The best memories are the ones that make you smile every time they come to mind because they are timeless and, in some cases, classics.
As a veteran writer who has covered virtually all things entertainment (especially music), but is now in a different place, it is always fun to go through the “Recollections” files and share some of what is found there.
Even if you’ve heard some of these anecdotes before, you are sure to smile again.
SPIKE LEE was once in Detroit in conjunction with a TV show John Salley was taping here. At the media gathering he asked me, “Why do so many Arabs live in metro Detroit?”
Now how was I supposedto answer that?
Sheryl Lee Ralph, in town to promote her health and beauty video for Black women, insisted on answering questions before I was finished asking them. That was annoying and rude, and I politely told her so.
Before she left the office, she made a point of telling me that she was “a nice person” in the event that I was thinking otherwise.
The outrageous, but brutally honest, Millie Jackson informed me that because middle age had brought about certain changes in her body, there was a certain change in the bedroom as well.
“I done got to the point where I turn off the lights when I have sex!” she said, then laughed loud and hearty.
After a 2004 interview with Anita Baker, I dropped my pen which had somehow landed under a table. So I got down on all fours to pick it up. Mission accomplished.
Looking semi-amazed and smiling, she said, “You came back up really fast!” I chuckled and said, “Well, Anita, I’m not in my nineties, you know!”
YOURS TRULY is not one for using slang, but nevertheless used a slang term during a Kirk Franklin interview, and he immediately sensed the “out-of-placeness” of it.
When I asked, “Did you expect to blow up so fast?” he responded, “Did you really want to say ‘blow up’?” I said, “No, I wanted to say, ‘Did you expect to become so big so fast?’”
I must admit, I was somewhat chagrined by him calling me out like that, even though he was correct.
The legendary and eccentric Nina Simone was getting out of a limo at the back entrance of Ford Auditorium where she was performing that night.
As she was getting out of the car, a whole breast popped out of her gown, but that didn’t faze her at all. She just pushed it back in and went on about her business.
I once had to share a dressing room (which was actually the men’s room!) with Herb Fame of Peaches & Herb and others appearing on a local TV show that day. I just happened to glance down and there were holes in his socks.
At the time Peaches & Herb had a hit titled “Let’s Fall in Love.” Maybe it should have been “Let’s Buy Some New Socks.”
PATTI LABELLE was in Detroit starring in “Your Arm’s Too Short to Box With God” and staying at the Sheraton-Cadillac downtown, which is where I interviewed her. At one point the always candid LaBelle said she had a bad headache and asked if I had anything for it.
At the time there was a Tylenol scare going on, so I said, “I have something, but it’s Tylenol.”
Well, the superdiva completely didn’t care. She just took the Tylenol, thanked me, and kept on talking.
The legendary Eartha Kitt was intoxicated, and in the course of a great interview after a concert, her glass tipped and the champagne landed on my attaché case. I didn’t get mad.
And by the way, a Detroit City Council member (John Peoples) was waiting to present a plaque to Ms. Kitt but she made him wait because she wasn’t finished talking to me. I was flattered but at the same time embarrassed for the councilman.
Lionel Richie called me one morning at home to do a telephone interview. Trouble is, Motown had forgotten to tell me anything about it! I was in bed. I asked Lionel to give me a few minutes to get my tape recorder, etc.
One day I was walking down Woodward Avenue when a man asked me if I could provide him with a list of any singers from Detroit who were on drugs! And then there was a lady who wrote to ask if I could give her the name of whoever did Diana Ross’ dental work!
BILLY DEE WILLIAMS was at a party given by the Motown Museum. An overly aggressive and conniving photographer was taking pictures of women with Williams and, without the actor’s knowledge, charging them!
At one point the photographer grabbed Williams by the arm to get him where he wanted him to pose. An infuriated Williams hissed, “Get your hands off me!”
There is no way for Al Green’s breath to have been bad! During an hour-long interview at the Michigan Chronicle, Green, who is always effervescent, ate peppermint Life Savers for the entirety of the interview.
Peabo Bryson talked so much and so fast during his interview that I only had to ask a few questions!
Robert Townsend playfully offered me his VISA card. I reached for it and he pulled it away!
Vanessa Williams was eloquent, polite and ultra-dignified during the interview in the lobby of a downtown hotel. However, her demeanor changed for a minute or so when I asked how she felt about people who, no matter what she accomplished, would still bring up the Miss America “scandal.”
Williams used an expletive that starts with an “f” and followed it with the word “them.”
Esther Rolle was rightfully irritated when someone on the Chronicle staff asked her to say “Dy-no-mite!” Of course, she declined. Why should she say that when it was Jimmy Walker’s catchphrase? (Which, by the way, I never found the least bit funny.)
Motown sent a limo to the Michigan Chronicle to pick me up. The plan was to interview Smokey Robinson in the car on his way to a radio station. But when I got into the car, Robinson was sleep!
I didn’t want to wake him so I just waited. After a few minutes, a groggy Smokey Robinson woke up and said, “Hey man, what’s happening?”