Transcripts
Greetings and welcome to another episode of Queue Points podcast.
Speaker:I am DJ Sir Daniel.
Speaker:and my name is Jay Ray, sometimes known by my government as Johnnie Ray Kornegay,
Speaker:the third what's happening y'all.
Speaker:welcome to another episode of Queue Points podcast, dropping the needle on black
Speaker:music history and Jay Ray in our lifetime,
Speaker:We've watched Thousands of hours of biopics and documentaries.
Speaker:And when it comes to musicians and artists of our lifetime, Jay
Speaker:Ray, which medium do you prefer?
Speaker:Do you prefer biopics or do you prefer documentaries?
Speaker:I absolutely unequivocally prefer documentaries.
Speaker:Um, I like biopics when they are well done, but there's.
Speaker:They're not always well done.
Speaker:So I prefer a documentary.
Speaker:And plus I want to see, I want to hear the artists themselves speak.
Speaker:I want to hear people that were close to them speak.
Speaker:And I love seeing like behind the scenes footage.
Speaker:So documentaries, what about for
Speaker:you?
Speaker:You know, you take the words right out of my mouth.
Speaker:People are going to start to say that we share a brain
Speaker:because we pretty much agree.
Speaker:We agree.
Speaker:Like I enjoy the artistic journey that a biopic can take you on, especially when
Speaker:we're talking about casting choices.
Speaker:because that's always like at
Speaker:the top of everybody's concern is about casting.
Speaker:Um, but yes there's nothing like a documentary.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:The montages of old photos.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:I
Speaker:love behind the scenes, footage, old footage.
Speaker:And of course, I love the interviews.
Speaker:Of the people that were there
Speaker:because
Speaker:it adds so much texture and layer to the telling of the story.
Speaker:and yeah, that's, that's just it for me.
Speaker:Documentaries are it.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:before we get into the, so we're on this episode, if you haven't figured
Speaker:it out, Jay Ray and I are going to talk about our experience watching the new.
Speaker:Luther never too much documentary that came out at the beginning of November,
Speaker:um, in theaters across the nation.
Speaker:Finally.
Speaker:finally, uh, a limited release is going to be on in there only for
Speaker:a short while and it will be on streaming services in 2025, but.
Speaker:Luther Vandross is somebody you got to get out of the house and go see in
Speaker:the theater.
Speaker:But before we go talk about that, Jay Ray, is there a group or artists that you would
Speaker:like to see with the, you would like to be the subject of a biopic or a documentary?
Speaker:Um,
Speaker:biopic
Speaker:wise, you know, I would love to see a biopic of like the early years of
Speaker:Janet Jackson, like up to control.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I feel like that could be a really interesting biopic.
Speaker:um, cause there's a lot of twists and turns in that story.
Speaker:You know, we got marriages, we got rumors about kids, we got, you know, um, you
Speaker:know, the family dynamic, all of that.
Speaker:So I think if I were going to pick a biopic, I would say Janet Jackson up
Speaker:through, um, Control like up to control.
Speaker:So through dream street, um, subject of a documentary, you know, a documentary,
Speaker:I would be really interested in seeing, because I think it would be super dynamic.
Speaker:Is a documentary about Yassin Bay.
Speaker:I feel like his, he has.
Speaker:Such a crazy journey, you know, actor on TV, um, rap star, uh, you know,
Speaker:now just kind of artists, you know, traveling the world sort of thing.
Speaker:I would love to see a documentary about his journey up to this point.
Speaker:I think that would be dope.
Speaker:What about that?
Speaker:would be pretty fly.
Speaker:Um, so shout out to Sparky D
Speaker:who dropped the trailer for her documentary.
Speaker:That's going to be coming soon.
Speaker:Um, and I think I've mentioned this before, Jay Ray, like I
Speaker:would, I would, love to hear.
Speaker:LA stars account of how the industry turned his back on her.
