Celebrating 63 years of keeping the Supremes Legacy, alive, and 52 solo, Miss Ross starts 2024 with a bang!
https://www.aol.com/diana-ross-takes...0high%20enough.
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Celebrating 63 years of keeping the Supremes Legacy, alive, and 52 solo, Miss Ross starts 2024 with a bang!
https://www.aol.com/diana-ross-takes...0high%20enough.
Keeping the Supremes legacy alive? That's a joke, right?Quote:
Originally Posted by TheMotownManiac
Nice review; thanks for posting
Looks like a jam packed show with a few more hits included than usual TMITM and Reach Out and Touch, Come See About Me; wonder if it was Home or Just Ease On Down The Road
Quote:
Originally Posted by floyjoy678
no, it wasn’t intended to be. What are you thinking?
Feels like that setlist has been going for 63 years too....
To the fans most certainly lol.Quote:
Originally Posted by Levi Stubbs Tears
My apologies if that wasn't the intention but yes it gave me a big laugh when I read that.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheMotownManiac
I thought the same thing FJ.Quote:
Originally Posted by floyjoy678
It’s now very clear that post 2000, Diana Ross washed her hands of Mary in particular but also the Supremes - she left whatever there was of the Supremes to Mary and the FLOS.
She sings about 6 or 7 Supremes songs a concert and acknowledges them but post 2000, she was never going down the reunion road again.
Randy said by 1989, Mary had lost Diana forever; I don’t think he had that completely right. I would peg the year at 2001. But maybe he knew something the fans didn’t.
It’s so clear that the public loves the shows and she’ll never stop singing the hits and that party pleaser, I Will Survive.
But I can’t see her being out there 5 years from now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by floyjoy678
I don’t get it. What’s funny? She singing supreme songs to large audiences around the world. She talks about them. She shows pictures of them during the show… What more could she do?
Exactly. That’s keeping their legacy alive. I don’t get why that’s funny either.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheMotownManiac
It’s just another one of those fan issues the subtleties of which no one else cares about.Quote:
Originally Posted by vgalindo
I believe it revolves around Diana absenting herself from many Supremes events in favor of Mary and washing her hands of Mary over the last 20 years.
Lots of bandmates do it
About midway through the show, Ross brought out her eldest daughter, Rhonda Ross, a singer-songwriter who travels with the star on tour. They did a sweet duet on “Count On Me,” a song Rhonda wrote for her mom.
good gawd is Rhonda still trying to make her mom learn that song ....:p:rolleyes:
Mama Ross let her daughter take the spotlight during a costume change. She performed four songs — examples of what she calls “motivational music.” Rhonda Ross had plenty of brio on the stage, but it was a tough spot to be in, following some of the best pop classics ever written with coffeehouse poetry.
in the middle of the concert ???? Bad move!!
After the third one, I'd have been outta there!!:p
Oh Boogie, you would have stayed - you would have just cringed and complained to whoever was sitting beside you - but then she’d come back to sing Don’t Explain and all would be forgiven. No??Quote:
Originally Posted by Boogiedown
Rhonda clearly had a huge influence on the last album lol.Quote:
Originally Posted by Boogiedown
I would imagine it far easier to bang on about beautiful love when you’re a millionaire, without the complications of trying to support a family on minimum wage.
No matter what, some will find fault.
It's her show, she can do whatever..
I do think I'd like to hear more of the rare songs she doesn't do much anymore.
It's my turn.
Home
So for this little mini tour she's been doing this last week or so, has Rhonda performed 4 songs in the middle of the show like she did in the show that was reviewed as per the review link in the original post on this thread?
If so, I guess that may be another indicator that Diana Ross is slowing down as she needs to break in the middle of the show to rest. So rather than having an intermission and risking some of the audience into thinking they are being cheated with a short short and departing, Diana Ross takes an intermission to rest and hands the show off to Rhonda for a few songs of coffeehouse poetry.
I know when I saw Rhonda open for her mom in 2022 at Radio City Music hall, her original songs were preachy but she did throw in a cover of "Somewhere" from West Side Story. That's a message song as well but it can't be considered "coffeehouse poetry". Perhaps Rhonda should throw in another cover song that her mom's audience is likely to know rather than doing her preachy material.
