Music
Finishing unpacking today (almost 4 months after the move) I saved my records for last. Not a sentimental desicion but because I wanted to alphabetize them, I was thinking about music and how it can trigger memories. Every handful of vinyl I pulled out of a box reminded me of a time or night or person. With the records they mostly brought to mind college. Many a drunken night in Athens Ohio at O'hooleys Progessive Dance Night, (Gay Night) in the late 80's. I was the DJ of sorts. I would mix tapes and provide them to the owner on an almost weekly basis. A few times I carted my turntables and mixer down and spun live. It was all part of the master plan to some day own my own club.
The songs were at the time, life for me and my friends. Book Love "Boy" or New Order "Blue Monday" would whip the dance floor into a frenzy. In retrospect, that was my 15 minutes of fame, and it lasted for about three years. Everybody new that "cool a-sexual black guy from New York"and his cooler friend Dana (are they boyfriend/girlfriend, I heard he/she was gay/lesbian bi...they have a cool apt....did you get invited to their party/afterhours) . Music stayed with me when I moved to Chicago. No more tapes made but still a collector, I could name that dance tune in 5 seconds or less and probably owned it in some form or another. For a while there we would play follow that DJ and you would know where I was at any given night by where Teri Bristol was spinning that night. I remembered being in D.C. for the March on Washington truthfully I can't remember why we were marching but I do remember parting my ass off in New York and then in DC hanging out in Dupont Circle and overhearing a sweet little lady from somewhere in the south on the payphone telling someone back home "there are homosexuals everywhere... but they're all so sweet" and going into Tracks (sneaking in the back, paying the security $10 instead of the $15 and waiting in line) looking up at the DJ booth and seeing Terri, I caught her I and she played The Wee Papa Girl Rappers "Heat it Up" just for me (in my mind anyway). Adult friends replaced the college ones (I here pianos Elise, et al). As the years past going out and dancing was replaced with going out and drinking and looking for one night stands. Music still stayed with me but mixing went away until about a few years ago when, a one night stand actually, turned me on to DJ Trackor mixing software. Beat mix your mp3's right on your computer...the dream is alive!
The songs were at the time, life for me and my friends. Book Love "Boy" or New Order "Blue Monday" would whip the dance floor into a frenzy. In retrospect, that was my 15 minutes of fame, and it lasted for about three years. Everybody new that "cool a-sexual black guy from New York"and his cooler friend Dana (are they boyfriend/girlfriend, I heard he/she was gay/lesbian bi...they have a cool apt....did you get invited to their party/afterhours) . Music stayed with me when I moved to Chicago. No more tapes made but still a collector, I could name that dance tune in 5 seconds or less and probably owned it in some form or another. For a while there we would play follow that DJ and you would know where I was at any given night by where Teri Bristol was spinning that night. I remembered being in D.C. for the March on Washington truthfully I can't remember why we were marching but I do remember parting my ass off in New York and then in DC hanging out in Dupont Circle and overhearing a sweet little lady from somewhere in the south on the payphone telling someone back home "there are homosexuals everywhere... but they're all so sweet" and going into Tracks (sneaking in the back, paying the security $10 instead of the $15 and waiting in line) looking up at the DJ booth and seeing Terri, I caught her I and she played The Wee Papa Girl Rappers "Heat it Up" just for me (in my mind anyway). Adult friends replaced the college ones (I here pianos Elise, et al). As the years past going out and dancing was replaced with going out and drinking and looking for one night stands. Music still stayed with me but mixing went away until about a few years ago when, a one night stand actually, turned me on to DJ Trackor mixing software. Beat mix your mp3's right on your computer...the dream is alive!
posted by Michael at 1:54 PM
1 Comments:
or in my case dancing was replaced by staying home and smoking pot, and then just staying home... but that's all changing (and not because i'm smoking pot again).
Post a Comment
<< Home