Very 1st time at a DISCO Club

[pepper1dancer]

Imagine.... 1979 ,I'm a shy 19 yr old, still in the closet, my sister-in-law turns me on to Disco music and she wants to take me to a Gay Disco in Houston. The "Old Plantation". I am eagerly awaiting the Disco on the 45 minute drive there. Of course Disco is blaring from the FM radio. We get there, what sticks in my mind is walking through the place and I see 2 guys in the corner kissing, colored lights swirling everywhere and hearing the whistle from Donna Summers "Bad Girls" tune. The next song that came out was Foxy's "Hot Number". Everyone went crazy. Oh man, just wish i could just relive that 1 night over again. So young and so innocent....When the Music was just so right for me. Oh well, got my awesome memories though!!

[Super D]

Talk'in bout' dissimilar menagerie :o Disco!....Houston Texas!....Gay Club! :-? ......The Plantation!(yeee haa) :-? .....which one don't belong :o

No seriously "pepperdancer1".......not meaning to come off as iconclastic....but your senario/and paradigm of Disco nostagia reeps with homosexuality.......of which is partly the reason why Disco became driven down by anti-gay malapropos wise-cracking and recidivistic images.


SuperD(motordetroit) 8)

[paul]

Hey Super D 8)
Well speaking as a breeder who received an honary gay degree here :D , I will have to say there were a lot of gay clubs. That's not to say there weren't a lot of straight ones as well. What I'm saying is the presence of both is not mutually exclusive.
My first gay club exposure was in Boston at a club called Chaps. This was while I was on my way to a straight club, Kix.
As for the anti-gay stuff, most of it was from the 2 left feet crowd. These guys also tended to be racist and liked their women (when they could find one) barefoot and subserviant. I always found it ironic that these guys would rather get drunk with a bunch of other guys than go to a club with gorgeous women, but they're not gay :roll:

[Noman]

pepper1dancer
Nice to share such a nice personal memory with us. I can almost feel how you felt.

My 1st real and strongest "Disco club memory" was 1978 in Acapulco, on a very fashionable Disco with a lot of jet set and gay people (I wasn't one of them), don't remember it's name, its just after midnight, smoke, mirror balls and tons of glittering confetti. The pumping discomusic fades out, and in fades the soft intro of La vie en rose. Through the smoke comes Grace Jones and starts singing. It's Magic....

[NickNack]

Hey pepper1dancer,

I know how you feel. My first club experience wasn't as innocent but just as nice. A friend took me to Better Days in mid-town Manhattan way back in (my gawd!) late 1973 or early 1974. I had been hangin' out in a couple of gay bars but this was my first CLUB. Darkly lit, huge circular bar in one room and bigger dancefloor off in another. Tee Scott was playing (I hadn't met him yet). I remember looking around and seeing all these men hugging, kissing, dancing. 7th Heaven it was. :)

I wasn't really paying attention to the music until Tee changed the set from fast to slow. He put on one of my favorite ballads at the time: "Coldest Days of My Life" by The Chi-Lites. The lights on the dancefloor went way down and this guy came over and asked me to dance. Being a new-bee I panicked and said, "No, thanks", but the smile is still on my face from that night. My first time dancing with men in a place filled with only men and nobody giving a ****. Free, Black, Gay and over 21. Life was damn good! :lol:

[DiscoMan]

Timothy's Too Framingham, Massachusetts June 1974.

[Super D]

Hey pepper1dancer,

I know how you feel. My first club experience wasn't as innocent but just as nice. A friend took me to Better Days in mid-town Manhattan way back in (my gawd!) late 1973 or early 1974. I had been hangin' out in a couple of gay bars but this was my first CLUB. Darkly lit, huge circular bar in one room and bigger dancefloor off in another. Tee Scott was playing (I hadn't met him yet). I remember looking around and seeing all these men hugging, kissing, dancing. 7th Heaven it was. :)

I wasn't really paying attention to the music until Tee changed the set from fast to slow. He put on one of my favorite ballads at the time: "Coldest Days of My Life" by The Chi-Lites. The lights on the dancefloor went way down and this guy came over and asked me to dance. Being a new-bee I panicked and said, "No, thanks", but the smile is still on my face from that night. My first time dancing with men in a place filled with only men and nobody giving a ****. Free, Black, Gay and over 21. Life was damn good! :lol:

"Free, Black, and Gay"

No Disrespect "Nick Nack", please don't confuse African(Black) and Gay ma' Bro'tha! Homosexuality in the body of the universal concept which its origin are of African decent mentions no proof of a gay concept. Gay life is a
progressive moderness life style which I respect your choice 100%......but which has nothing to do with the struggles of Black Pyscology and Autonomy.

