Page 10
The
Portland Observer Black
History Month
February 25, 2015
Arts &
Entertainment
Motown Special
30 Years Later
Historic
broadcast for
Black History
Month
Where were you when Michael
Jackson unveiled his iconic
moonwalk for the very first time as
part of the legendary TV special
Motown 25: Yesterday • Today •
Forever? You likely remember those
“six seconds that changed the
world”, as the historic concert tele-
vised by NBC on May 16, 1983,
became an immediate sensation and
water-cooler event in an era before
social media. Now, music lovers
and pop culture aficionados alike
will have the opportunity to see
magic and history being made as the
Emmy Award-winning program will
air exclusively as a fundraising event
on public television stations this
February and March, marking the
first TV broadcast of the concert
since its debut more than 30 years
ago. It will make its national public
broadcasting premiere on Saturday,
Feb. 28 at 8 p.m.
Motown 25 was taped before a
live audience at California’s Pasa-
dena Civic Auditorium and show-
cased virtually every Motown artist
from the company’s inception, in-
cluding Michael Jackson, Marvin
Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Stevie
Wonder, Diana Ross, The
Supremes, The Jackson 5, The
Miracles, The Temptations, Four
Tops and many others.
The show also featured many
guests outside the Motown Records
Michael Jackson, when he
unveiled his iconic moonwalk
for the first time, was part of a
TV special Motown 25: Yester-
day Today Forever Thirty years
later, the broadcast will be
repeated for Black History
Month on Saturday, Feb. 28 at
8 p.m. on PBS and then
repeated throughout the month.
sphere who had been influenced by
Motown artists, including Linda
Ronstadt, who performed a memo-
rable duet with Smokey Robinson,
Billy Dee Williams, Jose Feliciano
and British new wave star Adam
Ant, who was riding a wave of popu-
larity from MTV exposure.