Video blog: Smokey Robinson kicks back (and sings) with Human Nature

By John Katsilometes

Friday, July 31, 2009 | 7:03 p.m.

We just sat and talked, and it was like, “Tell us, Uncle Smokey, about how you discovered that you can’t dance.”

And Smokey Robinson’s green eyes flash and he tells that story.

“Back in the days of Motown,” he starts, sitting between the four members of the vocal act he “presents” at Imperial Palace, Human Nature, “We had artist development, which was school there. It was mandatory. You had to go there, no matter how big you became. The Supremes, at the height of their career, went to artist development two times a week. You had to do that. It was like going to school.”

Mmmm-hmmm.

“We had a choreographer there, a guy who taught vocal arrangements and harmonies and stuff like that,” he continues. “We had a lady named Miss Maxine Powell who taught the girls etiquette and had them walk around with books on their heads to learn posture. We had everything at this school. The choreographer was a guy named Charlie Atkins who was a professional dancer who had been in Vaudeville. He used to tell me all the time -- he used to call me ‘boy’ or ‘son’ -- ‘Boy, I’m so glad you’re the lead singer so I don’t have to teach you these steps. You’ve got three left feet.’ ”

Laughter.

“So it’s good I wasn’t one of the Miracles because they could dance.”

Smokey’s the best, a genuine icon. He took some time off last week, flying in from Chicago and taking a break from a U.S. tour to promote Human Nature. We all sat for an interview on Wednesday at the Flamingo, sister property of the I.P., where Human Nature performs six times a week. Robinson met the Australian quartet four years ago in Sydney, just after he sang his part on “Get Ready” for a Human Nature CD of Motown covers. He was hooked on their vocal stylings after they sang “Get Ready” for him right after their first formal introduction.

A few other notes from the 20-minute session, which you can watch by clicking on the video link (and with little prompting, the guys sing at the end):

*Despite performing six high-energy shows that incorporate precision dance steps during nearly every number, Michael Tierney is still a gym rat. As Robinson said, “We’ve been doing (interviews) since 7 o’clock this morning. I asked Mike what he was going to do afterward, and he said, ‘I might go home, or I might go to the gym. I said, ‘You go to the gym every night at 8 o’clock!’ ”

*The group does an a cappella version of AC/DC’s “TNT,” but declined to uncork that song during the interview because it has been quite a while since they’ve sung it. Too bad.

*Toby Allen says if the group releases an instructional workout video, it will be titled “Physical Nature.”

*One of the legends of vocal groups, Little Anthony, took in a Human Nature show recently. As Andrew Tierney says, “He told us, once you start as a vocal group singer, you’ll always be a vocal group singer. It just feels right.”

*Robinson says the most enduring vocal groups are those whose members have been friends for many years, not the “manufactured” groups that pull in members from different locales. “In order to be in a group, you gotta know the person really, really, really well. Those are the groups that last. It’s almost like being in a marriage.” At which Andrew Tierney added, “Without the sex.”

*Robinson, who played Buffalo Bill’s Star of the Desert Arena in Primm in May, says he has no inclination of slowing down his performing career. “I will be the George Burns of this end of the business. I tried retirement. It sucked.”

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