MOTOR CITY ALL-STARS HAVE THE RHYTHM AND THE BLUES
By Kerri Garcia

Chapter One highlights the hits of Motown at Harrah's Reno

Back by popular demand, the Motor City All-Stars Rhythm and Blues Revue is back in Sammy's Showroom, June 16 through September 3. This musical tribute is a superior hour of entertainment, built around the music of Detroit, bringing back both an era and a musical style that many have grown up with. Motown is back, only at Harrah's Reno.
"These songs have a romantic quality we don't have anymore and may never have again," says John Stone, founder and leader of Chapter One, the quartet starring in Greg Thompson's "Motor City All-Stars Rhythm and Blues Revue" in Sammy's Showroom. "There's really no music out there right now that our children's children will be able to look back on as fondly as we do this music."
Adrian "A.J." Jackson, William Mount, and Vernon Taylor are also in Chapter One, and together with Stone they provide an evening of classic song, starting with the group that preceded and influenced the Motown sound, the Mills Brothers, and culminating with the ultimate Detroit group, The Temptations.
Chapter One has been in existence for 36 years, started by Stone when he was going to junior high on Philadelphia's north side. The group quickly became one of the city's top acts. The current members all have extensive backgrounds, having been members of classic groups like the Coasters, Platters, and Drifters.
"Motor City All-Stars" is, as one critic expressed it, "a revue". It is not a tribute show. It is not an impression show. It is a superior hour of entertainment, built around the music of Detroit and performed by four Philadelphia gentlemen who somehow have enough talent to match, and sometimes surpass, that city's best."
Whethere they go "Up on the Roof,""Under the Boardwalk" or take a walk "On Broadway," Chapter One knows how to sing this music and how to present it with full choreography, reproducing with Motown flair the moves that made this style famous every bit as much as the melodies did.
"My Girl," "Charlie Brown," "Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch," "Yakety Yak" and many more timeless songs are included, along with a show-stopping harder-edged "Papa Was a Rolling Stone." The show's location, in Sammy's Showroom, named after Sammy Davis Jr., adds even more to its allure. Many of the singers included in the revue have performed on this stage.
"I feel surrounded by legends," says Stone. "They were all here. Every night when I leave the room, I look up at his picture and say, 'Thanks, Sam.'"