Yesterday I spent almost 5 hours at the Missouri History Museum viewing the America I AM exhibit, punctuated by a theater performance by a local teenage group of St. Louis I AM (they perform Saturdays at 11:30, free, I strongly recommend going.)
Reflecting on our initial 7/6-morning overview, I found I had carefully recorded onto a frame-like sketch "music is its own museum." Although I feel that the triple strand for our group explorations are inseparable, that is to say I see these as una trenza or a braid, this piece of the frame tied our lecture experience directly to the exhibit.
In an effort to consider the statement "Music is its own museum" from the point of view of commerce, I came up with a rough-edged new word open to reengineering and/or reinterpretation by all: "Musiomemory." As I understand it, Berry Gordy was searching for the key to expand "black" music from its historic audience to an all-inclusive multi-racial crossover one. This accomplishment would ensure greater financial health and longevity. Perhaps the actual impetus for this crossover lay in the era itself. The Civil Rights Movement altered the museum of memory within each and every participant. Music was part of the CRM experience, a sensate and evocative piece of living history. The crossover effect Berry Gordy sought occurred as the CRM attained its pinnacle. Listening to an Urban Reality records "of the day" unlocks the shared race experience in my "Musiomemory." How about you?
-- Laura Butterfield
