Pointer Sisters

The Pointer Sisters--a talented bunch--had a string of hits in the 1980s, beginning with "Jump" and other video-ready tunes. Me? I always preferred the Pointer Sisters v.1 of the early 1970s. This was back before music videos, and when everybody had a variety show or a talk show--Carol Burnett, Mike Douglas, Dinah Shore...and at some point in the show, they'd say, "Ladies and Gentlemen: The Pointer Sisters."

...and these four (or three, if June Pointer couldn't make it) sisters would come out and just sing. Their dress was vaguely reminiscent of the 1940s, and so were the songs, but yet they were as funky and contemporary as all-get out.

Mama and Daddy would come in from the next room because black folks were so rarely on tv then, you had to yell out. "Can you turn that up?" they'd say.

Yes,we can (can).