motown was in detroit. we were teenagers just holding on waiting for the next 45.were raised in a church where we had to go every night. necessaryr thought it that we do something musically such as singing and playing to keep us interested in the church. playing some of those motown songs during the service. , weonly thing different would change the words, the lyrics to the songs. ,avis: you'd kept the groove but you change the words. my god ♪ tavis: how did that go over? >> my grandmother and the people at the church, we headed crowd if if we had 25 people, they would have fits over it. they loved it. back in the day, we were in a church building, the windows were up. people would be lined up all around the building looking through the screens. but they would not come to church, they would listen to us through the screens. one we took music out of monroe, it even to progressive places are spirits were bruised because we got put out of a couple of churches. i can remember clearly like it happened yesterday, we were in chicago, i did a song called and somebodys?' ye

motown to the world. >> stephen: whatever. >> but whatever. details, right. >> stephen: yeah. what can detroit do to pull itself up by its own bootstraps before we give it a bailout? doesn't detroit have to make an effort? what about selling the art from the detroit institute of art? that-- that was bought when you gierpz the fourth largest city. you don't need that much culture anymore. >> right. ( laughter ) one of the things about the d.i.a. that's important is it's like a park or like another physical attribute of the city. selling it would prevent the city from being the great place that it could be-- >> stephen: you can keep the building. just sell off what's inside of it, you know. >> i should admit that my wife is the marketing directort museum. >> stephen: another does she have an inside scoop-- >> if you really are interested in art, i probably could get you-- >> stephen: you put this down on a picasso. >> absolutely. >> stephen: all right. maybe a lady, something with an even number of breasts, please. >> all right, all right. i'll

motown grew into one of the greatest cities. after population loss, and mismanagement, detroit is admitting it's broke. the automobile capital of the world, and once america's iconic intril town is filing for bankruptcy. $18 billion in debt. detroit's the biggest u.s. city ever to do so. overnight, residents reacted to the news. >> detroit can't even have their own business. that's sad. >> enough time to straighten it out. so, i guess, if you can't handle it themselves, someone else will. >> reporter: the governor of michigan authorized the bankruptcy. >> detroit's broke. >> reporter: detroit mayor dave bing preferred the city work on its problems outside of bankruptcy court. >> now that we're here, we have to make the best of it. >> reporter: detroit was once the nation's fourth-largest city. home to 1.8 million in 1950. those were motown's glory years. today, nearly 700,000 people live in detroit. the land area is far too big for its population. 78,000 abandoned buildings. crime is rampant. residents wait for 58 minutes for po

motown woes: will detroit's bankrupty plan hit a road block? in today's cover story, why a new line of gadgets has tech companies scrambling to stay connected to consumers. plus, the walls have eyes: extremes retailers are going to to check out shopper habits. and, move over weight watchers - the nation that has a shiny new incentive to shed pounds. first business starts now! you're watching first business: financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas. good morning! it's monday, july 22. i'm angela miles. in today's first look: earnings could move the market this week. friday, the dow dropped 5, held up in part by a rally in ge and honeywell. the nasdaq dropped 23, held back by disappointing earnings from google and microsoft. the s&p gained 3 points. gold moved up $11, and oil pushed higher above $108. a google mystery unfolds this week as the tech giant reveals a new product wednesday. the odds-on favorite is that a new tablet will be unvieled. and, sakes for sale: shares zipped up 8% friday on a report the retailer is attracting se

the motown stuff. i just saw the play "motown." it was uplifting positive stuff. want to be clear though. is al sharpton friends with lil wayne, does he like lil wayne, is he trying to do something good for lil wayne? >> youtube the video, lil wayne, this is reverend sharpton, in 2008 for six minutes makes a record. that's not the person i would have signed with, but i don't know the business deal. i don't know the business deal. >> i don't know why sharpton would inject himself. if mountain dew wants to get rid of lil wayne because of this terrible rap, all right, why would sharpton insert himself into that? what was the reason? >> maybe he thought he could handle it. >> all right. you don't know what the reason is though? there wasn't a defined reason why sharpton shows up for this? >> well, normally when organizations deal with big companies, with pepsi, there's contributions that happen to organizations. >> no, i understand that. by bu do you think sharpton was in there trying to get money? >> no. but look. a month and a half after it happened, he announced si