Speaker:Now, LA star, I guarantee not a whole lot of you would have heard of, probably
Speaker:have heard of her unless you were our age and, you know, watch the Rap City
Speaker:and, and pump it up and all the things and saw her, you know, her debut, but
Speaker:she was a, um, an emcee out of the Bronx.
Speaker:Um, She started, she was signed to B Boy Records back in the day and
Speaker:was featured on the B Girls Live and Kicking, um, compilation album.
Speaker:Um, she was the first person to diss Salt N Pepa, which was unheard of at the time.
Speaker:And What was it?
Speaker:Uh, right.
Speaker:Was it something Herbie?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:That rhyme Herbie.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And, um, and then she went on to drop her debut album in 1990, along
Speaker:with the influx of other female MCs, like yo, yo, Nikki D, so on and
Speaker:so Moni Love, so on and so forth.
Speaker:And she had a lot of potential.
Speaker:She, the album is dope.
Speaker:Production is dope.
Speaker:She had a lot of potential, but then she just disappeared.
Speaker:She disappeared.
Speaker:And it wasn't until her daughter Reece Steele, came along in about 2008,
Speaker:2009, and popped up on the television, um, competition, Miss Rap Supreme.
Speaker:And it was exposed that she was in fact, L.
Speaker:A.
Speaker:star's daughter.
Speaker:And, um, that brought up a kind of another buzz, like, well, where is L.
Speaker:A.
Speaker:star?
Speaker:And there's lots of different rumors about, you know, What has
Speaker:happened to her over the years.
Speaker:And I just think that that would just be a very interesting look on how far, you
Speaker:know, how close you can be to stardom and how far it could take you away.
Speaker:on the other side of that coin, uh, no pun intended, I'm ready for
Speaker:Foxy Brown to break her silence.
Speaker:Oh, Uh,
Speaker:that's
Speaker:going to be some, some, I think there might be some bombshells.
Speaker:I don't know if she's, you know, are people going to be protected or not?
Speaker:It's going to be interesting.
Speaker:That's a real hot potato that I think people would be interested
Speaker:in seeing, especially me.
Speaker:Ooh.
Speaker:I would love to see that.
Speaker:Thank you for both of those.
Speaker:Actually.
Speaker:I would love to, um, see LA star shout out to her.
Speaker:If you are watching this LA star, definitely reach out to Queue
Speaker:Points because we would definitely love to have that conversation.
Speaker:But you're right about Foxy.
Speaker:I never even thought of that.
Speaker:That would be like, what?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I think that'd be, that would be explosive.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Oh my goodness.
Speaker:So, you know, this particular film, um, I had the opportunity to see this
Speaker:in theaters in Philadelphia, and it was no small feat for Don Porter to
Speaker:get this to us to see, it just took time, like, cause I, we had heard about
Speaker:this, I think when we first started Queue Points, like, there was this
Speaker:because it was going to hit Sundance.
Speaker:It was going to do the thing.
Speaker:And we're like, Oh my goodness.
Speaker:And people have been buzzing about it since then.
Speaker:Like we have to see this Luther documentary, but I guess CNN
Speaker:finally picked it up and now we get the opportunity to see it.
Speaker:But, um, to your point.
Speaker:We definitely want to give her shout outs because this thing is such an important,
Speaker:um, piece of black music history.
Speaker:Just music history in general, and I think,
Speaker:I think folks will learn a lot from it.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:So yeah, shout out to Don Porter, shout out to trilogy films.
Speaker:Um.
Speaker:you can tell there, there requires when you're going to
Speaker:take somebody's life story, it
Speaker:requires, um, some delicacy.
Speaker:It requires some emotional intelligent, Emotional intelligence
Speaker:to approach somebody's story.
Speaker:And especially when we're here in the like TMZ era, the gotcha era, you know,
Speaker:of everything is salacious and scandalous and people, you know, and people, if
Speaker:you give that to them,
Speaker:yes, people will develop an appetite for that.
