DETROIT - Yesterday I also went to the Motown Museum. (Yeah, I know. Yesterday was quite the transcendent day. I wish I'd spread it around, but at least I had one great day in Detroit.) It was interesting to see the Temptations' sequined suits and the Supremes' 35-pound gowns, and it was gratifying to touch the Platinum Record awards for What's Going On? and Ain't No Mountain High Enough.
But walking into humble little Studio A was, here's that word once again, chilling. This is where it all happened. These are the instruments and mics and mixing boards used by the Funk Brothers, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Diana Ross and the Supremes, the Jackson Five, and so many others. There's a picture on the wall of Stevie standing right where I'm standing, playing the very piano I'm creepily fondling. Goosebumps.