[NickNack]

No Disrespect "Nick Nack", please don't confuse African(Black) and Gay ma' Bro'tha! Homosexuality in the body of the universal concept which its origin are of African decent mentions no proof of a gay concept. Gay life is a
progressive moderness life style which I respect your choice 100%......but which has nothing to do with the struggles of Black Pyscology and Autonomy.

None taken, and perhaps you should check yourself because No How, No Way, am I confused. As I didn't choose to be born Black, I didn't choose to be homosexual. My choice of those three adjectives wasn't a statement about any 'gay concept' :-? or reference to 'life struggles' :roll: . It's me, Brother, take it or leave it.

And I AM NOT going to **** up this guy's thread continuing a discussion that doesn't belong here so, like the original Emotions, "Baby, I'm Through". :)

[makersmark]

Not wishing to sound like a lonely-heart(!)... I'm a 31 year old white guy from Nottingham... I feel a far cry from Black/gay 70s-80s NYC. I often feel I grew up in the wrong decade! Disco got a bad rap at the time, but hey, when has the real quality music ever been the most popular?

Disco is pure, quality music and it's about time people realised it!

[Super D]

And I AM NOT going to **** up this guy's thread continuing a discussion that doesn't belong here so, like the original Emotions, "Baby, I'm Through". :)[/quote]

Dig Dat "NickNack" :-? ....... I can clearly feel your disdainment by your obtusive use of the temesis f _ _ K and your derisivness of my treatise of African Origin. You are definitely entrenched in the western approach of knowledge to your belief :cry: ......but remember it is vital that we at ALL times asses the situation of our African American brothers within an historical an spiritually sound perspective.

I will say you have go taste in music, Emotions. "Baby, Im Through".....oh yeah. ....thanks for your opinion.

Back to the music!!!!!
Love and Peace ma' bro'tha
Super D(motordetroit) 8)

[paul]

Since this topic came up I've been trying to remember if it was The Skycap in Hartford Connecticat or Kix in Boston. Either way it was 1978. Prior to that it was disco parties held in places like the VFW.

[RetroRuss]

A club called Sundown in Wells Street in London's West End in 1977. I was hooked the moment I heard Roy Ayers' Running Away.

The best nights though were to be had a year later at places called Legends, The New Embassy Club & Maunkberry's. Fantastic DJing, all the celebs in London & very hot women!! 8) :P I naturally only went for the music!

[Boogie Child]

It was January 1978, and I snuck-in (of course, I was under age) to the Magic Garden in Atlanta, GA. As I walked-in the trendy Disco, the first snippet of lyric that I heard was the ultra-catchy, "...once upon a time". The very next day, I ran to the record store and found a LP entitled "Once Upon a Time" by a vocalist known for her Disco repertoire. I rushed home and played the Donna Summer album, realizing that I heard Side One in its entirety the previous night at the Magic Garden.
I instantly fell in love with Disco music, and the affair has lasted until this very day.

[remicks]

*****

This is a wonderful thread. Please , 8) everyone 8) contribute .

Let's hear these fascinating stories we all have ..... :D :D :D



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[Kimeesha]

My first time dancing with men in a place filled with only men and nobody giving a ****. Free, Black, Gay and over 21. Life was damn good! :lol:

"Free, Black, and Gay"

No Disrespect "Nick Nack", please don't confuse African(Black) and Gay ma' Bro'tha! Homosexuality in the body of the universal concept which its origin are of African decent mentions no proof of a gay concept. [/quote]

Gay life is a progressive moderness life style which I respect your choice 100%......but which has nothing to do with the struggles of Black Pyscology and Autonomy.[/quote]

This comment seems a bit gratuitious. As a 46 yr old former drag queen, who is gay of African decent, I can tell you the drivel fed to you by Mr. Farakhan that homosexuality is a result of "white" influence is bull! If homosexuals in Africa weren't so oppressed and burned at the stake for even suggesting this as a viable orientation then maybe the reality would be understood that we are in fact everywhere!

Please don't be so defensive, we are not this threat the right wants you to believe. I feel NickNack's quote. Just think of it as more women available to you.