Speaker:But because someone like Don Porter and trilogy films.
Speaker:Is used to doing projects about very thoughtful things like the power of
Speaker:dreams, which is about women athletes, especially specifically black women
Speaker:athletes.
Speaker:And of course the lady bird diaries.
Speaker:Like
Speaker:I am so glad that she was able to get ahold of this project
Speaker:because it was handled well.
Speaker:Yeah, And you know, let's, I, I saw it
Speaker:myself.
Speaker:I saw it in theaters, like Jay Ray, um, sat there and it wasn't packed out.
Speaker:And like, I knew
Speaker:it should have been.
Speaker:it should have been, but it wasn't packed out maybe because
Speaker:I went, I like a matinee, I
Speaker:like, Oh,
Speaker:you are you're a matinee.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I like it early, I like a get in.
Speaker:I don't like a crowded movie theater.
Speaker:I like to be able to sit where I want to sit, but it's better now
Speaker:because seats are assigned, you know?
Speaker:Especially now that, um, movie tickets cost the arm and the leg.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:but just initially, what, what were your initial thoughts, um, going into the
Speaker:film, going in to see the documentary?
Speaker:Oh, that's a good question.
Speaker:So going in to see the documentary.
Speaker:I was most, I had no expectations for, um, the experience of seeing the documentary.
Speaker:Like I just didn't, you know, I just knew that Luther had been such
Speaker:an omnipresent force in our lives as we, as, as I was growing up.
Speaker:Listening to music.
Speaker:Luther had always been a part of that experience and I went to see
Speaker:it during its special screening that they had here in Philly.
Speaker:So it was, um, October 30th or 30.
Speaker:No, it was like the day before Halloween.
Speaker:So October 30th and it was maybe 10 people in the theater.
Speaker:This huge theater It had 10 people in it.
Speaker:Um, I felt super special being in there right in the, in the
Speaker:theater with, with these folks.
Speaker:Cause I felt like we were just having like a family experience, even though we
Speaker:were like spread out amongst the, crowd.
Speaker:but I was open minded to learning more about Luther's experience because Luther
Speaker:is one of those he's pre this experience where you knew a lot about an artist.
Speaker:right?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So there were just things in now.
Speaker:I didn't learn a ton of new things, right?
Speaker:But the new things that I did learn were like, Oh, wow, I didn't realize that.
Speaker:Or I didn't know that, especially the childhood stuff like that
Speaker:stuff was super interesting.
Speaker:Um, so.
Speaker:I was open to learning more about this artist that existed during a
Speaker:time pre social media and he was very protective of his personal life.
Speaker:So, um, I was just kind of open to figuring out, okay,
Speaker:what made this guy tick?
Speaker:Um, what about for you?
Speaker:Like, what was your thought kind of going into this?
Speaker:Uh, I didn't have any preconceived notions.
Speaker:I just, I was just excited for the fact that, The project was completed and that
Speaker:it was, it's here for us to consume.
Speaker:because to your point, Luther Vandross is one of those people that is, was not
Speaker:super, um, there wasn't a whole lot of coverage on him, uh, even in his heyday.
Speaker:Um, which was which kind of made.
Speaker:Which kind of set the scene for artists back then.
Speaker:it was like, we, we only saw them when it was time to perform.
Speaker:So there was a lot of mystique around them.
Speaker:There was a lot of anticipation built up for projects, for performances.
Speaker:And so when we finally got to devour that, it made it
Speaker:even more delicious.
Speaker:It was like,
Speaker:Oh, thank God.
Speaker:You know.
Speaker:I've saved up my money to go see him.
Speaker:I've, you know, saved up my money to purchase this album.
Speaker:It's finally here.
Speaker:There are no leaks.
Speaker:There's no MP3s floating around on the internet where I can
Speaker:hear it before everybody else.
Speaker:And so we're all enjoying this.
Speaker:together, which brings up the fact that you said something very important.
