Scaramouche

John Biggie is the king of all disco bartenders! He is absolutely right on the mark. What more fun could there be than the 70's! I don't know if we fully appreciated it all back then, but now the memories sure are fun to live again.

If you really want to know what went on at club Scaramouch...Just ask the senior bartender from 1978 through 198, the absolute peak of the club’s prominence.
In a word “2”…. "MONEY" & "DRUGS" more than anybody could imagine. Drug Lords from all over the world with their Bodyguards in tow. Celebs galore….sat at our marble chalice, my favorite was Mohamed Ali…OJ of Corse! This was an era of open everything….drugs, sex and dISCO !^!$^  Oh well somebody had to do it.

Hey all! I am searching for nightclub photos of Manhattans. I work for the Miami Beach-based film production company, rakontur. Our past projects include the documentary Cocaine Cowboys. We are currently working on another documentary and it is important that we include photos of Manhattans, preferably an exterior shot. Is there anybody who has photos or could point me in the right direction?

Let me know via e-mail - jenna@rakontur.com

I am currently working on a Memoir about Miami club life in the 1970's and 1980's especially Scaramouche and CLUB Alexandre. If you have any memories to share...

I was a bartender at Club Alexandre. Sometimes I take a break upstairs and hang out with the head bouncer Duane. Alexandre closed after several of the owners were busted for operating a massive cocaine smuggling ring. The bust was under black tuna." Those were the good old days...

Joe lenders will be a part of the Miami Dance Music Awards in Miami on March 28th.

Now if we can only get him to spin,that would be great!

Jimmy Yu and Lewis Martinee and many more will also be there!

www.305Disco.com for details

It is funny reading all the postings between MACHADO, Joe Lenders and Scott Blackwell, I used to "service" these guys with records when I was in charge of BO CRANE'S record pool. That was in 1979-80. Everything they said is correct,what they left out, is that after SCARAMOUCHE closed in 83, it re-opened as a DISCO/COMEDY club, and it was called the BOX-OFFICE, with comedians doing twenty minute sets in between the deejaying of Rey Juanes. The booth had been moved, and a small stage added. Of course after three years of trying, they finally closed it. It remains there today, occasionally used for meetings, dances and functions. My fondest memory of the real SCARAMOUCHE days was the reception that Bo Crane and the FLORIDA RECORD POOL threw for a very young FRANCE JOLI in 1980. I pushed here four twelve inch album to all the pool's members, and that led the way as we, MIAMI, were responsible for the "Break-out" of the artist FRANCE JOLI. I was fortunate enough to be her escort that evening. She was sexy and beautiful but oh so innocent. She was in good hands, I kept her safe from all you perverts. Now as for SCARAMOUCHE as a club. it had its moment, but whoever and whatever they(Omni Hotel)were thinking about when they designed this Hotel with TWO competing DISCOS in the same Hotel sealed the fact that neither could reach its potential. The blame falls directly on the host Hotel itself. It divided the crowd, had them going upstairs to SCARAMOUCHE for a while, then getting on the elevator and going downstairs to ALEXANDRE. This actually hurt revenues so much, lots of patrons stayed out of the clubs themselves, and simply HUNG OUT in the areas in between the two clubs. There were a lot of young kids that went to both clubs with their fake-ids, and didn't have the money the Hotel hoped they would spend. That eventually caused both clubs to fail!! But they both were good while they were there. SCARAMOUCHE had good Lights and sounds, an excellent array of deejays (by the way, Pete Diaz now has a lighting and sound company here that is South Florida's best. I run into him every few years) real strong drinks but not enough legal-aged women. On a scale from 1 to 10, it gets a 7.

Hi guys. I really enjoyed reading. I've been spinning since '84. I love it and really am intriqued by clubs. Reading all your comments and stories felt like a movie. Thanks.

Ruethai
www.tspdj.com

What�s up Scotty !!! so good to hear from you, I�ve read a few articles online ( Private Eyes) mentioning you but often wondered where you finally settled down. So you are still spinning out of a Laptop in LA?? That�s Wicked man!!, I hung up the Headphones in �89, but nothing compares to those early 80�s wild nights at Faces!!!! Check out that club�s entry here, I�m yet to post anything there. Follow my Profile and drop an email to catch up.

Marco Marco , the Dj at Allegros was my friend Joel Hernadez, He was also Alexander�s Dj, He worked Allegros until two weeks before closing.

Joker: Sorry, but I don�t remember those JBL spks, Rick�s Caf� (or maybe �Bar� ??) was a nice spot, I got to listen every night to a wonderful house band with the great Jon Secada on lead before making it big!!.