Certainly when I saw Rhonda open for her mom at Hollywood bowl 10-12 years back, while respecting her singing and performing abilities, I found her material and on stage patter to be very preachy and annoying and why is this girl who was born into great comfort and lived such a life being so heavy handed with the preachiness. Sure everyone has problems but she needs to bring a lighter touch to conveying the message and being heavy handed makes her come off as faux inspirational, not inspirational.
However though she wrote a song for the Thank You album, I don't think Rhonda was a huge influence on the Thank You album. For decades Diana Ross has pushed this new agey, positive, est influenced preachiness on her own. The Prophet sequence at Central Park? Secrets of a Sparrow? Naming the notorious RTL tour after a book by Marianne Williamson [[yes the same New Agey type running for President)? More likely Rhonda has been influenced by her mother with this than the other way around.
Well one of the few good things to come out of Return to Love was that Diana returned to performing Supremes songs in full with those excellent arrangements that were true to the original songs that were performed on that tour. Until RTL, the Supremes were relegated to a cheesey hurriedly performed medley that was done seemingly out of obligation. So from 1970 until 2000 she didn't do much musically to keep the Supremes legacy alive. The vapid, new agey and self absorbed Secrets of a Sparrow didn't do much to promote the Supremes legacy either.Quote:
Originally Posted by vgalindo
Since RTL she does do a few Supremes songs in full rather than in medley format, and sometimes she will show pictures and video footage of the Supremes on a screen backdrop when she feels using a bit of technology for her show. So on that level, she's doing more than she did 30 years ago.
And while it's understandable given the friction between Mary and Diana why Diana never showed up at events honoring the Supremes while Mary was alive, Diana skipping that Grammy Hall of Fame ceremony for the Supremes last year was not good. She didn't even send one of her children to accept. And only posted about it a couple of months later on her social media. Things like that make me wonder if she's ashamed of the Supremes? Or maybe she's ashamed of how she behaved during that time period so doesn't care to look back on that era too often?
Finally, jobetrob stated that Diana washed her hands of Mary. But according to bradsupremes recently on a discussion about Mary's Supreme Glamour book that came out in 2019, Mary and Diana were emailing each other so there was apparently some sort of communication going on between them in the last years of Mary's life. That being said, Diana's public comments on her social media right after Mary died were not exactly warm, fuzzy and misty eyed. However last summer on her tour she did perform Missing You and mentioned Mary and Flo as people she was missing so who knows maybe she does mourn their passing, or maybe it's just a show business gesture from her. Who knows?
A good summary of things as they stand.Quote:
Originally Posted by Spreadinglove21
You said it all there!Quote:
Originally Posted by Spreadinglove21
That's why some people listen to the blues. Lol. Diana isn't ever gonna sing the types of songs that Bettye LaVette sings. For the record, I love them both.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ollie9
‘Tis a shame she couldn’t lend just a little of bettye’s grit on occasion.Quote:
Originally Posted by carlo
I do like the “Thank You” album, but sometimes have a yen to go out and kick someone in the shins after playing it lol.
Just found out .
Going to see Diana Ross may 12
YES
At least Diana Ross in her live shows does a Billie Holliday song or two. And the lyrical content of most of the Supremes songs she does isn't all happy-dappy positivity. What Rhonda just needs to do a song or two in her set that isn't preachy and/or tone down the preachy stage patter and her act would be better for it. Sometimes less is more.