Speaker:There was only a handful of us in that theater, but when I tell you, and we
Speaker:were spread out, but when I tell you, we were, everybody, we all laughed Let's say
Speaker:at the same time about stuff and singing, like we were trying to, you
Speaker:can tell everybody was trying to remain composed and trying not to overdo it.
Speaker:But when those songs came on and, you know, of course,
Speaker:everybody knows every last lyric.
Speaker:And so, you know, you can tell everybody's like, there's a lot of seat grinding.
Speaker:There's a lot of, a lot of muffled singing cause you don't want to.
Speaker:Uh, Oh, wait, I'm in the movie theater movie theater.
Speaker:I'm going to calm down.
Speaker:but, but it was, but I think we all kind of had permission.
Speaker:Yes
Speaker:There was like a community agreement.
Speaker:Like this is Luther y'all.
Speaker:We know these songs.
Speaker:We, We, go, there's going to be a little bit of singing and some laughing out loud.
Speaker:So I think we all gave each other permission to do that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So two things.
Speaker:Um, I have a question for you, but before the question, so speaking
Speaker:to that idea about singing, there was this particular moment.
Speaker:So Nat Adderley Jr.
Speaker:was Luther's musical director and Matt, um, was telling these stories and the
Speaker:funniest thing I thought he said, he was like, well, if Luther was going to do
Speaker:a cover, it was going to be slower and it was going to be like longer, right.
Speaker:So, but there was this moment that they show.
Speaker:It had to be like 86 era Luther, um, because he just had that look where
Speaker:they were sitting in the studio at the piano and Luther was just a singing.
Speaker:Luther was just like a singing next to him while Nat is kind of
Speaker:working through the arrangement.
Speaker:I think they were doing superstar.
Speaker:I think they were doing superstar.
Speaker:and it was like, They were figuring out all the parts, right?
Speaker:And this sister who was over to my right and up, she said, damn Luther, shit,
Speaker:like, ugh.
Speaker:All that talent.
Speaker:all of this talent.
Speaker:That was just oozing.
Speaker:because Nat was also like, yeah, that.
Speaker:yes.
Speaker:And you
Speaker:know, Yeah, I that.
Speaker:That synergy that we got to witness is magic.
Speaker:There's a synergy between when people find their tribe and they,
Speaker:they're there to do something and they're there to do it together.
Speaker:And it's meant to be, then you have moments of magic like that.
Speaker:And it was just like, they were already in the pocket together.
Speaker:Cause I think, um, The other, his other singer was there too.
Speaker:It was the other gentlemen.
Speaker:Oh yes.
Speaker:You know what?
Speaker:I can't remember his name.
Speaker:But they were all there and they were just like, ah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker:So yes, that was a lot.
Speaker:That was a dope moment.
Speaker:That was a really dope moment.
Speaker:Um, question.
Speaker:So the
Speaker:question you have
Speaker:for me,
Speaker:So the question I have for you, I think the thing that became really apparent,
Speaker:and we had heard rumblings of this as Anita Baker went back out on tour, right?
Speaker:We started to re re examine the career of Luther Vandross, Yes.
Speaker:The fact that Luther in all of his brilliance, um, Just
Speaker:seemed like he couldn't get you know, out of the black man.
Speaker:This is a, of the black singer box, which is wild to me to think about because I
Speaker:see Luther as such a bigger artist, right?
Speaker:So, What are your thoughts on that thing that they did spend some
Speaker:time on the fact that this man really, he wanted to cross over
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:to me, Luther seemed like the perfect crossover artist,
Speaker:but he, they didn't see him.
Speaker:I'm curious to know your thoughts on that.
Speaker:Why wasn't Luther seen?
Speaker:So, you know, we spent a lot of time, we've done episodes on being black
Speaker:famous, and, um, it just so happened that we, we spent time talking about a white
Speaker:artist being black famous, but the same Phenomenon happens to black artists.
