Friday Night Disco!!!!

Not everyone was in love with disco, but I certainly was.  I hit a ton of discos back in the day, and the memories are seriously still with me. 

Sylvester - Dance


If that song didn't get your body moving ... try this one!

Dan Hartman - Instant Replay (long version) Try to imagine a sweat filled gay club, and this song comes on (laughing, yeah, not for all of you, I get it). Still, I have the memories!!!!



I remember the dance routine we (my cousins, Kel, Les and Gary) had to this song. "All night long, we did the ..."

Sylvers - Boogie Fever
 

RIP Robin Gibb

And the "walk" that made it famous!

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.

There's A Disco Inferno In Heaven, RIP, Jimmy Ellis

Jimmy Ellis, who belted out the dance anthem "Disco Inferno" in the 1970s for the Trammps, died Thursday in South Carolina, the funeral home handling arrangements said.

He was 74.

First off, disco WAS my thing. Regardless of my dance training and background, I came of age, dance wise, during the disco era. I have probably been to every famous disco with the exception of Studio 54 in New York, during my disco days. I entered disco dance contests, won quite a few and even won one stupid small contest that my younger cousin, Gary, danced with me. I was living in North County, San Diego, and drove to Los Angeles to pick Gary up, then drove back to North County where the small contest was (which we won), then drove him back to Los Angeles, and then came back home!

Actually, during the years in the early to mid-70's that I lived in the North County San Diego area, I was constantly driving up to L.A. for dance classes three or more times a week. I did not find any dance studios in the San Diego area that cut the mustard compared to who I was studying under in L.A.

But, far and away, one of THE most popular disco songs to dance to (and which was one of the songs that I have had in my walk work out, whether on the treadmill or actually walking) was "Disco Inferno" by the Trammps.

RIP, Jimmy Ellis.

More Lady Gaga And Ruby Summer

"Groove, slam, work it back, filter that, baby bump that track."

Ok, the original.



Now my relatives, Ruby Summer's version, acoustic (I'm still impressed how they can relate such techno songs into simple guitar/vocal versions).

Can You Say Disco?

Tonight on So You Think You Can Dance, there was a disco performance to the Sylvesters "Dance (Disco Heat)" which is a song that I put up in my top ten of disco songs.

But, you have to remember, I came of "dance" age in the disco era, so most of you don't even know this song. I tried to find it on You Tube, but didn't find any thing that was the real thing.

Second song best loved in that era was Dan Hartman's "Instant Replay."

Enjoy!



Don't forget, I am celebrating my 60th birthday party with a disco fest at the El Rey in Los Angeles! Stay tuned for more details.

Fuck The Millenium, Scooter Style

Can't vouch for how long the video stays up, but enjoy while you can.


This is, shall we say, my musical mantra.



House/Techno and all of it's variations, I think, are for those of us that are head bangers, but like disco!

Scooter Rules!

Of course, if you are going to cede the house/techno ground to anyone in this millennium, it would have to go to Scooter!




I turned 50 in 2002, and I was totally freaking out my friends playing this music!

Disco, House Style

I was going to put up the Lady Gaga song, but the YouTube embedding format is "disabled" at the artist's request. Fuck that!

Her song (and video) is cool, for those that are techno disco house addicts. But, come on, original? How about a little Emjay from like 8 years ago!