New Years Eve night I had the good fortune to find a rebroadcast of the February, 2011 White House Honors Motown. President Obama, cool as ever, and First Lady Michelle, looking gorgeous in all black, sat down with the Vice President, and the rest of the dignitaries to get their groove on.
Mr. Jamie Foxx, currently of D’Jango, “the D is silent”, fame served as host, and he performed the first musical tribute to the “tempting” Temptations, assisted by Seal, John Legend, and Nick Jonas. The entertainment ran the gamut of the famous Motown recording stable, featuring stars like Sheryl Crow doing a “mean ” Michael Jackson and crooning with Smokey on “You Really Got a Hold on Me”.
I’m partial to Smokey since you all know from one of my earliest posts that the first 45 I ever bought was “Shop Around” by the Miracles. That was back when a turntable was designed for 33 1/3’s and I had to insert a little yellow plastic plug into the middle of a forty-five to make it fit the record player.
Anyway, last night England’s Natasha Bedingfield did an above average representation of Smokey’s “Tracks of my Tears”. You see him sitting on the front row actively engaged in some serious head nodding. The white girls had it going on as did sisters Jordan Sparks, performing The Supremes “You Can’t Hurry Love”, and Amber Riley of Glee fame doing Sevie Wonder’s “Living For the City”.
The President’s critics have wondered publicly if their money and support of the him may have prompted Obama to choose these particular artists. Who cares? It’s been a long time since some of last night’s honorees sat up front and were recognized. They looked like they were having fun.
In this post, I want to recognize the diversity that was represented. Continue watching to see Bedingfield perform “Tracks of my Tears”.
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