Disco : A Decade of Saturday Nights - Exhibition

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adj2ent

DJ Extraordinaire
Oct 20, 2006
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Long Island NY
I posted this on Facebook and might be of interest to those around in the 70s’. This was back in 2005, they had a special disco exhibit at Lincoln Center in New York City. It was a traveling exhibit which did hit a couple of cities back then. I caught the exhibit back 2005 NYC. Unlike in the 1980s and on, I don’t have many photos from the 1980 and no video. I didn’t my first video camera in 1983.

I found the write up about it from 2005 

Disco : A Decade of Saturday Nights - Exhibition at The New York Public Library Exhibition at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Brings Disco Back to the City that Spawned It. New York, NY -- Love it, hate it, or plead oblivious to its insistent moment, disco was an undeniably ubiquitous and transformative cultural phenomenon. Disco: A Decade of Saturday Nights is the first major exhibition to explore the historical context and continuing influence of the rich, complex world of disco as it has affected the musical, social, cultural (and polyester) fabric of America and the world. Created and first presented by Seattle's Experience Music Project (EMP), this multimedia, interactive extravaganza of an exhibition brings the disco phenomenon back to where it all began. Disco: A Decade of Saturday Nights will be on view from February 1 through May 14, 2005 in the Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza. Admission to the exhibition is free. Disco started in the lofts of the lively but disenfranchised in New York City -- those who played and danced to what was, quite literally, a different drumbeat. It spread like wildfire, revolutionizing the recording industry and becoming along the way the liberator of the marginalized, the soundtrack to the pre-AIDS spread of sexual liberation into the suburbs, and eventually the backdrop for the flaunting of excess and exclusivity at clubs like Studio 54. In the wake of Saturday Night Fever , it gave rise to an unprecedented commercial saturation, serving as the medium for marketing virtually anything and everything marketable. And then it died, as seismically as it had begun. Or did it? Disco: A Decade of Saturday Nights includes more than 200 artifacts from the disco era, as well as a dozen video monitors showing a percussive stream of vintage images, classic footage (such as "Disco Step-by-Step," the first television show dedicated to disco music, dance and instruction), and filmed interviews with disco pioneers; listening stations and kiosks holding a wealth of songs (from early house party music to the funk of "Soul Makossa" to the homogenized BeeGees megahits to Ethel Merman getting a case of disco fever); and an interactive DJ booth at which visitors may create their own dance mixes. Among the dazzling array of historical materials are the drums Earl Young used to invent the four-on-the-floor disco beat; examples of the sound equipment that gave birth to the disco mix; and a collection of that disco innovation, the 12-inch single. There are stage costumes worn by Donna Summer, Nile Rodgers, Patti Labelle, The BeeGees, and other performers, and of course, the iconic white suit from Saturday Night Fever ; and disco era fashions from designers including Halston and Bonnie August for Danskin. The collection continues with album covers; posters; club souvenirs and membership cards; and photographs and film galore of the dancers and DJ's who were the true stars of the phenomenon, and of the famous and infamous denizens of the landmark clubs and worldwide scene. There is memorabilia from many of the regional disco venues (which at one time outnumbered McDonald's outlets in the United States); a letter from Barbra Streisand to DJ Nicky Siano; documentation of the burgeoning of San Francisco's gay liberation movement; and an exact replica of the Moon and Spoon sign regularly lowered over the dance floor during Studio 54's heyday. And there is ample evidence of the selling of disco, from a Sears Disco Pooh record player to Wolfman Jack's Disco Party flying disc; as well as artifacts of the "disco sucks" reaction to disco's pervasiveness, which culminated in the burning of 10,000 disco records and an attendant riot at Chicago's Comiskey Park in 1979. "When I saw Disco: A Decade of Saturday Nights in Seattle I knew that I had to bring it to New York," said Jacqueline Z. Davis, The Barbara G. and Lawrence A. Fleischman Executive Director of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. "What I didn't know was just how powerful and widespread the appeal of disco remains. There is a groundswell of disco dancers, DJ's, club owners, and veterans of the early days as well as new aficionados that have come out of the woodwork en masse since news of our hosting this exhibition was only a rumor. We are expecting a huge turnout for the run of the exhibition and for its opening party on January 31." Disco: A Decade of Saturday Nights was curated by Eric Weisbard, Ann Powers, and Ben London. A series of free public programs complementing the exhibition, yet to be announced, will be held in the Library's Bruno Walter Auditorium. Disco: A Decade of Saturday Nights will be on view from February 1, 2005 through May 14, 2005 in the Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York. Exhibition hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 12 noon to 6 p.m.; Thursday, 12 noon to 8 p.m.; closed Sundays, Mondays, and holidays. Admission is free. For further information, telephone 212.870.1630 or visit www.nypl.org.
 

