Motown

Instead of the usual repertoire - emanating from Broadway, Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley - Peter Nero's next Philly Pops outing is inspired by the Motor City. Detroit's enormous Motown catalog is the theme, interpreted by the four-man vocal group Spectrum, appearing as Nero's guests. Their R&B repertoire also samples the Philly Sound, with music from the O'Jays, Delfonics and Stylistics. It'll be the first trip back to Philly in 31 years for Spectrum founder Cushney Roberts.

Throughout the shellings, blown leads and other indignations he has endured at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena, Dallas Stars goaltender Marty Turco has pacified himself with one thought: "At least it's not the playoffs. " Well, now it is. Turco will carry an 0-7-2 career record and a 3.17 goals-against average at "The Joe" into the Western Conference final against the Detroit Red Wings, which starts tomorrow night. "This is totally a different animal," Turco said. "To say I'm looking forward to this is an understatement.

Snow didn't show and Bryson barely sang, but the bill's biggest names, Phoebe and Peabo, didn't fill Glenside's Keswick Theatre Saturday night; that task fell to the Funk Brothers. Always heard and rarely seen, Motown's house band charted more than 300 hits between 1960 and 1972, but went mostly unsung until Allan Slutsky's Standing in the Shadows of Motown movie and soundtrack. Both earned honors last year and spurred next month's Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys. "We thought all of this passed us by," said Philadelphia-born percussionist Jack Ashford.

After all, the news of his death came and went last week, little noticed in the rush of other things. It's not surprising, given all that's going on in the world. But it seems to me that he deserves a little more. You know him, even if you think you don't. Charles Atkinson, born in rural Pratt City, Ala. Worked as a street performer, a singing waiter, a tap dancer. Did a stint in the Army, formed a dance team with Charles "Honi" Coles, performed on Broadway in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" with Nat King Cole.

Record mogul Andre Harrell calls it taking Motown back to its roots. The legendary record company's newly installed president and CEO is touring the country, searching for new talent in his bid to bring Motown back to the forefront of the industry. Last night Harrell greeted a few thousand fans at Gothum nightclub on Philadelphia's waterfront. The fans swarmed at his arrival, calling his name and throwing demo tapes at him. "I'm ready for a contract, Andre!" one young woman in a tight black catsuit screamed as Harrell, surrounded by burly bodyguards, whisked by. The club, along with the BET cable channel and WUSL-FM, hosted the Philadelphia semifinals for the Motown Talent Search.

The Temptations helped integrate America. When the Motown group sang "My Girl" in 1965, people of all colors responded. She was your girl, my girl, everybody's girl. This weekend, Motown will celebrate its 40th year with a blowout in Detroit. The Temps symbolize Motown more than any other artist. The Beatles and the Temps arrived on the scene about the same time. But the Beatles pushed a white sound, which drove many black artists into oblivion - a trend fueled by the English stampede that aimed to piggyback on the Beatles' success.

Things were smokin' yesterday at the Kentucky Fried Chicken at the corner of Broad and Girard. No, nobody burned the chicken. Singer Smokey Robinson was stopping by to sign autographs, and hundreds of fans were broiling on the sidewalk waiting for their man. "He's my baby," moaned Deborah Hall, 35, of North Philadelphia, the first person in a disheveled line that snaked around the corner. There were people of all ages - fans of the soul singer-songwriter, the merely curious and those innocents who emerged from the subway and found themselves in the midst of Smokey madness.

"Calling out around the world, are you ready for a brand new beat?" - Martha and the Vandellas It's been 40 years now since the "brand new beat" was born. Forty years since sharkskin suits, pomaded curls and beehive 'dos that stabbed the sky. Forty years since sweet sugar met raw rhythm and soul music was born. Forty years since a song by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles ignited a fire called Motown. Forty years. And, as is usually the case on such occasions, we find ourselves gathered here, looking for legacy.

It was a big day for Boyz II Men. The Philly group was enshrined yesterday afternoon in the Walk of Fame in front of the Doubletree Hotel on Broad Street. They were also among the honorees last night at a bash from which word of their new deal with Motown leaked out. A source, who shall remain nameless, put the five-album deal at $100 million. Baritone Nate Morris, the group's unofficial spokesman, would not talk figures. But he was pleased that they will have "a lot more creative control.

IDON'T LIVE in Detroit anymore, but it was a major bad call for the NFL to make the Rolling Stones the focus of the Super Bowl half-time show. This is the home of Motown and soul music! What about the Funk Brothers, who played for every Motown hit? Smokey Robinson? Stevie Wonder? Diana Ross? Michael Jackson? Aretha? The Temptations? Martha Reeves? Gladys Knight and those incredible Pips? The NFL had a chance to show Detroit some love, and give all the rest of us a big treat. But they blew it!