and let's look at what helped to bring down the mighty motown. it w the known 50s and 2 million people livein detroit. jobs were plentiful and the detroit economy was hot. enter collective bargaining and union influence over free market capitalism. and $0.19. 400,000 gm workers walked off and they got what they wanted. huge wage hike. that single event sealed the event of the motor city. over the next four decades the jobs fled to nonunion state and detroit's population imploded and the once vibrant economy is 18 billion in the hole and un. the sits at mind- blowing 16.9 percent. detroit is bankrupt and largest to go bankrupt in our history. that is what happens. >> sad story indeed and we are here to start solution. how can broke, broke detroit fix their mess and many other cities on the verge in america? >> they need to start by liquidating the public sector pengdzs. progressive policies as you point out 18 billion in liabilities. there needs two phases. liquidation phase and parasites and they suck it dry. it is dead. we need to liquidate the

we come to los angeles and look ninth grade and we were bombarded with motown.ng the temptations, all these different people. we did what everybody did. we for the young vocal group and started singing rhythm and blues. we brought to rhythm-and-blues lo, four freshman and calais. we sang barbershop harmony. tavis: you started singing. >> i mother was a singer. -- my mother was a singer. she was shy. she had a great singing voice. tavis: how did you get scobee out of his shyness? to come backk scotty with an illness. he got sick and they removed one of his ribs. lo and behold, i am thrust without him to do what he used to do and i was not that good that. i had been in vietnam. it had to swim or drowned. i ended up making it. was a new back, scott guy. he was not afraid anymore. the microphone did not scare him. for some reason when he got back he was a bonafide lead singer. tavis: true story? >> it was a true story. i wanted to look at the girls. i did not want nobody looking at me. hit all the notes, i have the chops. the one with the beard was the big guy. i wo

bankrupt despite the bailout and before our "cashin' in" city council pipes in, what brought 79 mighty motown. >> world leader in auto manufacturing. jobs were plentiful. detroit economy was hot. and enter collective bargaining and unions begin to flex their muscles. in 1970, 400,000 gm workers walked off the auto lines for 67 days. they got what they wanted, a huge wage hike and big concessions. that single event helped seal the fate. motor city. over the next four decades, it drove the auto industry away. jobs went to non-union states. the ones vibrant economy is now $18 billion in the hole and unemployment sits at a mind-blowing 16.3%. detroit is bankrupt. largest u.s. system to go bankrupt in our country. it's perfect example when union demands prevails. >> we are here to find solutions. how can broke be fixed and many other states on the verge in america? >> they need to start by liquidating these public sector pensions. it's a progressive policies, $18 billion in liabilities on a city that has 700,000 people in it. there needs to be in my opinion, there needs to be a liquidation phase.

known as the birthplace of the american auto industry and the iconic motown records, the city has racked up at least $18 billion in debt listing more than 100,000 creditors. it now becomes the largest city in u.s. history to file for chapter 9. it's an absolutely stunning but not entirely surprising turn of events for that city. detroit's population for a little bit of history here, it soared during the rise of the auto industry in the 20th country back in 1950. now the population has fallen to just over 700,000 and a 6% plunge in the past decade. unemployment rate over 18%. the city really has never recovered from the housing crisis either. today, close to 80,000 hopes ha have been abandoned. if you go there, you can see how streets go from occupied to unoccupied to abandoned to desolate with grass growing in the streets. the median value of the ones still occupied is below $40,000. crime also a major problem. the city's homicide rate at historically high levels ranking among america's most dangerous cities for more than 20 years. the future of detroit remains pretty unclear for now. th

average of file for bankruptcy, detroit, the cradle of the american auto industry and the home of motown music, is broke. >> $18 billion in the red, the city, once one of america's proudest, faces an even more uncertain future. >> detroit is a ghost of its glorious past. and the buildings haunt the streets of motor city. ford and general motors have taken most of their business elsewhere, leaving behind soaring unemployment and crime rates. the population has shrunk from 1.8 million in 1950 to less than 700,000 today. 1/3 lives in poverty, but some are still hopeful. >>makeke t citizens better off than this is a new start for us. >> in march, the state of michigan hired a financial expert. he decided that insolvency was the city's best option. >> as far as things are concerned for the provision of services and the conduct of city business, it is business in the ordinary course. services will remain open. paychecks will be made. bills will be paid. nothing changes from the standpoint of the ordinary citizen's per spec. >> but detroit's creditors may now have to swallow a huge loss on thei

