and marvin gaye was telling us what we needed to hear with "what's going on."lbum should be called "what's really happening," instead of "what's going on." what's really happening today. and i would invite my brother, barack obama, to listen to marvin gaye "what's going on" and john coaltrain and he can follow his advice instead of constantly being in fear of trying to please people who live in fear. because we trust in him. that's our love for him. when you love someone, you trust, you know? and we trust, we love him, we trust him because we believe that he is anointed to take us to the place where martin luther king used to say, the promised land. obama and the promised land, you know. the only way to get there is to go with the only reality. the only reality that exists in this planet is god's love. everything else is an illusion. you can see it 24 hours on every channel, cable or satellite. it's fear. and for me, where i am today, it's like this is why i'm doing -- my new year's resolution was like to do everything that i said that i would never do. and i p

once i found out that those guys had a melody, my earliest memory is marvin gaye saying can you hear it? does the song play in your head? you are a songwriter. >tavis: that council from marvin gaye notwithstanding, how do you find the confidence as a songwriter when you are in a room with smoke robinson and stevie wonder? i am talking about songwriting. how do you find your confidence in the university? >> very easy. when you are 19 or 20 or 21 years old, there is a confidence called youth. i can take that route. do you know what i'm saying? the reach of brandoyo ofu reach -- you reach out and go he is human. when you are 19 and you win wi mbledon, and you look back and say i won. i do not know what? -- possessed me except you and arrogance. i felt that i could take this company on. tavis: those of us who read "vanity fair" were delighted when we saw the issue with kate winslet. >> is understand. -- in understand. tavis: i saw this wonderful piece on the 50th anniversary of motown. that picture right there, that is suzanne on the phone working a deal. she was sheberry -- she was with

>> yes, becausee found a way to underand why marvin gaye or coaltrain o bob marley, ty enter place ofwhen they go into this -- for basketball players, it's th zonend the grove. we have a beautiful sing that says when eteity nears, time disappears. and when you catch that groe, then you enter into that place where, like i said, marvin gaye or miles or coaltrain, they're here, you know, they're reay, really here. and so when i hear music and i go knit, that's whe i bng my band and myself, into that place where time disappears, gravity disappears, illusions dispear, and youo right into the center ofour light. and that's the only place to rlly hang out. tavis: i like that. maybe i'll g there one day. >> you're there already. can tell by the light in your es you're therelready. tavis: sound like a nice place to hang out. you mentioned marvin a couple of times already. yesterda of course, 25th anniversar of marvin's death. y mentioned his name a couple of times what do you make of marvin's stuff 25 years aft his death? >> he'sore relevant tha ever. him and coaltrain and bob marley. if it wa

the picture of me, marvin gaye, and the kids. then there was another one, this person will go unnamed, she did not speak the english language too good. she had a really cute daughter. that is why we were acquaintances. she swore up and down that " little red corvette" was "pay the rent correct." tavis: i am a fast learner. i cannot point to read any of these on the air. i am going to ask you about the lyrical content. for those of you who do not have the record, you can go on line and follow along. since we mentioned "dreamer" first, tell me about it. >> when i saw the state of the black union, dick gregory really moved me and a lot of my friends

one time they said the lyrics to "when doves' cry" take a look at the picture of me, marvin gaye,

marvin gaye was the biggest pop singer that motown had ever seen with his stature and everything. ou're wonderful one, pride and joy. all the stuff that he did, "i heard it through the grapevine," marvin was our superstar single male and i was his manager. so when he came up with this protest record, this protest record, police brutality, all of these things that were vietnam war. wait a minute, this is my sex symbol guy and all of a sudden he is coming in and, you know, that's kind of rough. but i was more concerned about him as his manager. so i'm saying, marvin, do you really want to come out, police brutality, vietnam war, you got this great career going? we want back and forth and he was -- but marvin was the kind of person, had to know that marvin was the kind of person that would just disagree to disagree. i mean, he had a long history when he came into the company, he wanted to do frank sinatra songs period. marvin, i want you to be you. be who you are, you know. so he did this album and it was a beautiful great album, but it didn't sell. in fact, i used to tell him, i said

toay about nick and val, they were at t and their first rord that they came in, i believe iwas the marvin gayerecord marvin and tammy and their record jt won has down. but they were incredible. tavis: he tells the story wha scared him waso that meeting that you describe aboutruth, right before he got up, they had voted down a numberf other records. th person before him was smey. on that particular day, smokey's record t voted down. heaid that was it for him a val. he kw he was in trouble. he played the record an y'all toohim in and the rt is history. ey started writing hits for mown. >> they we awesome because their record was so stron and theyere just great all the way. in fact, they we single-handedly responsib for diana ross' single career. they wrote the wle alb. those peopl they were awesome. tavis: this is a story tt i have hrd so many times, but its so movg for me a yo ha been so humble aboutt over the yea that it's worth elling again that is the hit that almost wasn't. you and marvin went back and forth over "wh's going on." y'all went backnd forth, maybe one of e best songs ever writt

