Standing in the Shadows of Motown Page #3

Pig's feet are considered a Chinese

delicacy and are eaten for good luck.

The music heard here is,

"The Way You Do The Things You Do. "

Smokey Robinson and

fellow Miracle Bobby Rogers

wrote it in a similar

station wagon while on tour.

Blues singerjoe Weaver

was Benny's first cousin.

Pre-Motown, The Funk Brothers

often backed him live.

Corn liquor, aka "moonshine,"

is also called "panther's breath... "

"ruckus juice," "hillbilly pop"

and "white lightning. "

The "Hitch Hike" session was on September

16, 1962. The producer was Mickey Stevenson.

Uriel's nickname was "Possum. "

"Pistol" is sitting at

his original drum set,

still in that exact spot

at the Motown Museum.

At that time, "Funk" is lowdown, nasty

- a word not used in everyday conversation.

When the band had

an album released in '64...

Berry Gordy changed the name of the group

to Earl Van Dyke & The Soul Brothers.

Jr. Walker & The All Stars' original

"Shotgun" was recorded December 15, 1964.

While the song stemmed from

Jr. 's regular club dates...

The Funk Brothers, not The All Stars,

recorded his Motown hit.

It reached number four

on the Pop charts.

Jr. Walker played a Selmer saxophone,

but retired the original in the '80s.

His style influenced dozens

of later players like Tom Scott.

The original version's

signature intro resulted

from Eddie Willis accidentally

kicking a reverb tank.

Johnny Griffith recorded for Motown's

short-lived Workshopjazz label.

His album, "jazz," received a four-star

review from Downbeat in May 1963.

Mickey Stevenson is

surrounded by Jamerson (left),

his wife and singer Kim

Weston and jack Ashford.

"Pride And joy" features some ofjoe

Hunter's best piano playing at Motown.

The session they're discussing was

recorded midweek, September 12, 1962.

Joe had been gigging

with Hank Ballard & The Midnighters...

when he took a gamble to go with

Berry Gordy's new record venture in '58.

Joe describes himself as a "down-home

boogie woogie" piano player.

Ethel Waters first popularized "Stormy

Weather" in 1933, when

joe was a very young boy.

Lottie was originally a Lindy Hop dancer

in New York in the late "40s.

Soul singer Solomon Burke says she

was "the first naked woman I ever saw

- with a snake. "

The two versions of

"I Heard It Through The

Grapevine," inspired

by Lottie's rhythms...

were recorded four months apart

in 1967- Marvin Gaye's was cut first.

They're standing on 12th

Street, where the '67

riots began. It's now known

as Rosa Parks Boulevard.

Martha jean "The Queen" Steinberg,

a blues Dj on Wj LB...

would routinely broadcast

The Funk Brothers' jam sessions...

at the Chit Chat during

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