Gratitude Monday: Smokey all around me

It’s Gratitude Monday. I was going to post about something else, but then yesterday I was doing my rather pathetic intervals around the 'hood and all of a sudden NPR’s Linda Wertheimer was interviewing Smokey Robinson.

Whereupon I swear the early morning Valley they call Silicon overcast just disappeared, and I decided to layer in three extra spurts of jogging, just because I was awash with energy and joy.

The occasion of the interview was Robinson’s upcoming release of an album that revisits some of his great songs, with him singing duets with the likes of Mary J. Blige, James Taylor and Elton John. (It's out as of Wednesday.) Yeah—Elton and Smokey singing “Tracks of My Tears”:

But the interview itself is just wonderful. The man is more than a living legend; he’s living history—and future-history-in-process. Oh, yeah—Diana Ross? One of the “fifty groups just in our neighborhood”. How about the more than 4000 songs he’s written? Anyone else worried that Universal/Comcast has them all stashed away in their soul-crushing corporate dragon-hoard depths? And—you want to keep your singing voice for decades? Forget the hot tea with lemon and honey, baby; practice yoga. It’s all connected.

Well, apologies to any early risers in Sunnyvale yesterday, who were greeted on their paper-fetching run by the sight of a middle-aged redheaded chick boogying past their rancher with fingers snapping and hips swinging. Because Smokey and Steven Tyler singing “You Really Got a Hold on Me” is my new jam.

For which I am deeply grateful.