Two Down . . .

There's the legend that deaths come in threes. Yesterday, we lost Bernie Mac. Today, Isaac Hayes. That leaves one more to complete the cycle.

For many of us, Isaac Hayes makes us think of two things -- "Shaft" and South Park. "Shaft" is probably one of the coolest freakin' songs ever -- it's sexy and cool. Hayes was pretty revolutionary for his time, mixing a dance beat with cool grooves and adding his spoken word intros that predated rap by nearly a decade.

Of course, as rap grew, Isaac Hayes sort of disappeared -- until he was brought back as Chef on South Park. For years, he played the sage who served as the boys' guide to life , the one they went to when they needed advice or information. And then Hayes got pissed at Matt Stone and Trey Parker for bashing scientology and quit . . . and Chef was dead. I couldn't bear to show his grisly death here, so I went with the more "hopeful" resurrection offered at the end of the episode. Let someone else be gruesome.