Motown: Good Times Still Goin’ On

The Scene: “Motown 30: What’s Goin’ On!” a CBS-TV special taped Monday night at Hollywood’s Pantages Theater followed by a party at the Palace. “This is the culmination,” said Motown founder Berry Gordy. “We did ‘Motown 25,’ then ‘Motown at the Apollo.’ This show is like one last hurrah.”

Who Was There: If you counted the Jackson State University Marching Band and the Soul Children of Chicago choir, there were literally hundreds of performers, including Tracy Chapman, Natalie Cole, the Temptations, the Four Tops and Whoopi Goldberg. But the taping went so late only a handful, such as Stevie Wonder, Denzel Washington, Smokey Robinson, Patti LaBelle, Debbie Allen, Terence Trent D’Arby, Gordy and the show’s executive producer, Suzanne de Passe, joined the 800 guests at the party.

Motown Metaphorically: “Motown fertilized America for black talent to blossom,” said Keenen Ivory Wayans of “In Living Color.” “It was the first black-owned company that cross-pollinated. Black or white, you listen to Motown. No matter who you are, if you put your life on film, Motown could be the sound track.”

Motown Math: The 25th anniversary show was in 1983 and the 30th was seven years later. “Hey, we do music,” said Gordy. “We don’t count.”

Chow: Rococo had six food stations serving fajitas, pasta, barbecue chicken and ribs, and black beans and rice. It was a combination the caterer called “semi-soul.”

Fashion Statement: The evening was black-tie, and the first hand-painted Simpson family cummerbund was on hand. It was inevitable, dude.

Money Matters: Ticket sales, with prices ranging from $25 to $500, benefited the Brotherhood Crusade to the tune of $100,000. Among the Crusade’s affiliated charities are Parents of Watts, the Hillsman Drug Abuse & Alcohol Center, the Challengers Boys and Girls Club, the Minority AIDS Project and the Marcus Garvey School.

Glitches: TV tapings are a symphony of glitches. Tickets called for a 7 p.m. arrival, shooting started at 7:45 and it finally wrapped at 12:30 a.m. It went on so long one guest said, “maybe it should be a miniseries.”

Triumphs: A high energy show with an even higher energy crowd. The kind of people who get rejected from the Arsenio audience for being too hyperactive. A truly amazing audience that gave standing ovations to the Four Tops and the Temptations twice when their segments had to be re-taped, as well as one for opera diva Wilhelmenia Fernandez. It was wide-spectrum enthusiasm.