Gay life is not a "progressive modern life" as you put it, that one "chooses"....if that were the case, no one would choose it...trust me. Just as no one would choose to be black 100 years ago. Long before slavery the gays did exist.

[Eurodancemix]

My first time in a club was actually only so-so...it was a teen disco in Burlingame, California, called "The Question". I remember going there with my friend Rachael in 1980, I was 15, she was 16. The music was definitely hot ("Pump It Up" by Fever was blasting on the speakers as we walked in) but was MUCH too loud for my delicate ears. It all seemed like just a very expensive high school dance. Unfortunately, as we were leaving, the police was on its way because some of the "bad boys" had gotten into a fight just outside. The place soon developed a reputation for thugs and shut down within months.

My first time in a REAL club was in 1984. I was 19. It was called "B Street" and was located in San Mateo, California. A bunch of us went there one night to help a coworker celebrate her birthday. Though it was a gay disco (fine by me, obviously), my hetero coworkers didn't care, they just wanted to dance. Once we were inside, two of us literally ran over to the dance floor as I screamed with glee: "Hearts On Fire" by Sam Harris was playing, immediately followed by "Don't Beat Around The Bush" by Hot Gossip and then by "Why?" by Bronski Beat. At this point, we were ALL on the dance floor in one big mass just having a great time.

That was really a magical evening for me. A few weeks later, I began my weekly Friday/Saturday night trek to B Street, sliding onto the dance floor at 10:00 PM (just as the DJ began to play live) until 2:00 AM when the place closed. My last time there was in February 1988 when I moved to Maryland. I just recently heard that it closed several years ago. Sigh...

[JussiK]

I can remember my mother doing a wild dance on a tabletop at Pacha's, Ibiza - my parents had taken me along for an early night warm-up after dinner sort of affair. The dining crowd was already on their feet, snapping their fingers to hot sounding bongo rhythms quite unlike any music I was familiar with. I was sent to the hotel around midnight just as people started arriving in taxis. Totally hooked and starry eyed at the tender age of around what, ten? Then, some four or five years later it was under age soft drink clubs in Hastings, England, doing the bump to Kenny, flying high on half a bottle of sweet cider drunk on the beach at sundown. Then, in no time I was already legal, looking the part, and a proud owner of El Bimbo by the Bimbo Jet.

[Super D]

[quote="Kimeesha"]

Gay life is not a "progressive modern life" as you put it, that one "chooses"....if that were the case, no one would choose it...trust me. Just as no one would choose to be black 100 years ago. Long before slavery the gays did exist.

My brother, study your history....and you will find the answer to your foolishness.....("No one would choose to be Black!").The Creative Force(God) that cause phenomena like the wind, the tide direction, volcano eruption and geological flaws with such precision decides who you are. And The Creative Force can also design your mind that it must return to order within the structure of the universe. The sabotaging of our mind by European Christianity did not destroy our plan, nor our capability to retreive it. It simply requires us to take the responsibility to let us be what was to be from the beginning....and that is African Men.

Super D(motordetroit) 8)

[paul]

[quote="Super D"]

Gay life is not a "progressive modern life" as you put it, that one "chooses"....if that were the case, no one would choose it...trust me. Just as no one would choose to be black 100 years ago. Long before slavery the gays did exist.

My brother, study your history....and you will find the answer to your foolishness.....("No one would choose to be Black!").The Creative Force(God) that cause phenomena like the wind, the tide direction, volcano eruption and geological flaws with such precision decides who you are. And The Creative Force can also design your mind that it must return to order within the structure of the universe. The sabotaging of our mind by European Christianity did not destroy our plan, nor our capability to retreive it. It simply requires us to take the responsibility to let us be what was to be from the beginning....and that is African Men.

Super D(motordetroit) 8)

Truly a fascinating topic I would love to be engaged in because I'm a man, African-American, and more specifically I love this kinda discussion 8)
Super D, can I entice you to copy and paste this post and put it in the Non Music topic forum As Nicky correctly stated, it would wrong to piss on the author's thread since we would be way off topic.