Speaker:You can, you are held, you are on the Chitlin circuit, even though the
Speaker:Chitlin circuit has expanded, you remain on that Chitlin circuit, you
Speaker:are a household name in black homes.
Speaker:Um, but for whatever reason, a moment, there hasn't been a moment yet where you
Speaker:got exposed to the, the larger public, which happens to include white people.
Speaker:And so you're right.
Speaker:Like I figured a lot of those songs.
Speaker:I think nowadays.
Speaker:A lot of more people know about Luther Vandross because of those ballads.
Speaker:They
Speaker:know those ballads, they know that they've been included in
Speaker:their, um, in their weddings
Speaker:and major life moments like that.
Speaker:Um, I think the Oprah interviews exposed them to a lot more people
Speaker:also, Cause you know, Oprah had, Oprah had a major viewership.
Speaker:audience outside of just black people.
Speaker:So, but that pursuit, I can't help, but to think it was eluding him the crossover.
Speaker:It was eluding him because partially because he was
Speaker:because of his physical makeup.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So,
Speaker:you know, in the very beginning of the documentary, it's mentioned about how
Speaker:you don't get as much attention when you're large and when you're dark skin.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Which automatically I was like, Oh, they tricked me.
Speaker:This is, this is a documentary about my life.
Speaker:Wait,
Speaker:did somebody, Oh, I thought this was about Luther Banjos.
Speaker:This, no, this isn't about me.
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:I literally saw my J Ray.
Speaker:That was, there was a moment where they flashed a picture of
Speaker:him and I'm going to find it.
Speaker:I'm going to find this picture that I have.
Speaker:And I was like, that's me.
Speaker:That is literally me by the time, when you see this episode, we're going to put,
Speaker:we're going to superimpose a picture of
Speaker:that.
Speaker:I'm talking about, and you're going to be like, Oh yeah.
Speaker:So Dan was a young Luther Vandross and that I think because the record company,
Speaker:they could sell the hell out of his voice.
Speaker:But the industry was turning more and more visual.
Speaker:There were visual aspects added to this music industry.
Speaker:We are, they were, we are a music video industry at this time.
Speaker:Music videos are super important.
Speaker:And we've talked about when you're a larger person, the music industry,
Speaker:you're going to shoot videos, but you're going to be either
Speaker:animated, or you're going to be only shot from the neck up.
Speaker:And, you know, there's not, there's not going to be a whole lot of movement,
Speaker:but I think because of that, and because of his own battle with his
Speaker:weight and his obsession, and we found that it was an obsession for him
Speaker:that a lot of those things kept the general public away from away from him.
Speaker:Well, not the general public, but I mean the, the, the crossover public, because
Speaker:they didn't know what to do with him.
Speaker:they couldn't, they couldn't put him shirtless on
Speaker:a
Speaker:tub of butter or or, on the cover of a magazine.
Speaker:You know what I'm saying?
Speaker:They
Speaker:couldn't sell love, but they couldn't sell sex with Luther.
Speaker:You know what that is?
Speaker:you are absolutely correct in all of those points.
Speaker:And I think also it's an indictment on how
Speaker:Luther's representation of the masculinity doesn't fit into
Speaker:the traditionally masculine.
Speaker:Like there was a stark contrast between like a Gerald
Speaker:Levert and a Luther Vandross.
Speaker:Yes,
Speaker:start.
Speaker:Gerald was going to get all of that attention.
Speaker:He was going to grind in your face.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And no women was going and he was as big as Luther and they was going
Speaker:like it and same with Barry White and Luther's representation of masculinity
Speaker:presented itself really differently.
Speaker:Now, people will say that there's a lot of reasons for that.
Speaker:What I thought the documentary also did really well is not give us tea.
Speaker:You know what I'm
Speaker:saying?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, they kind of, it kind of did it,
Speaker:it it broached the subject because there was, you couldn't not talk about,
Speaker:um, Luther and his sexuality because of the world we live in And part of
Speaker:Rock and roll is the sex and the drugs.
