory — like his music — remains powerful, especially for Madison's African American population. Edith Hilliard recalled being 19 years old and excited about Redding coming to The Factory, a place she often went.  "I was already at The Factory when we heard the news. We couldn't believe it really happened — someone must be mistaken," said Hilliard, who in her spare time serves as a docent at Monona Terrace. "I remember it was a cold, foggy night, and we just hung out at The Factory, crying and wondering why.  They told us to go home, but we just wanted to stay there and be together. We talked about what a great performer he was and how young he was.  Most of us had many of his recordings, so we decided to go to a friend's house and listen to his music the rest of the night."   Only one person survived that crash into Lake Monona, trumpeter Ben Cauley. When the small plane collided with the turbulent waters, Cauley had been sleeping, with his seatbelt unbuckled and his arms across the seat cushion. Cauley and his cushion were ejected through a hole in the plane's fuselage, and Cauley — grasping the cushion as a flotation device — floated on the lake until he made it to shore. As he waited to be rescued, Cauley later said, he "could hear his friends and bandmates calling out for help until — one by one —their cries stopped."  A police boat rescued him seconds before he would have succumbed to hypothermia.  Ben Cauley Cauley returned to Madison for the first time since the tragic event to pay his respects and to honor Otis. He sang his own heartfelt version of Redding's hits "Sittin' On The Dock of the Bay" and "Try a Little Tenderness," along with Sam Cooke's "You Send Me." "That morning, the day we had the crash, we woke up about 6:30 in Cleveland, and Otis told us he had just written and recorded 'Dock of the Bay,'" Cauley recalled. None of Redding's fantastic singles in his short career had fared better than #21 on the pop Top Forty until "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" was released posthumously. That landmark song, recorded just four days before Redding's death, went to #1 and stayed there for four weeks in early 1968. It marked a new direction for Redding — who was elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with Stevie Wonder and the Rolling Stones in 1989 — toward a soul-folk-pop synthesis that drew from such influences as Bob Dylan and a new breed of performers at the Monterey International Pop Festival, at which Redding had performed. Craig Inciardi, curator from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, talked about Redding's watershed performance at Monterey Pop, which took place a few months before his death. Jimi Hendrix and The Who smashed up their guitars, and Hendrix burned his, too — all of which got a big buzz from the largely White counterculture crowd. But it was the sharply dressed Redding, "the only person wearing a suit at Monterey," Inciardi joked, who stole the show. "The crowd was largely a hippie crowd," Inciardi recalled. "But Otis mesmerized everybody with his poise and his passion." Inciardi presented the memorabilia collection of Redding's widow, Zelma Redding, and read a proclamation from Zelma: "On behalf of myself, my children, and my entire family, I would like to thank you for commemorating this anniversary and for remembering my husband. This has been an extraordinary year for my family, and it has been heartwarming for us to see how many people still love Otis' music and that he still influences some of today's artists." To honor his memory, the family has launched the Big O Youth Educational Dream Foundation this year, whose mission is to carry on Redding's desire to empower young people and encourage their confidence and interest in education through music and the arts. After Inciardi spoke, the crowd moved into a lecture hall to watch a new documentary, "Dreams to Remember: The Legacy of Otis Redding." "This was a labor of love for Otis Redding's widow, who worked very hard to put it together," Inciardi said. Monona Terrace chef Gregory Davis was serving ribs, cornbread, collard greens, and potato salad behind a buffet line at the tribute. Hilliard, who gets to see the Otis Redding Memorial on the William T. Evjue Rooftop Garden all the time as a docent at Monona Terrace, was both happy and sad about the 40th anniversary tribute. "Every time I go to the Memorial, I get a lump in my throat when I tell the visitors about the great "O" and how his young life ended right here in Madison," she said. To mark the 40th anniversary of Otis Redding's plane crash, Dec. 10 will be declared "Otis Redding Day" in the city of Madison.