>tavis: that council from marvin gaye notwithstding, how do you find the confidence as a songwriter when you are in a room with smoke robinsonand stevie wonde i am talking about songiting. h do you find yo confidce in the university? >> very easy. when yoare 19 or 20 or 21 ars old, there a confidence cald youth. i an take that route. doyou know what i'm saying the reach of brandoyo ofueach -- you reach out and go h is human. whn you are 19 and you winwi mbledon, and you look back nd sa i won. i do not knowhat? -- possessed me except yound arrogance. i felt that i couldake this company on. tavis those of us whoead "vanity ir" re delighted wh we saw the issue with kate winslet. >> is understd. -- innderstand. tavis: i saw this wonderf piece on the 50th anniversary of motown. thatictureight there, that is suzan on th phone working deal. she was sheberry -- she was th berry gordy and without his shirt is onelichie. >> that did a lo tavis: are you getting pne calls? >>i spent most of my career telling ladies donot call me daddy. harlow ca alongnd they started calng me grandpa. mine you can ca

his legendary status was cemented when friend marvin gaye use the "sugar shack" as his classic "i want you" album. the exposure gained the international world acclaim but it almost didn't happen i. didn't want to do that album cover. i had a big argument with marvin about that, because i didn't want to be known as an album cover artist, but just so happened that the money from berry gordy got so good that i couldn't say no. >> reporter: know high-profile opportunity thrust barnes work to more acclaim where when famed tv producer norman lear had an idea. >> i asked norman to become a sponsor, and as a result herbs said, i'll tell you what, we're working on a show called "the black family." that's what it was called during that time, and we have 16, 18-year-old kid we don't know what to do with, but after talking to you and learning your background, we're going to make him an artist. >> the black family became the ground-breaking tv show "good times" and thanks to ernie barnes, the character j.j. became an artist. he continued to attract the famous, kanye west to create the rapper's foun

one time they said the lyrics to "when doves' cry" take a look at the picture of me, marvin gaye, and kids. then there was another one, this person will go unnamed, she did not speak the english language too good. she had a really cute daughter. that is why we were acquaintances. she swore up and down that " little red corvette" was "pay the rent correct." tavis: i am a fast learner. i cannot point to read any of these on the air. i am going to ask you about the lyrical content. for those of you who do not have the record, you can go on line and follow along. since we mentioned "dreamer" first, tell me about it. >> when i saw the state of the black union, dick gregory really moved me and a lot of my friends and showed me this. they need to hear that so that they know more about all of us. what he said affects all of us. he said something that really hit home about this phenomenon. when i was a kid i used to see these trails in the sky all of the time. that is cool. a jet just went over. then you started to see a whole bunch of them. the next thing you know, everyone in your neighborho

marvin gaye is dead. these people have died to fight. they followed me.- and i said this 50th coming up is for them. it's not for me me. -- for these unsung heroes. because motown people that came through the time that came through cannot, not love each other. will's nothing that anybody can do about it -- there's nothing that anybody can do about it. even the white people, they came to work on 12th street in detroit, in the midst of the riots. and i said you guys better stay home. [laughter] >> you guys better be cool. get out of here. no, we come to work. we were there. and they were like brothers to us. you know? and they had a different kind barney who ran the whole thing was a genius operation man. but he was italian. and there was people who were jewish. and then there was a crew that was mid eastern. and then there was phil jones. and i think one other person was all there. and they were like brothers to us. and they fought. it was something. so my whole thing is this is the 50th. i want these people to know that nothing has changed. you know, we'r

marvin gaye park, it's this saturday. it's going to be a huge deal. from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.t's completely free, which is amazing. they have brought in amazing big names from the hip hop world. and ledgeagend head rock. there are will be stuff for kids and food and bring your lawn chair and camp out for the day. >> and the spy museum has a game of intrigue for kids. >> yeah, i love this. kids and adults can play this. le let you be a spy. they give you a gps gadget, and you carry itround with you, and you try to solve the spy mission. clues come in through your gadget, your device. have you to decode, you know, hidden messages. you have to sort of solve this threat to national security. win. >> how cool. it gets you outside of the museum. >> yeah, good for them. >> thank you, ellen. >>ouin c fddan these stories and a lot more events going on this weekend on the web, go to the around town section of nbcwashington.com, or visit the post.com/weekend. >>> and pat, it's good to see you. >> happy friday. >> same to you. >> we will continue to follow the developing story working in

that's in marvin gaye park in washington, d.c.moving on, we have got method c.man on on the i love those . gu ustoen gu tothem all the time and coming up rdsat aytu a saturday at 7 p.sojan son jawit opening act g loveveand the special sauce. that's going down at the post pavilion in maryland. coy untrlly you country bradion adpaisley. tutae pkirrtoacowmo ngkie actor sasarday rday, doors enop ayat 7:30. th i placatat the nissan pavilion in virginia. lly,ou guys tvehallo go to metro mix.com to check in an th see thscene with sammy k. his latest post is how my sushi turned in to scacchi bombs. if you want to find out what he is talking about go to metro mick.com.com. >> we have been an entertainment, two shows tonight at jammin' java. there are tickets for that so get in on that. good reputation and we heard him at 9:00 a.m. the nats are in town with the padre and the kastles are playing if and they win they are in the championship on sunday. which whoever wins will be here in washington any way. >> they are playing john mcenroe. he'

ma marvin gaye northeast d.c.urday. .t ijungstoibe g to e hug hugeae siit alde it is which is which is inamg.az the inav h brought in amazing bigav memes from the hips op h world. kewen virl kevin wesley will be there. lots of stuff for kids. going to be a lot of food, bring your lawn chair and just camp out for the day. >> perfect. one of the more popular museums these days,py museum, new game of intrigue for kids. >> i love this. kids and adults can play this. they let you be a spy. basically. they give you this gps gadget that you sort of carry around with you and then you are given a spy mission. you have to run around andry on solve this spy mission. and clues come in through your little gadget, through your device. you get videos messages and you have to decode, you know, hidden messages. and you have to sort of solve this threat to national security. and win. >> how cool. it gets you outside of the museum. that's really clever. >> yes. >> good for them. great. you can find the stories and a relo ntt move es