Ruth Brown & Motormouth

Maggie says:
Ruth Brown died today. Ruth Brown is known for many things: her voice, her soul, her passion. But I got to know Ruth Brown much differently: as a preteen obsessed with the movie "Hairspray." And I mean obsessed.

Ruth Brown played Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray and delivered lines like "Oh Papa Tooney... We've got a Looney!" She had a huge heart, the coolest record shop in town, and saw those crazy dancin' fool teens as... teenagers, not black kids versus white kids. And yeah... I know it's John Waters and completely over the top, but still. Man I loved that movie.

And Link Larkin! Swoon!!!! Yeah, he of this idiotic line: "Tracy, our souls are black, though our skin is white." And said so earnestly! But hey, I was a kid, it really meant a lot to hear that then!

Be well, Ruth Brown. You were an amazing woman, and only a tiny piece of that is my love for one silly '80s flick.