Speaker:We're going to get no drugs from, from Luther.
Speaker:we weren't getting sex from him either.
Speaker:And then, so of course the question was going to come up.
Speaker:If this man can, can do these things with his vocals that will have women shivering
Speaker:in their seats and he could do these vocal gymnastics to have people fall in love
Speaker:or want to make love, Why is he alone?
Speaker:And then he was not, he wasn't shy about talking about how love kept eluding him
Speaker:and and yeah, and how that kept eluding him and oh my God, the, the, the breakdown
Speaker:of what any love actually means was, Oh,
Speaker:I will never, um, listen to that song the same way again.
Speaker:And the
Speaker:fact that Marcus Miller said that he was like, I always tell people
Speaker:if you want to understand who Luther is, just play any love.
Speaker:And that explains it.
Speaker:And that song became such a massive hit speaks to the experience that
Speaker:so many have, but Luther himself was having that experience.
Speaker:And when his.
Speaker:Assistant.
Speaker:God bless that assistant.
Speaker:Cause when he broke down and he said, this man wasn't looking for love.
Speaker:He was looking for any
Speaker:any
Speaker:love.
Speaker:which Jay Ray, which brings, why do people still, and we've heard the story countless
Speaker:times about the brilliant actor, singer,
Speaker:rapper that reaches the highest of heights.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:They get the money that they'll never be able to spend in their lifetime.
Speaker:But They, that fame is so double edged and happiness tends to elude them.
Speaker:I, why do people, why do people still trying to achieve that?
Speaker:I wonder why people, why people still trying to make that the end all be all.
Speaker:Of being an artist and artistry because they all say it.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:I love making the music.
Speaker:I love getting paid, but that fame stuff, y'all can keep the fame.
Speaker:The fame is ridiculous.
Speaker:The fame will kill you.
Speaker:I think we are seeing it's because of what society does.
Speaker:I think what we do to our celebrities.
Speaker:I've always been really clear, like
Speaker:the fame is not that interesting to me.
Speaker:I don't need everyone.
Speaker:I'm not interested in everyone knowing who I am.
Speaker:I like to go shopping for my grapes and my apples in my peaceful time and
Speaker:not be worried about all of this stuff, or at least having people understand.
Speaker:This is it.
Speaker:Everybody has, I think, a desire to have a job that people respect and
Speaker:adore them for the work that they do.
Speaker:And
Speaker:that I think is a lot of what it is.
Speaker:It's that when Luther's on that stage, when he's in that studio, when he's
Speaker:dropping these records, and this is for all celebrities, like it's their job.
Speaker:Like, no, I'm just like working.
Speaker:It just so happens that my job is entertainment I'm here to do that, right?
Speaker:But what we've done is we've raised entertainment, uh, entertainers up so
Speaker:that they're not like real people, right?
Speaker:And there is a desire for folks to feel elevated over folks because
Speaker:there is so many folks, Right.
Speaker:So I think it's just a natural human desire.
Speaker:And I think what happens time and time again, which is why
Speaker:I'm not interested in it.
Speaker:You find people that get to that level and be like, nah, son, no, I
Speaker:want what you got, I still want to do what I do because that's what I do.
Speaker:And that's how I earn a living.
Speaker:But I would rather have what you have where you could like walk outside.
Speaker:So I think that's a lot of it.
Speaker:And I think the other piece.
Speaker:To this, though, is Luther had a baseline desire for love.
Speaker:And that is a very, he wrote about it ad nauseum.
Speaker:He helped other people discover it.
Speaker:He gave people language to experience it, but that thing alluded him.
Speaker:And part of that is also, I think
Speaker:if you, if you, are like a regular person, And you're trying to date Luther Vandross,
Speaker:like Luther Vandross was brilliant by every stretch of the imagination.
Speaker:Like he was going to write you under the table.
Speaker:He was going to produce you under the table.