CHICAGO - Valerie Simpson says she never really used to think much about posterity. After all, there was still so much work to be done with her musical partner and husband, Nick Ashford. But then Ashford died in August at age 70 of complications from throat cancer, and Simpson, 65, came to grips with mortality, both personally and artistically. "Nick's passing made me realize that one day we'll both be absent," she said in her first major interview since her longtime partner's death.

Marv Tarplin, 70, the Motown guitarist and songwriter who shaped the sound of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and was a cowriter of "The Tracks of My Tears" and other hits, died Sept. 30 at his home in Las Vegas. The cause of death had not been determined. Mr. Tarplin had a knack for coming up with catchy riffs and melodies. He was fooling around with a calypso song he had heard Harry Belafonte sing, rearranging the chords, when he came up with the three-chord vamp that formed the backbone of the 1965 hit "The Tracks of My Tears," for which Robinson wrote some of the most poignant lines in pop music.

A cadre of musicians, including Smokey Robinson , Claudette Robinson of the Miracles , Martha Reeves and Rosalind Ashford of the Vandellas , and the Four Tops ' Duke Fakir gathered at Detroit's Bethel AME Church on Wednesday to bid farewell to Motown Historical Museum founder Esther Gordy Edwards , who died last week at 91. Stevie Wonder , 61, sang a medley of "Sweetest Someone I Know" and "Isn't She Lovely," and a...

DETROIT - Esther Gordy Edwards, who helped build Motown Records alongside her brother Berry Gordy Jr. and led efforts to turn its original Detroit headquarters into a museum, has died. She was 91. Edwards died yesterday surrounded by family and friends in Detroit, the Motown Historical Museum said in a statement. Edwards was a Motown executive for nearly three decades, holding numerous leadership positions within the music company whose artists included Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations and The Four Tops.

Esther Gordy Edwards, 91, who helped build Motown Records alongside her brother Berry Gordy Jr. and led efforts to turn its original Detroit headquarters into a museum, died Wednesday in Detroit. Mrs. Edwards was a Motown executive for nearly three decades, holding numerous leadership positions within the music company whose artists included Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, and the Four Tops. Motown Records, which Berry Gordy started with a family loan in 1959, churned out scores of global hits from the building it dubbed "Hitsville, U.S.A.

When singer Kim Weston recalls the Uptown Theater, she remembers making a stunning entrance in a beautiful skintight gown that brought the crowd to a frenzy in the early 1960s. "I started singing behind the curtain," said Weston, who had hit records on the emerging Motown label. "When they finally opened up the curtains, somebody in the audience yelled, 'Oh my God, how much for the dress?' " Weston said. "That young man and I grew to be good friends. " Weston, who in 1966 recorded the iconic hit duet "It Takes Two" with Marvin Gaye and had solo records as well, was sharing her recollections Thursday with students in a Temple University class devoted to the historic Uptown and another class focused on Motown Records.

Michael Jackson, 50, the dazzlingly talented Motown child star and pop innovator who defined the MTV era with his massively successful 1982 album Thriller, and remained a worldwide icon even as his achievements as an entertainer were overshadowed by child-molestation charges and personal eccentricities, died yesterday in Los Angeles. Mr. Jackson, the songwriter and scintillating performer who proclaimed himself the "King of Pop," and whose appearance and skin color altered dramatically over the course of more than 40 years in show business, was rushed to the hospital from his home in Los Angeles yesterday.

Michael Jackson, 50, the dazzlingly talented Motown child star and pop innovator who defined the MTV era with his massively successful 1982 album Thriller , and remained a worldwide icon even as his achievements as an entertainer were overshadowed by child-molestation charges and personal eccentricities, died yesterday in Los Angeles. Mr. Jackson, the songwriter and scintillating performer who proclaimed himself the "King of Pop," and whose appearance and skin color altered dramatically over the course of more than 40 years in show business, was rushed to the hospital from his home in Los Angeles yesterday.

Throughout the shellings, blown leads and other indignations he has endured at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena, Dallas Stars goaltender Marty Turco has pacified himself with one thought: "At least it's not the playoffs. " Well, now it is. Turco will carry an 0-7-2 career record and a 3.17 goals-against average at "The Joe" into the Western Conference final against the Detroit Red Wings, which starts tomorrow night. "This is totally a different animal," Turco said. "To say I'm looking forward to this is an understatement.

The Detroit Pistons had three days to stew over a lame playoff performance against the 76ers in Game 1 of their series. They promised to come out firing for revenge. The Pistons were true to their word. Gone were the missed shots, the standing around on offense, and the inability to hold on to a big halftime lead. The Pistons were a different team while dismantling the Sixers, 105-88, last night at the Palace of Auburn Hills. The best-of-seven series, tied at one game apiece, moves to Philadelphia for the next two games, beginning tomorrow night at the Wachovia Center.