Friday, May 18, 2012

Donna Summer, Queen of Disco, RIP




I was a big wig in the disco era. My family (three cousins) and I were at every gay bar and disco lounge between the Valley and Los Angeles. We WERE the dancers that everyone liked to copy ... trust me on that.

Check out the outfits! First off, I made these. I had my own clothing line back then, and the pant suit with the embroidering. I did all the bead work by hand. And check out the shoes! We were wearing those platforms well before the youngins of today have been wearing them!!!!!

One of my first dance contests I ever entered in that era, was with a guy and we danced to Donna Summer’s “Last Dance.” The practices were hard, and our ending was especially difficult, because I was in a position where the guy was holding my arms and then I dropped to the ground and he had to catch me at my hands, and I would shoot up one of my legs and it had to coincide with the last note of the song. I got dropped on my head so many times, it hurt a lot!!!!

But, eventually, we got the last move down, and on to the competition, which was in Century City (for those of you familiar with Los Angeles area). Although, we both at the time, were living in San Diego area. In fact, I met my then dance partner based on the fact that he would often go to clubs in Los Angeles, and “our” (my family) style of dancing was unique and when people found out he lived in San Diego area, they said, find (insert my real name) at one of the discos because you will definitely know her by that distinct style of dance. And that is seriously how I met him. He came up to me when I was at a club with my then boyfriend (who still lives in Hawai’i after we both moved there in the late 1970's) and he approached me and said ... “are you (again insert my real name)?” and I was like, “yeah, how did you know that.” And then he mentioned that people in Los Angeles had told him he could find me by my dancing style.

We didn’t win that particular dance contest, but it was just the first of many that we entered (and won some). I have already mentioned in earlier posts that I even won a dance contest with my youngest boy cousin, while living in San Diego. I drove up to L.A., drove back to S.D. to the club, danced, won, took the money, drove back to L.A. to drop him home, and drove back to S.D. Whew!!!!!

Anyway, Donna Summer was THE QUEEN of disco, no doubt about it. In fact, I was surprised that she even reprised the “McArthur Park” song that Richard Harris had made famous with his pseudo talk version!

I know I am 60, and shit, witnessing my peers drop dead this year is not making me happy.

Last Dance (pay attention to the last notes of the song, and imagine me being dropped to the ground, LOL)



Yeah, I had to hit the drop on that last note!

Dim All The Lights



RIP Donna. You will always be the Disco Queen.

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