it's worth mentioning, i just saw motown the musical.job demonstrating how much motown impacted social movements and the civil rights movement. so i want you to talk to us a little bit about how these artists from the '60s and early '70s can set an example for folks that are now artists now that are working on stand your ground against florida, boycotting florida because of what just happened with trayvon martin. what are a couple of the best practices they can utilize as they continue to go forward? >> well, you know, music has to start by being great music. and great music reaches a lot of people. and the people who are doing the reaching, the musicians associated with these songs, have an opportunity to stand up for things. i've been thinking a lot about, you know, how in 1964 when the song cale out, the whole argument of black power was that you know, you can have integration but it doesn't mean that blacks and whites are equal, it doesn't mean they'll be treated equal or that they'll have equal rights. and you know, this country has

but first, our other top story tonight, motown is no town. as the nation's biggest investor said yesterday. can washington step in and save detroit? so today michigan's governor said the motor city's abysmal financial condition left him no choice but to approve the nation's biggest public sector bankruptcy in history. but vice president joe biden actually seemed to open the door to the federal government getting involved. >> can we help detroit? we are now going through exactly in detail what -- we had a meeting yesterday, just getting a brief on the status, the question is we don't know at this point. >> but white house press secretary jay carney tried to distance the administration and i think he pretty clearly tried to do this, but listen for yourself. >> you have heard leaders in michigan say and we believe they're correct that this is an issue that has to be resolved between michigan and detroit and the creditors. >> so is bankruptcy the right way to go and the only way to go? or is this a case of the nation standing back while the birth

detroit was once a thriving american city, home to motown and the model t ford. it is the largest american city to the clear bankruptcy. after a population that shrunk to less than a million now, detroit is simply broke. look at the painful decision and the impact it is going to have on citizens. >> detroit has welcome to a new reality. its financial ruin is complete. , mismanagement, and population decline have taken their toll. the city that was once a symbol of america's industrial might has gone broke. >> this is our opportunity to stop 60 years of decline. this is fundamental. if anyone liked the detroit of five years ago, 15 years ago -- how long has this gone on and people have not said, stop kicking the can down the road and do something? >> the automotive industry opens war on unemployment. >> they have sent telegrams to thousands of employees, calling them to the factories. >> detroit helped to the middle class. the city put america on wheels. the packard plant became an emblem of industrial might. now, it stands as a monument to better times. the packa

average of file for bankruptcy, detroit, the cradle of the american auto industry and the home of motown music, is broke. >> $18 billion in the red, the city, once one of america's proudest, faces an even more uncertain future. >> detroit is a ghost of its glorious past. and the buildings haunt the streets of motor city. ford and general motors have taken most of their business elsewhere, leaving behind soaring unemployment and crime rates. the population has shrunk from 1.8 million in 1950 to less than 700,000 today. 1/3 lives in poverty, but some are still hopeful. >> this is very difficult for all of us, but if it is going to make the citizens better off than this is a new start for us. >> in march, the state of michigan hired a financial expert. he decided that insolvency was the city's best option. >> as far as things are concerned for the provision of services and the conduct of city business, it is business in the ordinary course. services will remain open. paychecks will be made. bills will be paid. nothing changes from the standpoint of the ordinary citizen's per spec. >> but de

plus a tribute to the jackson 5 from "motown, the music al." wendy has the details.ow, here's wendy! ♪

our cover story takes a look at what's next, including a chance that motown may become no-town. in the 1950's, detroit was america's fifth largest city, with 1.8 million residents - and motor city built nearly all the cars sold in america. 60 years later, competition from japan and europe has cut the big 3's u.s. market share by more than half. gm leads at 18.1%; ford, 16.5%; and chrysler, 11.6%, for a combined 46.2%. "where detroit went wrong was not diversifying their industrial base, the manufacturing base. that's what went wrong." detroit's population is now 700,000, spread out across 140 square miles, some neighborhoods, barely populated. now, faced with a shrinking tax base, cutbacks in detroit's share of state funds and $18.2 billion in unfunded liabilities - $3.5 billion in pensions - detroit could no longer borrow what it needed. pensioners say don't blame them. so far, michigan's governor says pensions will remain intact for six months. "but after that, it's all in the hands of the judge. and what he'll decide is unknown." but economist lawrence officer thinks it's unl

motown now the largest u.s. city er to file for bankruptcy, and already some are calling for a federal ilout instead. gary. says no way, no how, huh? >> exactly, brenda. i'm not anti-detroit. i used to live right outside detroit. i think it's a great city which still has great potential, but you have to remember, brenda, this is a city that in the '60s had the highest per capita income in the country. it was living high on the hog, and it deserved it. it was powering the country's industry for the better part of our -- the last 100 years or so, but ey lived high on the og, and they -- and they are paying the price now. they increased the pensions. they hired this, you know, public workforce that they found incapable of firing, so now they are ying their due. it's like the child that eats just too much candy. you don't reward it. that's what the government would be doing. saying, okay, you know, your bad behavior, it's okay, we'll give you money, which by the way the united states does not have. >> we've bailed o

on decades of decline or more of our factory jobs are shipped overseas other cities go the way of motown talk about that and more big picture rumble and when barack obama was first elected president in two thousand and eight thirty in the media said that we had entered a post racial era would a colorblind society have let george zimmerman walk free alas dr cornel west in tonight's conversations with great lines.

