CENTER STAGE: Nancy Jones....Resurrection Morning

I am trying something new. This thread will be used for showcasing new talent. Got a song or band you think deserves recognition? Feel free to post it here and give us a chance to listen. Could be fun.

In 06/11/24 Detroit News:

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne...m/74055178007/

Her passing was announced today on her official Facebook page...

"ON BEHALF OF MY DEAR FRIEND ANGIE, I AM SADDENED TO ANNOUNCE HER PASSING ON THE MORNING OF JUNE 13TH. THE FUNERAL WILL BE HELD AT ST. DOMINCKS CHURCH IN VALEJO CA. ON JUNE 28TH AT 1:00pm."

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100044180243805

PBS tackles the surprising and overlooked history of disco – the preeminent popular music of the 1970s – in a three-part series, DISCO: SOUNDTRACK OF A REVOLUTION.

The docuseries captures the story of disco: its rise, its fall, and its legacy. From the basement bars of ‘70s New York City to the peak of the global charts, along with iconic tracks and remarkable footage, DISCO: SOUNDTRACK OF A REVOLUTION offers a powerful, revisionist history of the disco age. Told by the original musicians, promoters, and innovators – as well as modern-day musical icons – this series will premiere Tuesday, June 18 on PBS [[check local listings), PBS.org, and the PBS App.

Disco embodied the height of 1970s glamour: a dance floor culture born in New York City that went on to take over the world. But its success also obscured its wider significance. Inextricably bound up with the major liberation movements of the 1970s, disco speaks to some of the biggest issues of today: LGBTQ+ identity and female empowerment.

DISCO: SOUNDTRACK OF A REVOLUTION also underscores disco’s survival. Co-opted by the commercial mainstream, the genre dominated and flooded the market – the airwaves and record shops – leading to a subsequent hate-fueled backlash. As a result, the music and its ethos went back underground, where it evolved into an electronic dance sound that laid the foundations for contemporary dance culture.

Full article here
https://www.pbs.org/about/about-pbs/...-a-revolution/

I've always loved graphic design- all the elements including typeface, font, typography, logos and such. I honestly think when I started collecting Motown albums in junior high school, the interest intensified. I'd spend hours looking at the Motown album covers- the photography, typeface used for the titles and the various Motown label logos. One thing that stood out to me was how Motown seemed to keep tweaking the "MOTOWN" box logo. Not the early versions, but the one that began in 1965.

From the "Both Sides Now" site, it would seem the first album to feature the newly redesigned Motown Box logo was the eponymously-titled album, "Four Tops." But this gets tricky as Motown sometimes was withholding albums and not always releasing them sequentially. From everything I can tell, however, the Tops' LP, #622, would have come out in 1964, between the Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go" and "The Supremes A Bit Of Liverpool" albums- both of which feature the horizontal, rectangular Motown logo. But being that it came out January 21, 1965, it would seem to make it the first LP to receive the new-look Motown box logo.

This Motown box logo, though, was a rather slim box, a vertical, rectangular box. Then, in 1966, there was yet another Motown box logo introduced, this time a square box. This one was unveiled with MT/MS-654, "Four Tops Live", released November 16, 1966. Again, this is a case where Motown wasn't always releasing their albums sequentially- for example, the album, "The Supremes Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland" is MT/MS 650, which would have been immediately after "The Supremes A Go-Go", but in fact, wasn't released until the next year, 1967.

What's interesting about both of these versions of the Motown logo is that they feature the "MOTOWN" name with two horizontal bars, one above and one below the name. But then, suddenly, the horizontal bar above the "MOTOWN" was eliminated. This change happened between the "Four Tops Reach Out" album [[#660 July 17, 1967) and the "The Motown Sound A Collection Of 16 Big Hits Volume 7" [[#661 August 29, 1967) Seems like such a small change. Was it done for the sake of clarity, to make the "MOTOWN" text more easily readable? Or maybe for the sake of increased clarity when the logo was printed out in smaller formats.

None of this is really important, lol, but these are the types of things that really interest me about graphic design. [ I did this kind of quickly so some of the album covers aren't as clear as I'd like, but you can get the general idea of the changing logos) Attachment 20060Attachment 20061Attachment 20062Attachment 20062Attachment 20063Attachment 20064Attachment 20064Attachment 20065Attachment 20067Attachment 20068Attachment 20066

Info from BestClassicBands.com:

Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson has offered a brief update on his as-yet-untitled documentary focusing on the leader of Sly and the Family Stone. In a June 13, 2024, interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe to promote his new book, Hip Hop is History, Thompson, the drummer of the Roots, and the film’s director said he was about to be finish it. “When I’m done [with this interview]… I’m gonna actually finalize it. Today’s the last day… two years of working on [it].” The film has been acquired by Hulu, though a premiere date has not been announced. [Questlove’s new book is available here.] In the film’s original announcement, back in 2021, Questlove said in a statement: “It goes beyond saying that Sly’s creative legacy is in my DNA….it’s a black musician’s blueprint….to be given the honor to explore his history and legacy is beyond a dream for me.”

To continue reading the story by Best Classic Bands, click here.

[Moderator note: The original post here has been abbreviated, with a link added leading to the full article, upon request of the site where it is published. It is good 'netiquette' to please be sure to always link quotes to their sites both to give them credit and visits.]