When in Detroit, You Better Shop Around

On my way home from Tampa today, I had just enough of a layover to stop at the Motown Music Review shop. Nestled between a Brookstone and a DTW in the middle of Terminal A, you can hear the classic Motown blasting from a moving sidewalk away.

I always make a stop there when I pass through Detroit, hoping they'll have some piece of newly minted J5 memorabilia. They never have had anything more than a few Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson compilation discs but, this time, I was hoping they might have added some J5 items since they had been featured in a special exhibit at the Motown Museum earlier this year.

No such luck. There was nothing for the J5 fan, not even the most current cds that have come out from Universal Motown in the past 18 months. In fact, unless you are a Diana Ross fan, there's not much at all beyond some generic stuff with the word Motown emblazoned on it. I'll admit it, though -- I couldn't resist the coasters that look like tiny vinyl LPs, reproductions of Diana Ross and the Supremes' Live at London's Talk of the Town. When I set my iced tea glass down on one of them, I'll just pretend the label reads Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5.

5ive Questions for... Lina Stephens

Today we launch a new regular interview column in which we ask five questions of someone whose life has somehow intersected with the music of the Jackson 5. We begin our series with Lina Stephens, curator of the Jackson 5 exhibit at the Motown Historical Museum in Detroit, Michigan.

Photo by Gloria Rzucidlo / © AmericaJR.com

On June 29, the Museum opened a special Jackson 5 exhibit, which will be on display through October. At this time, the Museum has no plans for a permanent J5 display, due to space limitations. But they hope to expand some day so that they can have permanent displays for many Motown artists.

What could a visitor expect to find in the Jackson 5 exhibit?
The exhibit is a bit of a chronology of the group's time at Motown Record Corporation, from getting their audition, and clearing up who did, in fact, bring the group to the attention of Motown.

How did the Museum acquire the J5 items it has?
We have a uniform belonging to Michael Jackson that he donated at the same time he donated the hat & glove he said he wore at Motown 25th Anniversary Special. We have a set of uniforms from the Goin' Back to Indiana special which are on long-term loan from the Universal Music Group. The other items are part of the items that our founder, Esther Gordy Edwards, had as a Motown Record Corporation, Senior Vice President.

How did you go about selecting the items to put on exhibit to showcase the group?
I started with my basic story and the special pieces in the collection that would best tell the story. I was looking for some special items to borrow from collectors, but had very little luck with that.

Is there anything you found that surprised you, or that you think would surprise a J5 fan?
There was nothing that surprised me, it just made me remember stuff I had not thought about in a while. It made me remember some good music and where I was when I heard some special J5 tunes.


What is it that a fan could only experience by going to museum in person?
Being in the place where history was created, not a replica.

Lina Stephens makes the final adjustments
on Jermaine's outfit from Goin' Back to Indiana

* * * * *

If you visit:

MUSEUM HOURS
Summer Hours (July through August)
• Monday-Saturday 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
• Closed Sunday

Regular Hours
• Tuesday through Saturday 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
• Closed Sunday and Monday.

GENERAL ADMISSION
• Adults: $10.00 per person
• Seniors and children 12 & under: $8.00 per person

Want to support the Motown Historical Museum? If you can't visit the Museum in person, you can make a cash donation (the Museum is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit ), or shop at the online Shop-Around store.

"To Yvonne..."

I never met the Jackson 5 in person, so all the autographed items I have added to my collection over the years have been signed for people who will be forever anonymous to me -- with one exception. The autographed 8 x 10 glossy you see here was signed by Jermaine for Yvonne Fair (you have to click on the photo to get an enlarged version in order to see "To Yvonne" written in Jermaine's afro). Fair was a singer who signed with Motown shortly after the Jackson 5 did, and who worked as their opening act in 1971, sandwiched between the Commodores and the Jackson 5.

By the time she signed with Motown, she had already had a long career as a professional, starting in the 1950s as a replacement singer for the Chantels, and then as a featured singer with James Brown from 1962 to 1965. After that she joined the Chuck Jackson Revue for a few years before she signed with Motown. She even had a small role as a raunchy club singer in the 1972 movie Lady Sings the Blues, where she shocked young Billie Holiday (Diana Ross) with her performance of "The Low-Down Shuffle Blues."