auto industry and the motown hit music machine in the 1960s.ppled by an estimated $18.5 billion in debt, which could be chalked up to several reasons. detroit's population has dropped by 25% in the past decade, cutting into tax revenues, a quarter of the city's buildings are abandoned and public services have crumbled. the ranks of retirees now outnumber the city's active workers by a more than 2 to 1 ratio. local and state officials say while they wanted to avoid this move, they saw no other option. >> one of the things that i want to say to our citizens is that as tough as this is, i really didn't want to go in this direction, but now that we are here, we have to make the best of it. >> people i've been trying to work through to a resolution in good faith for some time now and as rod was going through, he mentioned the fact that the view that many people may say this is the lowest point in detroit's history, but if we weren't to do this, the way i view it, detroit would continue going downhill. and so isn't it time to say let's stop. >> the b

my mother listened to motown, stax, atlantic, from roberta flack, aretha franklin, stevie wonder, you know. "chuck, do your chores." and you've got music playing, just, you know, seeping into your bloodstream and ear stream. and my father liked jazz here and there. but i was mainly into sports. i was into the organization of sports, and a lot of black folks made strong inroads into sports, and that captivated my interests. and the whole hip-hop thing that hit me in the middle of the 1970s got me into the music, because it was the technical aspect of it. technology. two turntables, a mixer, a microphone. i was totally confused. i was like, "why do they need two turntables? in case the one over there breaks down?" [laughter] "this person is very prepared." but that struck me as being, you know, something to get involved with this thing called hip-hop and rap music. and then if you study rap music, you will understand that it's not a music. it's rap, a vocal application over music, and the musics have already been defined as soul, jazz, rhythm and blues, then rock and roll, and so on and

successful as an automobile center but it produced some of the greatest music of the twentieth century motown sound was as important a shaper of world music as detroit was a shaper of world automobiles and world capitalism and along the way the workers demanded a share of all of this capitalist prosperity they after all did the work and the united auto workers became an emblematic union it won good wages it won good benefits it can arguably be stated that the auto workers shaped the whole notion of the american middle class the american dream of that middle class that they could have a standard of living that included a home a car a college education for your child so yes this was capitalism as it works best up until the one nine hundred sixty s. at that point and this has to be faced as an honest statement detroit has been the emblem of capitalism at its worst of forty year decline that neither the auto industry nor the government of the state of michigan nor the government of this city of detroit nor the federal government had any clue how to reverse and so we now must sit in a final chapte

. ♪ whenever i'm with him >> reporter: and the motown glory years of fast cars and soul music are longone. now the homicide rate at its highest in 40 years. dubbed murder city with 78,000 abandoned buildings, 63% of its population gone. so empty the city of paris could fit inside the vacant space. today the michigan governor announced the unavoidable. bankruptcy. >> detroit is broke. >> reporter: detroit now hoping to start over. >> it's an opportunity for a fresh start. >> reporter: one of the ideas, downsizing. >> we could become the greenest city in the country because of the land that we have. >> reporter: the bitter pill of being the largest american city to ever fold, stiffing creditors, cutting pensions while hoping to offer its citizens some way out. jim avila, abc news, washington. >>> next tonight we want to take you to the middle east where you go inside a growing crises, the u.s. secretary of state already there on the scene and take a look at it now. we are talking about the sheer reach of the humanity, an endless stretch of people in a refugee camp in jordan. they're syri

within a few months, motown had left him too.ct without ever putting out an album. how much of a blow was that when they dropped you? >> the biggest blow. that was a hard phone call to call my mom and dad and say, i'm no longer a signed artist. and i've got to rethink this whole thing. >> reporter: broke, he started going to pawn shops. his guitars were all he had left to sell. going home to honolulu was tempting but he resisted. >> if i moved back to hawaii, i felt like i would have never made it back up here. i would have been at the polynesian review with a ukelele and an aloha shirt singing elvis tunes. again. >> reporter: so he teamed up with two other songwriters: philip lawrence and ari levine. ♪ >> reporter: their goal? to write a hit song. >> we knew that we could do it. if we kept going, if we kept trying, if we kept pushing, we were going to write the song that's going to change our lives. >> reporter: and it did. yeah. wrote a few songs that changed our lives. you see the jewelry. ♪ all over the world >> reporter: per

on decades of decline or more of our factory jobs are shipped overseas other cities go the way of motown talk about that and more tonight's big picture romper and what barack obama was first elected president in two thousand and eight thirty in the media said that we had entered a post racial era so would a colorblind society have let george zimmerman walk free alas dr cornel west in tonight's conversations with great lines.

