Hi Brian,

Thanks for adding your DJ bio to DiscoMusic.com and for your contribution to the Disco Records Vault and posts in the forum. Brian posts under the username "originalbigm."

If you danced to Brian's mixes please leave him a note here.

Brian: Hello from an old friend... Mickey Kay,,, I would like to hear from you. Lots to talk about over the years.....

Hello Brian,

Those years haven't gone anywhere, Brother! Just listen to the rhythms, melodies, and harmonies of the generations following us and you'll see the "time" hasn't gone anywhere. It resides in the influences we've had on the kid's following us.

I remember hearing about Stop 33 from the older kids! They would speak of it in the same breath as Darcy’s, L’Coquedor, The Milk Bar, and JoJo’s. While I never got to Koutoubia, I did visit Ms Nights, These Eyes, Stages, Upstairs Side Door, David’s, Le Tube and Twilight Zone and I must say Sir; It’s a treat to come across someone with a “genuine” appreciation of Toronto’s night club history!

I too, have fond memories of R&B and Soul when it was changing to disco and no matter what anyone says to dismiss it, Old Disco Kicks a**!

The scene had so profound an effect on me that I ended up DJing from 1977 till 1989 (Latin Quarter, Checkers on Yorkville, Spencer's Retreat).

I know of, and have an honest reverence for, all the artists that you've listed here. True, some of the arrangements could get cheesy on some tracks but hey, in many cases they were forced to dummy down some of the arrangements for a pop audience. Especially during the period from 74 to 78. Yes, the creative process started in the previous decade with Motown, but I still feel `70’s dance composers/arrangers should still be regarded as musical pioneers.

Taking Afro-Latin, Afro-Caribbean, Classical, R&B, Jazz and other musical ideas, then fusing it all in a sonic stew?!! That took both imagination and guts in a time when the mainstream scorned this music. And remember, this is a time when this music was considered the realm of Blacks, Gays, Women, and Foreigners. Not to get all political but, I remember and lived through it.

Luckily the public won (in spite of themselves) and the last 40 odd years have been wonderful to "dance" to (in many cases to “listen” to as well).

Do you remember the excitement of hearing the drums, phased cymbals and electric piano in the intro to "Dancin" by the Crown Heights Affair. I think it was their variation on the Theme from Shaft, no? Anyways, WHAT A RECORD!

I can’t remember the name of it, but the first after hours discoteque I went to was a big open New York style club on Kingston road in Scarborough. Can't remember the name of the place but once I walked in there was no turning back. It happened that night. Under the strobe lights, listening to the trippy Afrobeat come Latin Jazz sound of “I Like It” by Brooklyn’s B.T. Express. It was then and there that I realized there’s a whole world of music and dance out there. I remember the moment I watched some guy spinning this girl around by both hands and hips, and the older (16 and 17 yr old) kids started talking about “Hustle”. That was the threshold. It was that moment my life was changed.

By the way I'm 46 years old, and the abovementioned epiphany happened at age 15 in 1974. By age 17 the routine was…

…tell your parents that you’re sleeping over at a friend’s while your friend did the same.

…get someone’s big brother to get the 24 Blue. (You had to be 18 back then).

…slip into your black velvet high waist 1 inch cuff baggie pants. (black satin if summer)

…use Afro Sheen spray to make your fro’ glow. Vidal Sassoon hairspray if you’re white and needed your layered cut to stay in place.

…stand your white 6” inch platform shoes by the vent so the liquid polish could dry.

…seeing as you missed American Bandstand, suffer thru Boogie till Soul Train started.

…get out the door after kissing Mom. Don’t want her to smell the Jovan Musk for Men so you'd dash it on after saying goodbye and rush out the door!

…practice walking “cool” as you headed to your buddy’s. (Once there get drunk).

…dash out as your buddies parents get home. Practice looking “cool” on all night Yonge Bus.

…deal with the futility of looking like a million dollars and riding the bus…

…approach “The Club” from the parking lot instead of the “bus stop”.

Ironically we practiced the “Bus Stop” as we bounce from Ms Night’s to Bellow’s to Monkey Club to Sugar’s and back.

Slowly but surely we gave up trying to look cool and by the time “Let The Music Play” became our theme song, we’d danced and listened to enough of this genre to know that at it’s best “Disco” is “heart” music. No matter whether you call it Soul, Rhythm and Blues, Disco, Funk, Garage, House, or just plain Dance. None of the labels matter, the music just had to speak to our hearts.

I feel that’s why we still love songs like Thelma Houston’s version of “Don’t Leave Me This Way”. While Anita Ward’s “Ring my Bell” was and is fun, it doesn’t seem to resonate with people the same way. There’s a reason why you could still hear “Love Hangover” by Diana Ross being played at Twilight Zone in 1989…nearly fifteen years after the track was released!

Disco was always “real” music.

Anyways, here I am at 46 yrs old with my 14 year old daughter, talking music, sharing insights, and all of us all excited at the prospect of "Daddy" teaching her how to mix on CD.

Brian, I hope you pick up the DVD of Maestro. It’s a touching and interesting look at the development of the `70's/`80's Garage sound of New York and the Chicago House sound of the 1980’s.

Love and Respect to all you and all music lovers out there,

Gordon Beckles
gordancin@yahoo.ca

P.S. Drop me a line soon.

Mother was called maureen?

and im sitting here listening to gwen mcrae strangely enough?