Hi all you early 80s' Miami boys and girls. Machado, Joe Lenders and the infamous Billy "yes I did sing that song" Swan. WTF is going on. Loooooooooong time no see. Los Angeles can't hold a candle to Miami or NYC. Can't believe I have been here over 15 years. Hit me back I would love to play catch up.

This site is a BLAST!

f.y.i. I still spin Fri and Sat here in LA LA land. If you can call playing commercial Hip Hop and R&B for Soccer moms off a laptop spinning.... hehe

Scott Blackwell

Im glad to see some of the usual suspects are still around Joe lenders,Machado & Billy Swan .I have great memories of the late seventies and early 1980-81 then i left to Santo Domingo to medical school & persued my carrer. I last saw machado @ ricks happy hour one time i went to miami for the weekend.

Hey machado do you still have the jbls speakers i sold you hahaha.I would love to get a copy of mach 1 & 2 on cd format.

Hey Joe this is Efren i use to go all the time with friends over to the scaramouch and party.

who remembers when Billy use to say @ manhattans."welcome to manhattans the place that snows year round in miami" That cracks me up.
Billy who played the song on the TK lable .
I LIKE DANCING ? its the only song from those days i just can not find every where.

How does information on a club called Alegro have anything to do with Scaramouche? Aren't enough people visiting the Alegro page? Are sales of DJ Laz's "Alegria" CD going so badly that you have to plug it on a page for another club? I think that your comment is off topic.

Scaramouche and Alexandre were both nice clubs, but Alegro was actually the biggest and brightest of the three..It came after Alexandre and right about the time that Scaramouche was on the way out....It was on the street level of the Omni on Biscayne Blvd....and had two floors...also upscale, with great acts... Debbie Jacobs, Miquel Brown, France Joli, to name a few. DJ Lazaro Mendez (DJ Laz)would spin here as would DJ Abel Aguilera....check out the recent club CD mixed by Abel called Alegria....not a coincidence he called it Alegria

Bo Crane was a regular at the Scaramouche often bringing in stars like France Joli, Claudia Berry, Gloria Gaynor and many more. Bo is the president of Pandisc Music and can be reached at bocrane@pandisc.com with his website at www.pandisc.com

Man! How I remember my girlfriend (back when I had girlfriends) at the time hassling me about having to go to Scaramouche! Being underage kind of made that difficult. Hey, on the off chance anyone either knows how to get in touch with Bo Crane or at least lay hands on any old issues of Bo Crane's Dance Music Report from back then would get my eternal gratitude!

At the bottom of the Omni Hotel in the outer mall area with a street entrance was Club Alexandre. Club Alexandre closed in 1983 as I remember. If another club called Allegro opened in it's location later I did not hear of it, but anything is possible.

I started going to Scaramouche in 1982. I think that the club was opened as least till 1985. This was the year i got married. My wife and i had been going there since we met in 1983. I do think that later it did become a comedy club. There was also a club downstairs at the Omni that was called Allegro. We use to go back and forth between the two.

When the Scaramouche opened in 1978 the area to the rear of the dance floor had a neon sculpture on one wall and the other had a laser system. One of the largest private Krypton-Argon laser beam generators in the State of Florida, the Scaramouche used a prizm beam splitter to break up the light into it's primary colors and then bounce the individual colors through an intricate system of electrically and computer controlled mirrors.

The mirors sent the beams across the ceiling of the nightclub where they were bounced around the room from wall to wall. In the hight of the evening the lasers were at their brightest level and looked like hige neon tubes blinking on and off in the smoke filled room.

The system was connected through the DJ's touch and sound sensitive control box called the Illuminerva. Over $50,000 was spent on the laser system and lights in the Scaramounche, which was big bucks for 1978.

In 1980 the Scaramouche was remodeled to add more seats to it's 350 occupancy. The DJ booth was moved above the dance floor where the Laser Generator room was located. The laser was scrapped in favor of increasing occupancy to 400 people.

The laser system was designed and installed by Mark Diamond. It was initially operated by assistant DJ Pedro (Pete) Diaz and house DJ Joe Lenders. Later Christopher Marrero was hired as special effects operator for the extensive system which included dry ice fog, liquid smoke, confettii, balloons, lasers, neon and Florida's only Soundsweep aural effects unit.

In all, the Scaramouche opened with over $100,000 in sound and lights in the fall of 1978. The remodeling in 1980 saw another $400,000 in renovations. The lines of over 200 people waiting to gain entrance to the club on a Friday or Saturday night were testament to it's popularity.