motown stalls and bankruptcy for america's former symbol of manufacturing might as a trade buckles under more than eight hundred billion dollars of debt that's what our dot com. washington has plans ready for supporting syrian rebels with a military force and the president is considering whether to use them and they were revealed by barack obama's top military adviser as he spoke before the u.s. senate this is as the free syrian army raises the alarm over al qaeda alleged plans to create a terrorist state in the north of the country extremists reportedly plan to use land captured by the rebels pushing out. more moderate opposition and seizing its weapons and oil smuggling routes world affairs journalist neil clark believes that the terrorist threats could be a pretext for the rebels to secure western internet and. it's interesting isn't it when president assad was warning about al-qaeda in syria from twenty eleven all of which he was dismissed by the west you scaremongering etc he was saying that al-qaeda was coming to her in syria and now we're hearing this from the f.s.a. it was intere

was detroit's contribution of the culture and the grown house and immortal moves of bare goredy's motownound and nudgent and mcfoif and america's pop culture and influenced and if not shaped as much as our taste for tires and chrome seats. and america was rocked by the race riots of the '60s and the pollerization and the beginning of the population decloin. chapter eight, detroit utterly ruined by corruption of the local government and union demands for a bigger piece of a shrinking poi. the city's government didn't have the will to reign in the corruption or the guts to say no to the unions and that took them to chapter nine bankruptcy. the saddest part of the detroit story, not that it is a failed city who couldn't. it is the story of one of the world's great and most successful city and was willing to sell its soul for lesser things and tolerate unthinkable things. >> the unemployment rate tripled and street lights don't work regularly than the people. 40 percent of the street lights stay dark. and for 20 years tis considered one of america's most dangerous cities and takes police in

majority of detroit's people left a city that could not function detroit was also the place where the motown sound came from something that shaped world music all of this is been destroyed and it's a catastrophe and the worst of it is three or four years ago when things were bleak in this country that the depth of our current crisis of two out thousand eight and nine the federal government used all of our taxpayer money to bail out the car companies of detroit all of them one way or another but it never bailed out the people of detroit and now it is telling them not only that it's not going to bail them out but that they're going to try to revive this city by not paying thirty thousand people's pensions pensions they paid into pension they negotiate the goshen with the city and honesty and this is the most grotesque process imaginable for coping with a system failure or bob do you agree that that what we're seeing right now in detroit and detroit is really just systemic and inherent in the economic. system or gets a microcosm for what's going on here in the u.s. and unfortunately too many pr

was detroit's contribution of the culture and the grown house and immortal moves of bare goredy's motownound and nudgent and mcfoif and america's pop culture and influenced and if not shaped as much as our taste for wild tires and chrome seats. and america was rocked by the race riots of the '60s and the pollerization and the beginning of the population decloin. chapter eight, detroit utterly ruined by corruption of the local government and union demands for a bigger piece of a shrinking poi. the city's government didn't have the will to reign in the corruption or the guts to say no to the unions and that took them to chapter nine bankruptcy. the saddest part of the detroit story, not that it is a failed city who couldn't. it is the story of one of the world's great and most successful city and was willing to sell its soul for lesser things and tolerate unthinkable things. >> the unemployment rate tripled and street lights don't work regularly than the people. 40 percent of the street lights stay dark. and for 20 years tis considered one of america's most dangerous cities and takes polic

majority of detroit's people left a city that could not function detroit was also the place where the motown sound came from something that shaped world music all of this is been destroyed and it's a catastrophe and the worst of it is three or four years ago when things were bleak in this country that the depths of our current crisis of two out thousand eight and nine the federal government used all of our taxpayer money to bail out the car companies of detroit all of them one way or another but it never bailed out the people of detroit and now it is telling them not only that it's not going to bail them out but that they're going to try to revive the city by not paying thirty thousand people's pensions pensions they paid into pension they go to the goshen with the city and honesty and this is the most grotesque process imaginable for coping with a system failure or bob do you agree that that what we're seeing right now in detroit and detroit is really just systemic and inherent in the economic. system gets a microcosm for what's going on here in the u.s. and unfortunately too many promises