You see the marquee before you see the building. The marquee is the building's voice. The marquee talks to the street and the street talks back by either lining up or walking past. A good marquee does not need to explain. A good marquee gives you a name and a date and your body does the rest. Your body either turns toward the door or keeps walking and the marquee does not care which one you choose because the marquee will still be lit when you are gone.

The Apollo Theater marquee on 125th Street in Harlem has announced every important name in Black music since nineteen thirty four. Ella Fitzgerald. James Brown. Stevie Wonder. Aretha Franklin. Billie Holiday sang under that marquee and the marquee did not know it was announcing a legend because the marquee does not know anything. The marquee just holds the letters. The letters hold the history. Amateur Night at the Apollo put the marquee in the hands of people who had never seen their name in lights before. You win Amateur Night and your name goes up on 125th Street and the whole neighborhood knows who you are by morning. You lose Amateur Night and the Executioner dances you off the stage with a broom and the marquee never knew you were there.

In small towns across America the movie theater marquee was the community message board. The marquee said HAPPY BIRTHDAY SALLY or WELCOME HOME TROOPS or GO TIGERS and the movie was secondary. The marquee belonged to whoever had the letters and the ladder. After the theaters closed the marquees went dark and the towns lost a voice they did not know they had. A dark marquee on a main street is the saddest thing in a small town because the dark marquee says nobody has anything to announce anymore. The building is still there but the building has stopped talking.

The Fillmore in San Francisco had a marquee that Bill Graham lit up with names that did not fit together on purpose. Jimi Hendrix and Ravi Shankar on the same bill. Grateful Dead and Miles Davis on the same bill. The marquee was the argument. The marquee said these names belong in the same sentence and if you disagree come inside and find out why you are wrong. Graham understood that the marquee is not advertising. The marquee is a thesis statement. The marquee tells you what the room believes before you walk through the door.

You drive past the marquee at night and the glow hits the windshield and for a second you see a name you recognize and the car slows down without you telling it to. The marquee works on instinct. The marquee bypasses the part of your brain that makes decisions and goes straight to the part that remembers. You see a name on a marquee and you are not reading. You are remembering every time you heard that name before. The marquee is the loudest thing on the block that does not make a sound. The marquee is a shout made of light. The marquee does not care if you stop. The marquee knows that somebody will.