I was a member of Scaramouche & went nearly every Saturday night. The music was excellent, the crowd dressed to the nines, the space very upscale but smallish. I don't remember any laser light show though.

So "GREAT" to hear back from you guys concerning Billy, I had heard that he became a cop, and probably one of miami's best...although, he was such a cut-up when I knew him I'm suprised he didn't do what I did and venture off into the world of standup comedy, but thats a whole 'nother, anybody remember Capron Lights & Sound up in ft Lauderdale???

Billy is now a Miami Beach Police Officer and is married and living in Weston with his lovely wife and two beautiful kids. Billy and I email regularly and I saw him a couple of months ago in Vegas where he was getting rich at the craps table.

Last time I saw Bo was a couple of years ago. He had a record label and we talked about music videos, but we never got anything together. Bruce Hard, Bo's one time right hand man is now in computer software. I emailed him a few years ago and we corresponded back and forth a couple of times.

Machado has Billy's email address. I received an email about you from Machado to pass on to Billy, which I did. I believe Billy told Machado to give you his email address, but you'll have to clear that up with Machado.

-Joe

Billy Swan was also the house DJ at Manhattan in Miami. I remember because we spent many hours tweaking the sound system which I installed. My name is Michael Sreckovich and my company was Sights N Sounds. SNS continues now as a high end Home Theater company run by my son in Seaford, LI. NY

Billy Swan was also the house DJ at Manhattan in Miami.

Hey Joe, I just stumbled upon this site after Googling Bo Crane and saw your bio....small damn world...Maybe you remember yer old bud Billy Swann, he was also a bud of mine Dangerous Dave of Bo's cruise ship staff, Shell city Liquers, and finally Some Fun Productions, my own mobile...what can you tell me about Bo and Billy, would appreciate anything...

Yes I believe it was early 83 or late 82. I actually quit Scaramouche 6 months before its demise, in mid 1982, so I don't remember the exact date. I did hear it was reopened as a Comedy Club a few months after closing as a Disco. I don't know how long that lasted. But that was all more than 20 years ago.

Did Scaramouche close in '83 ? A group of friends had our senior prom at the Four Ambassadors and ended up getting into Scaramouche and then down to The Charter Club at the other end of Biscayne Blvd.

Machado... the Mixmaster! .... sorry about that. I did not forget you... I just forgot that you did spin a few records on weekends.

I still have a few of the 12" mix discs you made.

Nice to hear that you're still around. I lost touch with Pete years ago.

I hope all is well with you, and consider my memory updated... Machado the Mixmaster was just about EVERYWHERE in Miami!

Hello Joe, Nice to hear from you again, I can't believe you forgot all about me hahaha, it has been ages, I know, remember Machado, heavy set cuban guy with short brown curly hair, I also worked downstairs sometimes, I covered for you a few times when you took a vacation (don't remember what year)and Pete was busy with his Mobile biz (how's he doing? I heard his still in the same biz), we also used to BS in your booth on many occassions I visit.

I added this info here since the original poster didn't mention you, and I had forgotten Pete's second name, but I really didn't mean for my name to be listed, especially since not even you remember me...hahahahaha.

Hi Joe, Thanks for stopping by and adding to the site. As to your remark about "mixmachine," I was the one who put that he worked at Scaramouche. I'll need to check further into this, but nonetheless if you read mixmachine's comments in no way, shape or form does he try to take anything away from you. He clearly mentions that YOU were the resident DJ.

I've also added Pedro to the list of DJs. If anyone has photos related to Scaramouche please feel free to upload them.

Who was Mixmachine? I'm Joe Lenders, the house DJ from 1978 to 1982. My assistant DJ was Pedro Diaz. Who the heck was "mixmachine"? If he worked there it would have to be in 1983 just before it went out of business.

Sorry if I seem a little brisk, but I am tired of people saying they were "a DJ at the Scaramouche" and I never heard of them.

This club opened in the late 70�s and shared the spotlight with Club Alexander located in the first floor of the Hotel, it was a private club full of beautiful well dressed people that came to dance and party all night long, lots of mirrors every where, comfortable white couches against the walls with tables around the dance floor, powerful sound system with a great Light show including a laser show, one of the first in Miami; The raised DJ booth overlooked the dance floor and was sealed all around with Plexiglas and spinning all the club hits of the day was resident DJ Joe Lenders, the Scaramouche was one of the most beautiful clubs ever to open in Miami.