We can only imagine how difficult it must have been for her to have paid her dues for so many years, only to be put on the bill with a headlining group whose lead singer had not yet been born when she started in the business. In addition, she had to perform her mature set, night after night, in front of a group of over-excited pre-teens and teens who had already sat through an over-long act by the Commodores, and just wanted her to get off the stage so they could see their idols.

The May 1971 Rolling Stone cover story actually gave quite a bit of ink to Yvonne Fair's opening act in their description of the Jackson 5's January 30 concert in Columbus, Ohio. They recounted this hilarious conversation between Fair and a teenage J5 fan in the audience:

Yvonne: "This song is for like young ladies with men who have a habit of taking everything — we mean from clothes to money to... whatever." She goes into "Piece of My Heart." Then a break. She moves back and points to her stage-prop man, the Commodores' lean young bass player. This is her property, she tells her audience. "He's mine."

Teenage girl: You can have it!

Yvonne: He ain't much, but he's mine. [To bass man, heatedly:] You don't got to go show off!

Girl: He ain't got much to show!

Yvonne: Pose more, honey, pose more.

Girl: He's gonna have to pose a whole lot!

Yvonne: What you see is what you get!

Girl (and friends): Right on!

At Motown she worked with producer Norman Whitfield and she released a few singles, including a great version of "Funky Music Sho' 'Nuff Turns Me On," with backing vocals by Marvin Gaye. But she released just one LP with Motown, The Bitch Is Black, from 1975. Happily, it has recently been reissued on cd. Yvonne Fair was a great singer and deserves to be remembered.

She died in 1994 and took with her the secret of how this autographed photo of Jermaine came into her possession. Sure, she would have been seeing him on a regular basis in 1971, but this photo is a bit later than that. Did Jermaine just assume that, since she was female, she would want an autographed picture of him? Or did she ask him for it? She did, after all, seem to have a thing for "lean young bass players."

Brand New Thing: Jackson 5's Private Photo Album

Ah, the J5 product sleeve, chock full of beautiful things you could order through the mail in the early 1970s. This version of the product sleeve made its first appearance with the Maybe Tomorrow LP, and was included in every subsequent Jackson 5 release, as well as the solo albums made by Michael, Jermaine, and Jackie.

Let's take a look at one of the items included on the back of the product sleeve, the Jackson 5's Private Photo Album. For those of us kids who were hungry for photos of The Five, what could be more enticing?

What You Ordered



What You Got


Okay, the first thing you'd have noticed when you got this in the mail was that it was smaller than expected -- not much bigger than a Jet magazine, and there were just 22 pages total. All of the pictures were printed in black and white on cheap paper stock. Your first reaction would likely have been disappointment. But then you opened it up, and found those 22 pages contained nearly 60 rare photographs that you had never seen before. And most of them were so rare that the J5's Private Photo Album was the only place you'd ever seen them. Here are some sample pages to give you an idea of what it's like.





And what's a family photo album without the embarrassing photo you wouldn't want your friends to see?


All in all, it's one of the top three collectibles from the product sleeve.

Overall Fan Satisfaction:
(Jackson 5)

Jackson 5 Press Kit from 1969

In August 1969 Motown issued a rather extensive press kit related to Diana Ross's introduction of the Jackson 5. At first, seeing the title printed on the front of the custom folder, I thought this was a press kit for the group's first LP, but that wasn't issued until December 18, and there's no mention of the LP or even the group's first single, and this material pre-dates the album release by four months. Also, their album was originally going to be called Introducing the Jackson 5. It looks like whoever gave the press kit its title, was unknowingly naming their first album, too.


Inside are all kinds of goodies, including a group biography; a press release about the recent event at the Daisy on August 16 and a promotion for their upcoming August 20 concert at the Forum; a copy of a telegram to Diana Ross from Gary's Mayor Richard Hatcher; and five 8 x 10 glossy photos.







I've had this for so long I can't remember where I got it from, other than it was long before eBay and I don't think I paid much for it. It remains one of my all-time favorite collectibles.