Speaker:He was going to sing you under the table.
Speaker:He was excellent at what he did that intimidates people.
Speaker:across gender spectrum.
Speaker:It was always going to be hard for Luther because he was going to need
Speaker:someone who was as brilliant as he was.
Speaker:That's a very small number of people.
Speaker:I Think you hit the nail on the head with that one.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yep
Speaker:You
Speaker:were either going to,
Speaker:you were going to either, he, would have had to step down
Speaker:and not down as in, he would have had to, it would have had to be a
Speaker:person that wasn't where he was.
Speaker:And unfortunately he was where he was at.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You either.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Or.
Speaker:He was going to expect you to raise up or rise up to be where he was.
Speaker:And that's a lot.
Speaker:That would be a lot, especially if you, you didn't have the headstart like he did.
Speaker:Cause he started as a teenager, you know, singing on Sesame street.
Speaker:Um, Shout out to that to
Speaker:our Sesame Street episode you will hear about us talk about Luther
Speaker:Vandross on our Sesame Street episode So you should go revisit that
Speaker:But, um, in closing, I just think.
Speaker:Go ahead
Speaker:before you before we close.
Speaker:Um, I want to ask you this question, cause I don't want to forget.
Speaker:Did you, what was the thing that you learned about that was like,
Speaker:Oh, I either didn't remember that or that was surprising.
Speaker:you know This is so funny Really the thing that blew my mind Jay Ray
Speaker:was that he designed their costumes
Speaker:I did not know that I did not know that he designed, I thought, you know,
Speaker:I thought like most people he could have a custom made outfit for him and
Speaker:the crew, you know, I think he would reach out to a Versace or whoever.
Speaker:No, he had in his mind.
Speaker:And this is where you can, um, you can, tell Luther was, A fan obsessed
Speaker:with performers and performance, and you could tell he was a child of
Speaker:Motown because the way the kids in Motown presented themselves was very
Speaker:buttoned up, very, you know, together.
Speaker:And all that influence, especially, you know, he loved the
Speaker:Supremes All that glitter, baby.
Speaker:He loved all that glitter, all the glitter and see when He was like, I
Speaker:want that, but in a male form, So I'm going to have my suits that be dazzled.
Speaker:You're going to see me sparkling from the nosebleed seats, and you're
Speaker:going to see our primary singers.
Speaker:We are going to be looking the same.
Speaker:So that I.
Speaker:I do appreciate about Luther is Luther always surrounded himself with uber
Speaker:talented people and made them part of the collective from, from when he was with
Speaker:Luther.
Speaker:the group Luther to the, um, to what we saw on stage with him and Lisa
Speaker:Stansfield and Sherry and, um, I believe his name is Tony all on stage.
Speaker:And he made sure that he wasn't the only one that was dolled up.
Speaker:Everybody had to come correct.
Speaker:and
Speaker:that was a level of excellence that Luther expected from Everybody
Speaker:that was going to be on tour.
Speaker:And I thought it was pretty funny that a lot of those things weren't mentioned
Speaker:in the documentary about the, the TIFFs, but I think we saw that his work ethic, I
Speaker:think it answered all of those questions about why those, some of those failed
Speaker:relationships happen with tour mates.
Speaker:So I think there really wasn't a need to address those things, but yeah,
Speaker:the, the costuming and his love for fanfare.
Speaker:I mean, I knew he, I knew he loved flair, but him
Speaker:putting the, like the sequence, you know, designing the jackets and whatnot.
Speaker:I was like, Okay.
Speaker:That makes a lot of sense.
Speaker:And you know what, especially when you're a big guy, you can't
Speaker:always get stuff off the rack.
Speaker:And so I imagine if you, you're a fabulous person or naturally, and you're an
Speaker:entertainer and you want people to have a really great experience when they come
Speaker:see you, you're going to go all out.
Speaker:all out for your parents.
Speaker:And so you can't have, you can do anything but thank him for.
