A Journey Through Soul and Dance
Movin’ Melvin Brown has always had a way of moving forward, both literally and metaphorically. Just 15 years ago, he talked his way into becoming a tapper as well as a singer, and since then, he has continued to move up in the world of performance. This Texan-based song and dance man might be old enough to have opened for early James Brown gigs back in the day, but he still possesses the energy to perform his fast-paced shows for 50 weeks a year.
Brown, who doesn’t reveal his age, jokingly says he’s “between 20 and 60,” brings his new all-singing, all-dancing show Soul to Soul (I Have a Dream!) to Chapel Off Chapel for six nights starting next Tuesday. The show is a celebration of soul music, combining tributes to legends like Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, and Otis Redding with his own songs and an array of dance moves, including tap, juke, clogging, and even robotic dancing.
“I give people an understanding of where the term came from and what it really is about. Soul music has a history, so I talk about how the term came about and the conditions that it came from,” Brown explains, dressed in his red tuxedo before the upcoming shows.
A Career Spanning Decades
Brown started out with a doo-wop band in the early 1960s, later performing with his Movin’ Soothen’ and Stone Funk band. However, most of his dance moves came later in life. In an effort to make himself more attractive to festival organizers, Brown told a small lie 15 years ago that led to some serious fast-tracked studying.
“I told a guy I wanted to appear at his festival, and he asked what I did,” Brown recalls. “I said I could sing, and there was a silence at the end of the line—so I said, ‘And I can tap dance!’ I had to learn it in six months.”
As Brown busts out some impromptu moves on the Southbank and an appreciative crowd gathers around, it’s hard to believe he hasn’t been tapping since he was a child. “I could dance before that, but not tap—I think if you can dance, you can tap,” he says.
A Multifaceted Performer
In addition to his singing and dancing, Brown also writes music and has worked as a singing telegram man, a prison counsellor, and a minister. As well as movin’, Brown, it seems, can turn his hand to any form of entertaining—something he believes many of today’s artists lack.
“I still love the idea of the song and dance man—I guess Michael Jackson was kind of a culmination of all those older song and dance men… that’s why I loved to watch him. Of course, all the people thought it was new—it wasn’t new! He just put it all together,” he says.
“You just don’t see that any more. When people see my show, they think it’s really great—even the young kids get tripped off at the tap dancing.”
Giving Back to the Community
Brown pours most of his performance profits into a homeless project in his hometown of Austin, Texas, on which he has been working for years. He spends just three or four weeks a year at home, dedicating most of his time to his work and performances.
Assuming he’s closer to 60 than 20—”you’re probably right,” he says, laughing—surely that’s a hell of a workload? “I came from the song and dance man era—Jackie Wilson, James Brown, Sammy Davis Junior—if you enjoy it and keep doing it, you just keep getting the energy to do it. It works of itself,” Brown says. “And of course, I love doing it.”
The Closure of Melbourne’s City Museum
Sad Sunday as City Museum closes up. Melbourne’s popular City Museum will close its doors for good on Sunday, after 14 years of operation. Located in the Old Treasury building at the top of Collins Street, the museum—a not-for-profit organisation—has been a showcase for Melbourne’s social history.
The decision to close the museum was made last December by Tourism and Major Events minister Tim Holding, who said the Old Treasury building was an “extraordinary architectural icon” that could be better utilised. The closure will allow for the expansion of the Victorian Marriage Registry, which is also housed in the 19th-century building.
“I think it’s an upsetting event for the museum culture in Melbourne,” says the museum’s senior curator, Kate Luciano.
The museum, which operates on an annual budget of only $600,000, attracted about 35,000 tourists last year and reached a record 10,000 visitors for its latest seasonal exhibition, The Toy Box.
“It’s a bizarre decision to close a museum which has a steadily increasing visitation rate and a successful public program,” Luciano says. “We are such a large, vibrant and cultured city that I feel there is a place for multiple cultural institutions telling the story of Melbourne. After this Sunday, the artefacts will be returned to the private lenders, who are devastated that the public won’t have the opportunity to see their amazing collection any more.”
