Disco: A Decade of Sat. Nights...Don't forget!!

[GroovinYou]

I will be there not to long after the doors open on its first day, and just want to remind everyone to check out this showing, which sounds like it will be a great success. Located at Donald & Mary Oenslager Gallery at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Starts Feb. 1 through May 14. Visit www.nypl.org or check DiscoMusic's home page for more info. :D

[discolady75]

you re lucky to be down there to check how it is. just report us ! i m in paris !

[NickNack]

Bill and I will be going before it leaves the City. Hope to bring along some old friends. Wouldn't miss it.

BTW -- Did anyone get to hear Nicky Siano play last night (1/31/05) at Spirit in NYC? Just curious...

[JussiK]

Originally Posted by NickNack

Bill and I will be going before it leaves the City. Hope to bring along some old friends. Wouldn't miss it.

BTW -- Did anyone get to hear Nicky Siano play last night (1/31/05) at Spirit in NYC? Just curious...

yes...he got the crowd going with Karen Young's Hot Shot, then went back into the preceding totally different mood with Bad Luck, carried on like that, switching from Dr Buzzard to James Brown, bringing on Gallery hits one after another in sequences that seemed to make no sense. And it was all prerecorded of course, not mixed live on the spot. As the night grinded on he brought on hardhouse mixes of stuff like Barry White's You're My Last etc, effectively reducing the number of dancers on the not too packed to begin with floor. Still, there were fans there, clapping and shouting as I'll Always Love My Momma began to play. He did spin Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boys, though, as well as ...well, that must have been the only truly thrilling bit.

[QUINNY]

Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boys ( a non Disco record from 1970!!!) was the only interesting part?????? :o :o :o

I guess the mixing was done by pure BPM ratings, rather than feel. Or did he use the mix from Dr. Buzzard into James Brown as a transistion into some other funkier things? In which case probably O.K. as this has to be acheived somehow and an audience at this type of gig would want everything to be fairly instantaneous and not have the time or inclination for bit by bit transitions of genres.......I guess.

[Mixmachine]

Originally Posted by QUINNY

Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boys ( a non Disco record from 1970!!!) was the only interesting part?????? :o :o :o :o

Wrong again! :D :D and you want to teach the youngsters here about pre-disco sound? :o

This cut was played in all early clubs of the 70's for years after it's original release, it is listed on the Disc-o-la "Fortune 500 Discotheque song of the 70's" chart as # 46 out of 500, (compiled back in '79 with fresh memories of earlier times), the fact this UK recording, a monster club hit here in the old USA was not considered worthy 'Dance' club material by you is perplexing to say the least, especially coming from a former DJ of the day.


http://bellsouthpwp.net/m/i/mixmach/...lue%20_eye.jpg

[QUINNY]

Mixmachine: I'm afraid you've completely misinterpreted what I had written.

Firstly: The exhibition has the title "a decade of Saturday nights" and is supposedley an homage to Disco and discos. Which decade hasn't been mentioned and wouldn't have to be the '70s right through. I had assumed that a Disco exhibition would have centred on '74/75 to '84/85 maybe wrongly. Anyway, by any stretch of the imagination a record from 1970 couldn't possibly be called Disco in the strictest meaning of the (capitalised) word. Quite frankly, if I'd been in Jussis's place, the record would have had me saying "what the hell's he playing?" 'cos it wouldn't be the absolute epitome of pre-Disco club music, not really.

Secondly: In the UK this was a pop record, as much as anything. I did play it an awful lot, as it was one of the few records with a consistant 4/4 beat. But I have to say it again, The Equals were very much looked upon as a pop band to all intents and purposes in the UK and I suspect, all over Europe.

Thirdly: So it was in Disc-o-la Fortune 500 at 46.....A purely American thang!

[JussiK]

The Equals track Nicky played was apparently a re-edit - I can't recall how the original sounded but this version was quite strong with bass and sure sounded good and clubby to my ears.
And yes, the sequing - or the programming, can't say what was on offer was deejaying - was done by BPMs, any track seemed to do as long is was in the range of the previous one. Sic transit gloria mundi Siano.