the out of towner

as a life long resident of detroit, you would think i've seen and done everything there is to see and do in the city...not the case and proves 'we don't know who discovered water, but we know it wasn't the fish' to be true and that sometimes it takes an out of towner to show you what's what in your own town. visiting the motown museum, hitsville, USA was a thirsted for droplet in a friend's bucket list that was satiated just the other day. hey, did you know the hearts of detroiters pump to the beat of the motown sound? no really, it's true...we're born clapping our hands to this rhythm, * it's our musical mother's milk, we cut our noted teeth on this stuff, we can do the motown shuffle before we can walk...ok, ok, enough with the bad metaphors, get the picture? simply put, it's in our blood. detroit is motown and motown is detroit, it just is. for a $10 tour fee and an hour of my time, i was reminded of this and made proud to be a detroiter. (honestly, this is a hard feeling to come by sometimes. it's ok, i can make this declaration, i'm from these parts. but let's say the out of towner had said this, i would have had to hurt him. yes him, that friendly looking fella above from delaware.) that's the other thing we're born with, a relentless love for our turf and defenses to match. so, if you are lucky enough to have grown up in detroit and have not visited hitsville, do. if you are visiting from out of town, have your host take you but keep any negative out of towny comments to yourself, just sit in the back seat and quietly listen to the sounds of our city. singing and/or snapping of your fingers is also acceptable.

where it all happened. it also happened in the bathroom, the hallways and the attic rafters, which you will learn about if you take the tour.

barry gordy, annette mcmillan w/the velvelettes, stevie wonder

THE jackson 5

the above black and whites are from a composite photograph of the motown heavy hitters displayed in the front window of the museum, obviously...it's not 1964, these artists were not there when we were and stevie wonder's head is probably not that big.

*click, click, snap, snap, clap, clap