Speaker:For just giving excellence for always delivering excellence.
Speaker:Yeah, for me, it puts a exclamation point on the disco era.
Speaker:And I think I tweeted this, um, that it is our birthright as black
Speaker:folks to reclaim disco for the brilliance that it was because Luther
Speaker:said, that's the era I came from.
Speaker:If Luther Vandross came from that era in all of his brilliance, and we
Speaker:look back and reflect on the music that was created during that era.
Speaker:some of the most innovative.
Speaker:Uplifting, loving music came from that time, and I think it definitely put
Speaker:an exclamation point for me on, we need to make sure that we reclaim it.
Speaker:Um, because I never, the way they weaved it together and when, um, now Roger
Speaker:said, nah, let's be clear, Luthor's on every Sheik release, like period.
Speaker:And once you find that out for those people that didn't
Speaker:know that you can't not hear
Speaker:him You
Speaker:cannot, all the, all of these sister sledge stuff.
Speaker:He was like like Luther on that.
Speaker:Like Luther's on it it
Speaker:change
Speaker:every all of all of them, if all of that, you're absolutely right.
Speaker:And I love that, you know, the reclamation of disco and hopefully,
Speaker:hopefully somebody will see this.
Speaker:Some young, talented person will see this and You bring it back.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Um, highly recommend folks watch this documentary, watch
Speaker:it with your loved ones.
Speaker:I actually kind of, uh, regretted that my mom didn't go.
Speaker:I said, mom, Oh, if you want to come and see it with me, but it was like late.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:she was like, I don't know if I want to do all of that.
Speaker:But, um, when it comes on streaming, watch this for the holidays.
Speaker:If you can see it for the holidays, definitely watch it.
Speaker:I feel like it's one of the, it's required viewing for black folks.
Speaker:Luther Vandross is the soundtrack, uh, is part of the soundtrack of our lives.
Speaker:And I feel like everybody needs to see it.
Speaker:I agree with that.
Speaker:Absolutely required.
Speaker:viewing for black households, what I would like for individuals also to do when they
Speaker:see this, or after they've seen this, I want it to make people more empathetic.
Speaker:I think this documentary has the power to,
Speaker:yeah, it has the power to us to look at people.
Speaker:more holistically and to always remember that what you're seeing
Speaker:is not always the reality.
Speaker:people send their best representative and that person that's always looks
Speaker:driven and, you know, is always happy.
Speaker:That's probably because they're covering up the compensating for something.
Speaker:And so I just hope that, you know, we, we just become a little bit
Speaker:more empathetic other after seeing this movie and that we treasure,
Speaker:this music more and more each day.
Speaker:And you know, like you said, just make it a requirement in your black
Speaker:household because in this right now in this world, the way things are going,
Speaker:we are going to need to hold on to our artifacts of blackness because
Speaker:there might be an erasure coming.
Speaker:In some form or fashion, but while it's in theaters, and even when it
Speaker:goes to streaming, I think I can safely say that Queue Points highly, highly
Speaker:recommends Never Too Much documentary by Don Porter and Trilogy Films.
Speaker:If you have the opportunity, please, please, please go see it.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:For those of you who are checking us out, thank you so much for being here.
Speaker:As we say all the time, if you can see our faces, if you can hear our voices, please
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Speaker:Visit our website at cuepoints.
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Speaker:There, you can check out our blog.
Speaker:You can also join our newsletter and you can also check out
Speaker:other episodes of Queue Points.
Speaker:We appreciate y'all.
Speaker:We love y'all.
Speaker:And like I always say in this life, you have a choice.
Speaker:You can either pick up the needle or you can let the record play.
Speaker:I'm DJ Sir Daniel,
Speaker:I'm Jay Ray y'all
Speaker:and this has been Queue Points podcast, dropping the
Speaker:needle on black music history.
Speaker:We will see you on the next go round.
Speaker:Peace y'all.
Speaker:peace.
