I saw Diana Ross in Santa Rosa last night and she looks amazing and sounds like she is in her twenties. I don't know what she's doing healthwise, but she needs to keep on doing it, because she put on a seamless, near perfect show comprised of classic hits from her Supremes and Diana Ross songbooks, and did a superb jazz set that would have gone on longer if an electronic glitch hadn't stopped the show cold at the end of a jawdropping "Don't Explain." The smokin' band pumped and percolated on megaversions of Motown classics like "My World Is Empty Without You" and "Love Child," and the ecstatic audience was reduced enmasse to tears during "Touch Me in the Morning." She changed costumes four times and mugged and grinned like a little girl throughout. Diana Ross assured us that, yes, she still loves us and yes, she has still got it!
For those expecting the Britney Spears record to be a dreadful debacle, "Blackout" is out and, surprise! It is simply the best, most consistent dance-pop record in ages, even better than Madonna's brillliant "Confessions on the Dance Floor" because it is all pop perfection, no pedantic preaching. One of the tunes, "Piece of Me," takes on fame, the papparazzi and her reputation with a chorus that goes, "I'm Mrs. Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous, I"m Mrs. Ohmygod that Britney shamus; I'm Mrs. extra dextra this just in, I'm Mrs. she's too big, now she's too thin" and makes it addictive. Right now, I have to listen to this CD and particularly that song on a daily basis, and that is real rare for me. Excellent excellent excellent and, yes, Britney has still got it!