Why wouldn’t she wash her hands of Mary? She has every reason to want nothing to do with her. Mary has meant nothing but trouble and misery to her for decades and avoiding her was the smartest thing she could possibly do. I’m not getting into whose fault anything was, I don’t think it matters. if Diana wanted nothing to do with mary, that doesn’t necessarily mean she wanted nothing to do with The Supremes. mary wilson was not the Supremes. She was the one that held on the longest. She did her best to keep the group in the public eye, while keeping herself in the public eye at the same time. The gown, collection, and other things she did were wonderful, but nothing she did seem to make Miss Ross want to be with her in any way, shape or form evidently. I respect her decision immensely. I saw firsthand the behavior at the Motown musical opening. I fully believe Mary was looking for trouble Barging on stage uninvited and making a line all across the stage right for Miss Ross with her hand raised. She kissed her fingers and put the kiss on Miss Ross’s cheek. It didn’t look like that she was going to do. 30 seconds later Mary was standing in front of Miss Ross and had to be rescued by Berry. But it doesn’t matter. as the most famous, the focal point, the voice of every iconic hit and by far the most important supreme to the general public, her decision to keep her distance should be respected, and not interpreted as a diss to the Supremes. In my humble opinion.Quote:
Originally Posted by jobeterob
it would be a perfect time for a pitstop, nab, a Manhattan And buy a box of dots.Quote:
Originally Posted by jobeterob
the last time I saw Diane alive she did six supreme songs in full. She has a 60 year career to draw from, any number of supreme songs is understandable. Her very first solo act included the usual hits medley from the 60s plus reflections, the happening, and someday will be together.Quote:
Originally Posted by Spreadinglove21
I have never bought into the baloney. Mary was riding in supreme Faith about diana and Berry. Trying to erase the fact The Supremes ever existed. Her TV specials in 77, 81, and Central Park all featured a sizable chunk of Supremes music. She certainly could’ve done more, and I wish she would’ve done more, but her popularity grew and grew throughout the 70s and she continued to sell out areas in the 80s so she was giving the public what they wanted. Touch me in the morning was out for quite a while love hangover was out for quite a while, I’m coming out, was out for quite a while. It’s my turn, remember me, those were more relevant songs that were not in the act. For a while she was only doing One supreme song and it certainly did seem obligatory.
both mary and Rosses books did little to benefit The Supremes Legacy. If anything, Mary’s books were detrimental because now the group is associated with turmoil. Luckily that’s dying down finally.
I think if Diana really wanted to erase The Supremes from her career memory, she would just do it. She’s willful and stubborn and single-minded in many cases and I don’t think that if she felt that way, anything would keep her from acting on it.
as far as the Grammy goes, it could be that the passing of Mary does not erase the caution or reason for avoidance for the rest of her group. JD, Schwartz, Mark Bego and Turquesa, all have interesting post, Mary agendas. All that in fighting over the release of Mary’s anthology, the lawsuits and changing credits, and all that la la indicates to me, along with those missing at mary’s funeral, that it is not all peace and contentment in that camp. If that is the case, well, I know, for a fact it is the case, but if it is apparent to some that the Schwartzes and the Bego, still have nothing but disdain for Miss Ross, she may have chosen to stay away for that reason.
Even while mary was alive, there was a lot of revisionism going on in The Supremes legacy coming from their camp. The lynda laurence saga alone is proof of that. The text of The Supremes magazine…… And who knows what Turquessa says is thinking while publicly proclaiming there was never any trouble between mary and diana. as Scarlet said, after the intermission, with admiration, “what a cool liar you are, Melly.” There was an awful lot of agenda built into some of that, keeping the legacy alive, Miss Ross knows it, and might have thought, “Noooooooooooooooo, thank you.” if that’s the case, and I believe it is, I don’t blame her at all.
bottom line, diana, ross, and The Flos are still perpetuating “the legacy “such as it is. And in a more positive way, than some sometimes.
As regards the Grammys, all she had to do was send either Rhonda, Tracee or Evan to say thank you very much and goodbye. I think the Supremes legacy deserved at least that much consideration.
Regardless of any personal feelings towards the Supremes, Diana is first and foremost a business woman. She will never stop performing those songs because she understands that’s what puts backsides on seats. She’s also savvy enough to realise that despite a glittering solo career, her tenure with the Supremes is what she will always be best remembered for.
Poor Diana. Never did nothin' to nobody. Somebody always doing something to her.
