In 1972, seven years after the people of Watts made their voices heard in the 1965 uprising, more than 100,000 came together at the L.A. Coliseum for Wattstax, a day of soul music, positivity, and empowerment. Fifty years later, I still marvel at the “Peace Be Still” connection I have with two of the women featured in the Wattstax documentary.
Read MoreA tribute to my father, Maury Nemoy (1912-1984), a beloved teacher who pioneered the revival of calligraphy in Southern California in the 1950s and designed movie titles and hundreds of record album covers.
Read MoreWhen my mother passed away, her sister, my Aunt Mary, stepped in and became a nurturer to me. Then, the miraculous happened. I found my daughter who looks stunningly like my mother.
Read MoreThe rhythm, the sounds, even the smells of places where we’ve lived can evoke memories that are nourishing for the rest of our lives. One of those places for me was a hilltop cabin in Los Angeles’s Mount Washington.
Read MoreThe friendship of women and our history together encouraged my soul throughout my journey to find my daughter . . . and myself. These are a few of the women I’ve written about in SINCE I LOST MY BABY.
Read MoreIt may be a successful literary technique to get a protagonist into trouble, then out of trouble, then into worse trouble, but when that happens to you in real life, it’s not entertaining.
Read MoreFinding a way to “bloom where we’re planted” has been tough during the era of pandemic. Yet with an adjustment to our expectations and a willingness to take root, it’s possible to become spectacular.
Read MoreThat our family was Jewish didn't really matter on December 25th when my parents hosted a massive everybody's-invited gathering at our house. My father bought each person a gift and my mom baked and cooked for weeks. Regardless of whatever squabbles had occurred during the year, every relative was invited and expected to attend.
Read MoreWhere do you go to find perspective and renewal? For me, it’s always been at water’s edge; I see the best of myself looking at an expanse of ocean or a lake shimmering like diamonds.
Read MoreHave you ever been told by the naysayers, "You can't, You don't, You aren't, You won't"? That negative mantra was imposed on me all my life by people with small minds (and hearts), and yet my life has been one of exceptions, providence and grace because I reached for the stars. Like in this story about how I got what I asked for, as outrageous as it sounded to others.
Read MoreI'd like to say my life “just happened,” but I don’t believe in luck or serendipity. Nevertheless, even when I didn’t know what I believed in, I unexpectedly found myself, like Forrest Gump, in extraordinary places or among OMG people.
Read MoreBeing an outsider is never easy, especially if your life begins (or ends) that way. There are many reasons for alienation and disenfranchisement, but what makes anyone an outsider is that we are different..
Read MoreLos Angeles, 1971 - Wrong place, wrong time. We only stopped by Wally’s house for a drink of water, but a few minutes after he let us in, the police got there too.
Read MoreMonterey Pop Festival, 1967 - He was earthy and raw, as big and powerful as the V8 engine on a Cadillac Eldorado. He could out-plead and out-rasp David Ruffin, and there was something about the gruffness in Otis Redding’s voice that brought out the woman in me like no smooth slickster from Motown ever had.
Read MoreSINCE I LOST MY BABY: A Memoir of Temptations, Trouble & Truth is my coming-of-age memoir about the power of soul music and my search for love, the Big Truth, and the daughter taken away from me at birth in 1967. Our spectacular reunion in 1991 was featured on the Oprah Winfrey show.
Read MoreRichard Wright’s novel, THE OUTSIDER, is one of the most powerful books I’ve ever read. The story of Cross Damon, who loses his overcoat and ID in a bloody train crash and winds up being declared dead, giving him the chance to become somebody else, could be a metaphor for the opportunity I was given to start over.
Read MoreOnce I figured out how to sneak out of my parents house, in July 1966 I went to the Shrine Auditorium to see James Brown and the Famous Flames. The photographer from SOUL magazine, Howard Bingham, shot this crazy photo with me in the bottom right corner. For months after the show, they used the photo above their subscription form with the headline, “Everyone’s rushing to get SOUL.”
Read MoreIt seemed like every time I took my dog Otis for a walk, I found nails in the street. Most looked just like matchstick-size twigs. Thinking I was being a good citizen, I picked them up so no one would get hurt. But then I came to realize there was a message in finding those nails, one that I really needed to receive.
Read MoreJust a few days apart, the untimely deaths of two young people sent me deep into prayer, especially for their parents and what I could only imagine is the agony of losing a child.
Read MoreAs far as I’m concerned, life began when I was fourteen years old and witnessed the explosive performance of James Brown and the Famous Flames at the 1964 taping of the TAMI SHOW, transforming me into a born-again convert to the power of soul music and a true believer in the lyrics of Motown.
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