Motown Magic

A mini-collection

I’m not sure if there’s ever an excuse to put my picture next to Smokey Robinson’s, but…

Call it business license.

Man, this new lecture series is a blast. I spend a while “crate digging”, finding songs, stories, and threads that tie a theme together. Then I go and share it with audiences, and we all jam to the tunes. The photo is the intro slide to the lecture. (Last month found me next to Hendrix.)

The Motown Story is complex, and I only see it dimly. There’s brilliance, ego, tragedy, sweat, innovation, like many human stories. Yet from the ashes of a burned-out Detroit, something hovers, something lingers in the dusty grooves and grainy videos that still makes people dance–and forever will. Maybe it’s something sad, something lost, like hearing the sound of the childhood ice cream truck in today’s ordinary summer.

It’s hard to say exactly what it is. Fortunately, the music speaks for itself. Dig this mini-collection of videos I found in my travels.

The Trove

To understand a fraction of the next song, dig this playthrough of James Jamersons’ bassline first:

Tammi’s hat is everything.

Dig the elegance of these ladies, taught by Motown’s in-house finishing school of Maxine Powell.

….Man.

-Josh