A SOUL SHAKING HALLOWEEN

The Show Me Center will put the spotlight on Motown music Saturday when it hosts its first-ever Halloween dance.

Performing will be the Fabulous Motown Revue, a St. Louis-based show band featuring male and female vocal groups backed by a six-piece band.

Although planned in conjunction with Homecoming activities at Southeast Missouri State University, the dance is open to everyone.

Doors will open at 8 p.m., with the band performing from 9-midnight. Admission is $8 per person for those wearing costumes; $13 per person otherwise.

The Fabulous Motown Revue consists of the four-person male group Velvet, who sing songs by Smokey Robinson, The Temptations and The Four Tops; the three-woman group Velvet, who specialize in tunes by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, the Supremes, and Mary Wells; the trumpet and two saxes of the Impact Horns; and the Free Spirit Band, composed of guitar, bass and drums.

Rufus Young, William Carter, Maurice Martin and Wendell Lewis make up Velvet. Satin includes Nita Clark, Charlene Humphrey and Sheila Carbin.

Trumpet player Steve Schankmann said the band plays about 150 dates per year, and in 1990 performed before about 50,000 people at the Veiled Prophet Fair in St. Louis.

"It's great dance music for any age 18-year-olds and 50-year-olds," said Schankmann, who owns one of the country's largest entertainment promotion companies and also operates the Riverport Amphitheatre.

Schankmann plays in the band "for the love of the era of music."

Many of the musicians in the act have been playing Motown music for more than 25 years. The revue itself formed four years ago, and has become a popular attraction at company events sponsored by Harley Davidson, Amway, Ralston Purina, Federal Express and Anheuser Bush.

Winners of the best female and male costume contests will take home a grab bag of tickets to events, a free night's lodging and restaurant coupons. The prizes are valued at $75 each.

A third person will be judged the winner of the best overall contest and will receive $100 worth of prizes donated by local merchants.