When I got myself to Ann Arbor, home to the University of Michigan, in 1965, I had been listening to Gospel music and what was soon to be known as "Motown" music for a few years already. Almost immediately, I discovered the magic of Martha and the Vandellas (Dancing in the Streets); Gladys Knight & the Pips; the Supremes, Aretha Franklin and so many others. When my dorm mates wanted to get laid, they went to Toledo. When they wanted to dance, they traveled to Chicago.
As usual, I was way behind the curve. But, when I left town, it was to Chicago, and that's where I first learned to dance, to this song.
I do not regret my choices. As I look back on the remarkable people I met in college, I realize they represented a cross-section of black America at a moment of historic change. One of my friends was Stevie Wonder's best friends as a kid. Another was Diana Ross's high school boyfriend.
My first college girlfriends were black girls, who introduced us via my black dorm mates. And that's as much as I'll say about that topic.
-30-
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