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Disco is the reason why I'm a Professional DJ for life. I love that some modern producer DJs brought it back as NuDisco, Tropical House, or EDM. IMHO is the greatest genre & movement ever created. It was the precursor to what EDM concert lovers enjoy today. Disco sounds will continue to influence generations to come. I'm so glad that it was created while my time here on this beautiful planet we call earth.
 
Disco got a bad rap as it was so popular that a number of people was putting out crap and calling it disco so they could sell it.
Like many genres, Disco had some great music that continues to be popular with today’s crowds
 
I love that music because for me it's safe. I really love the deep underground house music. That's where you don't play the same old songs that people have heard at least 100 times. That music is safe with people who understand the music being played. That music is not boring to me.

When you went to a club people were there just to dance, have a few drinks, dance and maybe meet somebody. No drama with people fighting and tearing up the place.
 
I love that music because for me it's safe. I really love the deep underground house music. That's where you don't play the same old songs that people have heard at least 100 times. That music is safe with people who understand the music being played. That music is not boring to me.

When you went to a club people were there just to dance, have a few drinks, dance and maybe meet somebody. No drama with people fighting and tearing up the place.
My guess is in the time frame you went to the clubs there was a lot of cocaine use going on
 
I had a really good in the Disco era, it made myself & my partner at the time two of the most popular guys at our High School and we didn’t transfer in until the 10t grade. Disco was still there 1980 to 1984. Lime, France Joli, Donna Summer, Weather Girls, Miquel Brown. Bananarama had hits in the early 1980s. They just didn’t call it Disco. And the labels stopped putting out crap like the Ethel Merman disco album, Disco Duck.
House Music, Freestyle, Reggae, Hip Hop, Dance all started around that same time. Then there was Top 40, Rock & New Wave. One Helluva crazy time. At the colleges they danced to a mix of all of it for 4 to 5 hrs. The vibe was so good after a Video Dance Party which required a 3 hr and breakdown we head to White Castle eat and hangout until the sun came up.
I am thinking about taking my wife on the https://ultimatediscocruise.com/ I believe it’s the 6th year they are going out. The nice thing about seeing artists on a cruise ship is you may run into the on the boat. I was on a Star Trek cruise and I ran into many actors just by chance. Anytime the elevator opened you didn’t know who’d be there.

Studio 54 was known for drugs in 1978 & 1979. The moon & spoon says it all. By time I got ithere in the 80s everything was cleaned up. Parties I was at were given by the radio station so they were clean. Now what Rick James was doing behind the scenes or before he got there, well all I can say. Go watch one of Charlie Murphys videos on YouTube about Rick James. Charlie could tell some good stories. Which I was told by someone close are basically true.
 
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My first taste of a dance club was a club called New Experience in Downtown Newark, NJ on Branford Place. Eventually the name changed to Club Sensations. Club Zanzabar opened up in the early 80's. I believe 81. That was the first year I became a DJ. That was the best club in Jersey of all times. That club was originally a room that people could rent out for $700.

Gerald T was the DJ when when the first floor had a club called Abes Disco. Gerald took the owner of the Lincoln Motel to the Paradise Garage in New York and when he saw that he got the idea to turn the ballroom into Club Zanzibar. Zanzibar's sound system and light show was designed by Richard Long. It cost $100,000 back then. In 6 months the owner Miles Burger made his money back. That club was legendary back then. Up and coming stars came there to perform.

Eventually it turned into a club called Brick City. It didn't last long. It was turned into a Hip Hop club that people who came there got into fighting and people getting stabed.

Legendary Tony Humphreys came in there one night and quickly left. At the end the whole building got torn down. You can still see pictures and writings about Zanzibar online today.

That's just one club in New Jersey that was a great place to party at one time. 2 more were Club Brokers and the Peppermint Lounge. Big clubs that are gone for every. One more that I went to was on the corner of Central Avenue and Harrison Street in East Orange was called Doops. The legendary Tee Scott was the DJ who played there. He did a ton of remixes on records just like Tony Humphreys did. Tee Scott has been dead a long time.

The music for those clubs back then in the beginning was Disco/House Music. Over the years a lot of bars and clubs around here turned to the Hip Hop music because it became popular. It was fun music when it first came out and now a lot of it in my opinion is junk. Today it's all about the Begimenys. Whatever makes fast money is what it's about today.

The sad part to me is how as a DJ you need to do something you didn't have to do back in the day and that is make sure you have a clean version of a song to play. In some cases the crowd wants the DJ to play the dirty version of a song. If that's what a client wants I stay clear away from clients like that.
 
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