And in other news, Elvis has been found on a Pacific island with Florence Ballard and Tupac. Full story at 6.:p
I wasn’t expecting a non sequitur, but I’m glad it wasn’t, “what about Hunter Biden? “I never said that she never did nothing to nobody, or implied it, in fact, I implied the opposite possibility. However, that’s not the point at all. The point is she has reason to avoid supreme events because she might not want to be mixed up with the mary milieu. Once folks get sprayed by a skunk, they don’t try to pet them anymore. I knew you’d see it, too, and yet she’s managed to avoid begging for attention and sympathy with her books and appearances. Anyway, this could be a reason to avoid attending these events without trying to diss the group.Quote:
Originally Posted by RanRan79
personally, I think that is perfectly rational, I think the fact that dozens of lesser successful artists, less accomplished, a certainly were abducted decades before The Supremes. They look like an afterthought. Her solo career award looked like an afterthought, but this was insulting. Doing the tops more than a decade before the Supremes alone, is questionable and could certainly be a logical reason to not show up or send a child. I wish she had shown up. I wish she had wanted to show up, or at least wanted to send Rhonda or Tracy. But I’m not going to presume the reason, just speculate.
I've always agreed that if being around Mary made Diana uncomfortable, she was justified in staying away. And Diana should have been livid with Mary about writing about Diana's love life- the parts that had nothing to do with the Supremes- in her book. [[Although we've since come to learn that there was more Mary could have written, but apparently didn't.)Quote:
Originally Posted by TheMotownManiac
What annoys me is that we fans sometimes treat Diana's feelings as more important than anyone else's. Mary gets flack for writing a book that some believe trashed Diana. [[I don't think Mary trashed Diana in her book, especially when I compare Mary's thoughts to a lot of what ended up in Call Her Miss Ross. Mary's recollections often made Diana look like a flawed young lady. Call Her Miss Ross made Diana look like a real witch more often than not.) But many of the same fans don't want to give Diana flack for the things she said and did, the way she sometimes treated people, that made folks like Mary write things that didn't always paint Diana in the best light. So many seem to be "mad" at Mary's feelings, but not mad at what made her feel that way.
I'm willing to bet money that Diana wanted an apology from Mary about Dreamgirl. I'm also willing to bet money that Diana never thought to apologize to Mary for anything she may have said or done in the past that made Mary feel some type a way that Mary apparently hadn't let go of. It is said that Mary approached Diana regarding Dreamgirl to get her recollections about the old days and Diana dismissed her. Perhaps if Diana had been willing to confront some of that old stuff, the issues between her and Mary might have been resolved.
Call Her Miss Ross was definitely the music equivalent of Mother Dearest like... GOOD LORD. I know Randy tried to correct it years later but yeesh... who knows what goes on in Diana's mind when she thinks of the Supremes? But years of being pegged as the bad guy in the story definitely has done some damage. And then to think of when she did the RTL tour confirmed to some people that what was said in those books were true though it later wrecked her [[years of alcoholism, rehab, etc.). It's tragic.
This right here. Tracee's an actress; couldn't she act her way through a 15 minute ceremony? Take 7 pictures and make an exit?Quote:
Originally Posted by Ollie9
You made very good points in your post, MotownManiac. This particular point that I've quoted is a very good one, and I hadn't considered this until you brought it up.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheMotownManiac
It’s easy to create a million excuses, but as an acknowledgment of the fans and a tribute for all the group accomplished it would have been the right thing to do.Quote:
Originally Posted by marybrewster
Regarding Diana’s audience being forced to see Rhonda if you want to see mamma,
Nepotism is not pretty. It is not adorable. It is not sweet, and is rarely appreciated.
And, coffeehouse poetry belongs in the coffeehouse!
What were the lawsuits about the Mary Anthology and the changing credits about?
Surely the Manager and the junk book author had nothing to do with Mary’s estate even if her passing was announced by the Manager.
Yes I can see that Ross would stay hands off if they were involved in the Grammy Award.
As I recall there was a delay in the release of the Mary Wilson anthology, but I don't recall talk of lawsuits and the like. Also release was platformed--first through Real Gone Music, then it was made generally available. I know some fans here weren't happy about this.
But I would like to know more about details of law suit and drama in Mary Wilson estate camp over release that's been alleged in this thread. Unless the person who posted this got confused.
If there was no such drama amongst Turkessa, the estate, Mark Bego, etc. then so much for that excuse for why Diana Ross didn't show up [[or send a child) to accept the award.
Perhaps her snubbing of The Supremes lifetime achievement Grammy would be less galling for some if she hadn't recently released the Thank You album--an album full of songs about gratitude, and coming together and preaching a positive message of universal love.