[remicks]

*****

Very considerate of you .... Paul ,

... too late I'm afraid though ...........the original poster of this thread ... a newbie, hasn't posted since. That derisive attack on his opening commments ... ( in which he had simply been generous enough to be very open when sharing his own special experience of first going to a disco ) .... sent him packing it appears ..... Guess he shouldn't have taken the risk to share his personal memories so freely here ...sure didn't get much in the way of a kind, warm response in return. ....Too bad .... if you go and read his contributions until then .. you'll find he would've been someone who would've brought some welcomed energy to this board.
And this enlightening thread for example ....which Pepper introduced ... it could have been filled with the many interesting stories by the diverse members of this board as they openly shared their own "first time" disco experiences (whatever they were) .... but regrettably it was inconsiderately interrupted and instead reduced to **** ....

*****

[Noman]

*****

Very considerate of you .... Paul ,

... too late I'm afraid though ...........the original poster of this thread ... a newbie, hasn't posted since. That derisive attack on his opening commments ... ( in which he had simply been generous enough to be very open when sharing his own special experience of first going to a disco ) .... sent him packing it appears ..... Guess he shouldn't have taken the risk to share his personal memories so freely here ...sure didn't get much in the way of a kind, warm response in return. ....Too bad .... if you go and read his contributions until then .. you'll find he would've been someone who would've brought some welcomed energy to this board.
And this enlightening thread for example ....which Pepper introduced ... it could have been filled with the many interesting stories by the diverse members of this board as they openly shared their own "first time" disco experiences (whatever they were) .... but regrettably it was inconsiderately interrupted and instead reduced to **** ....

*****

I Agree with Remicks. This could have been one of the best threads if it had kept on track.

[SandraDee]

Well, can't we stop being negative people & get it back on track! (can't you tell I've had anti-negetivity councelling! :D )

I'd been going to straight clubs for a couple of years as i loved dance/disco music (obviously) & was quite closeted (dark days :( ) so I didn't go to gay clubs until '85/'86. I got fed up with most men just standing around in suits drinking beer & ogling girls so I decided to explore my 'true self' :-? ! My first time in a gay disco was very exciting; I was out on a colleague's stag night can u believe :o & I knew that there was a brilliant gay club right across the road so i sneaked off on my own & had a fabulous time! I remember the smell of leather & amyl nitrate in the air & brilliant records like Jennifer Holliday's 'No Frills Love' & Company B's 'Fascinated' & O'Chi Brown's 'Whenever You Need Somebody' which at that time you didn't hear in straight clubs in this part of England; they were more interested in playing electro or rare groove/funk or pop/chart stuff (not that there's anything wrong with that!). I was intrigued by the whole cloney look & soon bought plaid shirts & biker jackets (I gave the muir caps a miss though!); some more 'provincial' gay clubs I visited didn't have this 'look' so much & the music wasn't so progressive & I didn't enjoy them so much. I ended up snogging a bloke for the first time in my life at the age of 21 & it felt so liberating & wonderful; he offered to take me back to his place but I declined & left to find my straight friends in case they were worried about me - what a jerk I was back then! (actually it was a horrible time to be gay with Maggie Thatcher's anti-gay Clause 28 & the press's nasty Aids headlines but things improved alot by the end of the decade; I also dropped the 'look' as being young-looking I got fed up with silly queens calling me a 'baby clone'! :x )

[pepper1dancer]

This "newbie" has not ran off, yes, I am new here and I am on this site as much as i can. No one has scared me off. Just sitting back listening to everyone. What else can i say? Read the title. 1st time at a Disco! I already told you mine so let me hear from ya'll.

[remicks]

*****

...Pepper!! :D :D ...... You've risen from the dead !! Good to see you back .... & hope you'll post more ..... :D ....

Welll since there's no body , and apparently no assault charges being sought ....the prosecution happily drops its case!!

...Now its back to more of these great stories hopefully ...and back to the music !!........... :D

remicks
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[thommy2458]

WOW!-NickNack,It is an honor to know someone
who heard Tee Scott spin
at Better Days-I bet you
have some great stories
to tell.Although I didn't
go to my first disco until
1975,I was stuck in California and was never
able to attend any of the
"classic" NYC clubs.Thanks for sharing AND for swatting away an obnoxious
homophobe-done so well,I might add!...
Anyways,my first bar/club
was in some dumpy hole in the wall off of some dirt road-but it was Studio 54
for me-a wide eyed 17 year old with a midnight cerfew.
I remember the first song
I heard playing was Betty
Wrights "where is the love" and seeing some drag queen in platforms cutting
it up!My first actual "disco" club was about 6 months later.I remember walking down this ramp and seeing the disco
ball spinning and hearing
the bass-y thump of "fly
robin fly" and that was
it for me-I never the floor for another 20 years!