Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Out in our audience tonight...

Yesterday's post on the J5Live blog mentioned that Diana Ross, Berry Gordy, and Deke Richards were all sitting together in the audience at the J5's 1970 concert at the Forum. That inspired me to dig out a press photo in my collection from the Forum concert that shows the people sitting in the front rows of the audience -- at least those seated stage left (Jermaine's side).



I re-scanned the photo and enlarged the audience to see if I could see any of the three of them. I don't -- unless Berry Gordy is the one in the center, bending over to hear something from the man in the hat who's crouching down in front of him.


But there are some other familiar faces here. There are two women holding children in the center of the photo. The one on the right is Katherine Jackson and the child she is holding, covered with a blanket, is probably Janet. The elderly couple beside her are the J5's grandparents, and I think the young woman sitting beside them in the short black dress is Dee Dee Martes, the future Mrs. Tito Jackson.

Looking to the far left side of the photo, there are two teenage girls seated next to a bearded man holding a little boy. The girl on the right with the big afro, wearing the darker pantsuit, looks like it might be Hazel Gordy. And it would make sense that she would get a front row seat, with a great view of Jermaine.

If you recognize anyone else in the audience, let me know.

3 comments:

  1. Could Randy be the little kid sleeping in the arms of the lady next to katherine? Or was he a bit taller by then and could he be one of the other 2 boys sitting in the front row?

    If Janet was there, Randy was probably there too, no?

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  2. Good point. He could be one of those little boys sitting on chairs, or he might have been standing in the wings with Joe.

    It's funny Randy wasn't in the audience of the 1971 Flip Wilson Show either, was he?

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  3. wow! i remember Jermaine saying in his book that they all we're at the forum in 1971 & that Janet was probably the only person in the world who could say she slept through a j5 forum & that she was wrapped in a blanket

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