Review: Motown: Music, Money, Sex, and Power

Motown: Music, Money, Sex, and Power by Gerald Posner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After a trip to the Motown Museum this summer, and swinging by Michael Jackson's birthhome in Gary, IN, I have been reading a few books on Detroit and Motown. I cried uncontrollably in the Museum. There's something about Motown: Detroit, Gordy, Motown 25 as a watershed moment in my life, what I teach my son and want him to know, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder...so much about what's great and abysmal about the United States in the second half of the twentieth century. The author writes about MJ and quotes him: Shy and withdrawn and so soft-spoken that often people had to strain to hear him, he felt at home only when performing. “I was raised on stage,” he told one journalist. “And I am more comfortable out there that I am right now. When it comes time to go off, I don't want to. I feel like there are angels on all corners, protecting me. I could sleep on stage.” (p.237)

View all my reviews

Comments

Naomie Kremer's Ghosts

As part of the Magnes WINDOWS series , the latest installation is by Israeli-born, Berkeley-living artist Naomie Kremer . The WINDOWS series was launched to use the Magnes new facility to positive effect, namely as public art to be viewed at night: to bring more cultural content to downtown Berkeley and in the evenings when the street traffic is less -- to light up the night. Kremer's opening was this evening and we had a really nice turn out, including important local patrons of the arts, collectors etc. Here pictured are Jeff and Jane Green , Penny Cooper (one of the Bay Area's finest collections, focused primarily on women artists with her wife Rena Rosenwasser ). Here Naomie introduces her video piece on Bluebeard's Castle, by Bela Bartok .

Why Go to A Conference Anyways?

@lidja @lyndakelly61 @futureofmuseums @creativemerc @museum_flavor pLz look http://tinyurl.com/qxlja4 &here http://bit.ly/q1mhV assoc./conf. grpthink @RichardMcCoy @DanielCull very import.

Review: Macbeth

Macbeth by William Shakespeare My rating: 4 of 5 stars Four and a half stars, with one major flaw: the producers chose to do this funny little trick of overlaying Cumming's voices when he was multiple characters, namely three weird sisters when they spoke at once. The result was echo-y and distracting. Otherwise, the whole thing felt like the smartest guy in the neighborhood inviting you over to listen to him read, and you cared: knew the story and really wanted to hear how he delivered. It was intimate and rewarding. It also made me think about how it is a story of Scots and English. View all my reviews

loveitallabove

Search This Blog