New Year’s Eve gala at Telluride’s Sheridan Arts Foundation: Part 1, she said

29 Dec New Year’s Eve gala at Telluride’s Sheridan Arts Foundation: Part 1, she said

[click "Play" to hear Farrah's conversation with Susan]

Everything old is new again New Year's Eve at Telluride's historic Sheridan Opera House. The gala celebration is a walk down memory lane –  "50 years of Motown featuring The Marvelettes & Cornell Gunter Coasters" – plus small eats, champagne, and party favors.

In the white picket fence Eisenhower era, America had all the trappings of rama-lama-ding-dong innocence, but the headlines suggested otherwise: Communist witch hunts, polio, the hydrogen bomb, the Korean War, racial segregation, James Dean and "Rebel Without a Cause," Jack Kerouac's "On the Road." Oh, and Doris Day and Ed Sullivan. 

Remember the music of the decade before Dylan plugged in and the Brits re-conquered the colonies? Remember hits such as "Poison Ivy," "Wake Me, Shake Me," "Love Potion Number Nine,"  "Don't Mess With Bill?" Then you remember the Motown legends the Marvellettes and before them, the 50s phenomenon, The Coasters.

The original Marvelettes turned Motown upside down. Berry Gordy build his empire on a foundation of single bluesy soul artists. After "Please Mr. Postman" sold three million records to become a crossover hit, however, Motown took the fork in the road, concentrating on the Marvelettes, the Supremes, Temptations, Four Tops, and Martha and the Vandellas and creating a new group soul sound that dominated pop culture until the Beatles triggered a seismic shift in the landscape. And there was no turning back – or was there?

Since Wanda Rogers, Gladys Horton and Katherine Shaffner started the ball rolling, The Marvelettes have had many different faces, but one consistent no-miss formula: a highly choreographed, fun, funny night club act in the silky smooth Motown vein.

To learn more about what's in store on New Year's Eve, click the "play" button and listen to Farah's podcast.

To learn more about the Cornell Gunter Coasters, tune in to Telluride Inside… and Out December 31 and listen to Donald's podcast and preview a performance on You Tube.