For some unknown reason no one has ever built a real, legit Motown Museum in Detroit. It's puzzling.
But this may be the second best thing.
Brian McCollum of the Detroit Free Press reports that a group has interest in starting up a R&B Music Hall of Fame in Detroit. There's nothing concrete at this point.
McCollum writes that project is being spearheaded by Lamont “Showboat” Robinson, a former Harlem Globetrotter who runs the Harlem Clowns, a comedy basketball team based in Cleveland. He’s a longtime R&B enthusiast who is reported to have amassed thousands of pieces of music memorabilia.
Robinson has created a R&B Hall of Fame, but it has no physical home. He tried to create a museum in Cleveland in 2012, but that plan fell through, the Freep reports. That didn't stop him from holding the hall’s inaugural induction ceremony last summer at Cleveland State University to honor such legends as James Brown.
The plan in Detroit is for a 30,000-square-foot museum in an existing building that would include interactive exhibits and restaurants, the Freep reports.
The group wants to get Detroit officials behind them, but it's not asking for city funds. The Freep reports that it already has lined up an estimated $10 million to $15 million for the project.
-- Allan Lengel
