Saturday 9

(Link in meme-roll)
Stop! In the Name of Love (1965)
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) When this song was popular, the Supremes were known for their long gloves and full-length gowns. When was the last time you got dressed up?

Good golly it's been several years. The last family wedding I was at, I'm sure. So, about 2011. Maybe I should buy a dress--I don't own any--for Sparky's graduation....

2) With a record 12 #1 hits, the Supremes remain America's best-selling vocal group. This must have been hard for Betty McGlown, the fourth Supreme, who left the group before they recorded their first song. Can you think of an opportunity you missed?

I don't tend to dwell on missed opportunities. Nothing to be done about them, and there haven't been any major ones like this. No one I dated became famous, or rich, or a criminal. No big jobs or lotteries were missed by some random minor issue.

3) When "the girls" (Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Flo Ballard) first started hanging around Motown, founder Berry Gordy was reluctant to let them record. After all, they were still in high school. They refused to give up and eventually convinced him to let them add hand claps and finally back up vocals to recordings by other Motown artists. Tell us about a time when your persistence paid off.

My marriage. That's all.

4) 50 years after its release, "Stop! In the Name of Love" is one of the most popular karaoke songs. Do you know the lyrics?

Of course. I've listened to that song for my entire life, probably at least 5-10 times each year at least in various formats, editions, and situations.

5) There's a children's playground named in Diana Ross' honor within New York's Central Park. It includes swings, slides, rope bridges and a fountain. When you played in the park, what did you run to first?

Swings. I liked the monkey bars too.

6) Diana stumbled in her high heels and broke her ankle as she left the stage after a November 2012 concert. What do you have on your feet right now?

Black sox. Thinking about adding a blanket to them.

7) Ever the trooper, she honored her commitment to perform at a White House-sponsored Christmas concert just weeks later, even though her leg was still in a cast. Tell us about a time when you "played hurt."

I'm a mom. I played hurt for the first 5 years of my kid's life. One day when he was 3 or so, I remember vividly that I felt sick to my stomach all day. We were on our way to the grocery store and I sat down on the top step from the living room and said, "I'm sorry, kiddo, I just don't think I can do this." I kept it together in a low-impact let's-watch-TV-all-day kind of way till Beast came home from work. Within 5 minutes I was bringing up breakfast and anything not firmly attached to my insides, and Beast was calling the library to tell them I wouldn't be coming to work that night.

8) Young Diana Ross was a good student and a tough competitor who made her school's swim team. Are you a good swimmer?

Hah! I am a good drowner.

9) Diana's older sister, Dr. Barbara Ross-Lee, was the first African American woman to be appointed dean of an American medical school. Decades ago, Barbara juggled post-graduate studies and raising small children. Are you good at multi-tasking?

Yes. All of my jobs have involved multi-tasking: teaching, mentoring, parenting, librarian-ing...yup. Juggling is me.