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View Full Version : Hey Funkyone, C'mere - I got some "kwershuns" to "axe" ya about Soul Train...


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GrtGzu
10-23-2013, 06:35 PM
I KNEW we had a Soul Train expert on this board, but I couldn't remember who it was to save my life until I saw your post re: MJ's Robot dance on ST...[[I saw the J5 on this show a week and a half ago, and boy did it bring back memories - you shoulda seen me all up in the TV doing the "steps" they did - glad Mr. Gzu didn't)...

Sorry to digress...Anyway, ever since AspireTV changed the time, I've been able to watch this show when I get home from work at my regular time instead of earlier [[when i used to sneak out early)...And now I know why I can't ever remember seeing the shows that aired from the late 70's - I was in college at that time, few of us had tv's in our dorm rooms, nobody was even THINKING about watching ST - in fact the only thing we DID manage to watch on a tiny 12 inch was "Roots" when it aired...

So I'm watching these shows from the LATE 70's into the 80's, and I can't help but notice how the dancing is rather lame compared to when this show first aired back in the early 70's [[and I was all up in the tv back THEN trying to do "the steps")....It seems like there's no originality, especially when going down the ST line...It looks more like a fashion show with a LOT of "vogueing" [[you know that word Madonna used) going on....

Even some of the fashions are god-awful....Was every woman alive wearing those horrid "genie pants"? I think I was still sportin' some "earf shoes" and a tank top or two [[It got hot awful early down at OU you know)...

And what was up with DC's seemingly demeanor when interviewing guests? I was watching him with Rick James the other day, and while I could understand him not letting RJ chew up air time with nonsensical nonsense [[can't believe I just said that), he just seemed to come off a little gruff...And it wasn't the only time I saw him behave like this...

Watching today was rather interesting - especially when he interviewed the Sugar Hill Gang - I couldn't help but think about what's happened to that label to this day - especially when they talked about Sylvia....

And that asian/hispanic girl with all the hair that was supposedly the "popular one"? I don't get the attraction - I ain't never seen her do the "hop-n-gator" like WE used to do....Did these dancers walk out of a modeling agency or some other talent joint? Few seem "genuine" like they were back when this show first got started....And the "glove" theme? Where'd that come from? [[was MJ doing this that early? I can't remember) Others didn't bother to dress like they came to dance at all....They looked like they were going to the corner store....

Yet I still keep watching....But it's just not like it used to be...Maybe it's just me cuz I've gotten older....But sheesh, you'd think you'd still see SOMEBODY at least doing the "4 corners" [[pretty much all I can handle these days really) with a "new twist", or something other than just merely "playing for the cameras"....

Can you help me to understand this? You're the only one I can trust...

marv2
10-23-2013, 07:18 PM
"kwershuns"? I love it! LOL!!!!!

nosey
10-24-2013, 11:08 AM
Great kwershuns! Also, I was just talking about that "axe" thing the other day with a friend. Had to use pain compliance back in the day to make my children stop saying axe and to say ask. I used to karate chop them. [[It wasn't child abuse y'all.) They thank me today for making them speak standard English at least at home and around company and it has taken them far.

Now back to the kwershuns.

marybrewster
10-24-2013, 01:34 PM
And that asian/hispanic girl with all the hair that was supposedly the "popular one"? I don't get the attraction - I ain't never seen her do the "hop-n-gator" like WE used to do....Did these dancers walk out of a modeling agency or some other talent joint?

That "Asian with all the hair" has a name. It's Cheryl Song. Cheryl broke down RACIAL barriers by becoming the show's FIRST regular Asain dancer. Cheryl did not "walk out of a modeling agency", in fact, while attending Dorsey High School in Los Angeles [[a predominantly black high school) she became friends with Jeffrey Daniels and Jody Watley, and she was brought onto the show as a DARE. Unfortunately, initally, a lot of the dancers did not like the idea that a non-black person was dancing on the show, however over FOURTEEN SEASONS she became close to MANY of her "co-workers" INCLUDING Don Cornelius. Clearly there was SOME "attraction" to her: Rick James cast her in his "Superfreak" video and MICHAEL JACKSON cast her in his "Thriller" video. I could go on.....

So while I don't know what the "hop-n-gator" is, I do know that Cheryl Song is a Soul Train LEGEND and ICON.

GrtGzu
10-24-2013, 02:46 PM
That "Asian with all the hair" has a name. It's Cheryl Song. Cheryl broke down RACIAL barriers by becoming the show's FIRST regular Asain dancer. Cheryl did not "walk out of a modeling agency", in fact, while attending Dorsey High School in Los Angeles [[a predominantly black high school) she became friends with Jeffrey Daniels and Jody Watley, and she was brought onto the show as a DARE. Unfortunately, initally, a lot of the dancers did not like the idea that a non-black person was dancing on the show, however over FOURTEEN SEASONS she became close to MANY of her "co-workers" INCLUDING Don Cornelius. Clearly there was SOME "attraction" to her: Rick James cast her in his "Superfreak" video and MICHAEL JACKSON cast her in his "Thriller" video. I could go on.....

So while I don't know what the "hop-n-gator" is, I do know that Cheryl Song is a Soul Train LEGEND and ICON.[/QUOTE]

Welp - what you say is probably true, but I'm still sticking to my opinion..You have yours..She didn't really do anything for me like Damita and those guys did back in the day...I don't care about her being in videos and such - I was speaking on the ST show....And if you don't know what the hop-n-gator is, then you haven't been watching this show from the very beginning...

blueskies
10-24-2013, 04:10 PM
http://soultrain.com/2011/07/27/diary-of-an-ex-soul-train-dancer-qa-with-the-unforgettable-cheryl-song/

splanky
10-25-2013, 06:51 AM
Thanks for posting that link to the Cheryl Song interview. I enjoyed it. I remember her from the show but never knew anything about her.
As far as the axe/ask thing I always thought is was funny that though a large number of different ethnic groups including asians, Jamaican, Germans, Polish and even white deep
south folk have trouble pronouning American English words as concisely as written in our
dictionaries only African Americans are taken to task for it, both from within and without...
why is that?...