I was the DJ at Better Days, a club with the same demographic (minus the tourists) for nine years, five nights a week, a thousand people a night, from 1980 to 1989.
A proper Garage list would have Taana Gardner, Gwen Guthrie, Peech Boys, Phreek, anything on West End, anything on Prelude, Carl Bean, Loleatta Holloway, Jocelyn Brown, Grace Jones, Rochelle Fleming, Martha and Izora (Two Tons), The Originals, South Shore Commission, Double Exposure, Sylvester, Side Effect, Lace…I could go on for a lot more.
The only tracks on that above list that could be considered Garage classics would be the Clash, Eddy Grant and Yoko. The rest were either obscure or merely meh. (See what I did there?)
I might have been in your place during that period. I didn’t go out all day hat often, and when I did I was usually at the Mudd Club or CHGB’s or some Fripp performance. Or going to see the Talking Heads and the Clash.
But when we went out to get sweaty, we usually just went someplace we’d never been before, to check it out. I know I was at Danceteria a few times - and there were various places w of Times Square near the river, and more around 14th street and several around the meatpacking district and lower W Village. And something in Soho.
I was in Paradise at least once that I remember. Maybe more. And, hope I got to your place when you were working. Never had a bad time.
I finally read the article at the link above, instead or barely skimming it.
Wow. I remember that being such a creative time in NYC. And there you were creating original sounds every night.
I know just about nothing of what what dj’s were doing. But I was aware that the dj could completely set a mood and create energy, even frenzy, and do it with wit and elegance. In a great night nobody wanted to leave. So what if you had to go to class or work on just a shower and coffee, no sleep or mebbe an hour? Worth it. When you’re young, you can pull that off. No more tho.
Songs specially selected to destroy your brain.
or something to that effect. It’s a craptastic collection. They aspire to mediocrity. These are the skid-marks of Motor City. It’s good to see somebody can continue creating “art” after the debilitating stroke. My cats hit at the sound of the first one I played and haven’t come out yet.
I mean seriously… Yoko Ono. We support you, meh.com, why do you hate us so?
I wonder how many Meh tables are teetering now that you pulled these old records from under the one short leg.
Why is there never a “it’s all fucking garbage” option in these polls?
I was the DJ at Better Days, a club with the same demographic (minus the tourists) for nine years, five nights a week, a thousand people a night, from 1980 to 1989.
A proper Garage list would have Taana Gardner, Gwen Guthrie, Peech Boys, Phreek, anything on West End, anything on Prelude, Carl Bean, Loleatta Holloway, Jocelyn Brown, Grace Jones, Rochelle Fleming, Martha and Izora (Two Tons), The Originals, South Shore Commission, Double Exposure, Sylvester, Side Effect, Lace…I could go on for a lot more.
The only tracks on that above list that could be considered Garage classics would be the Clash, Eddy Grant and Yoko. The rest were either obscure or merely meh. (See what I did there?)
@droopus
http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2015/01/nightclubbing-better-days
@f00l Yep, that was Better Days and I’m Bruce.
Good catch…
@droopus
I might have been in your place during that period. I didn’t go out all day hat often, and when I did I was usually at the Mudd Club or CHGB’s or some Fripp performance. Or going to see the Talking Heads and the Clash.
But when we went out to get sweaty, we usually just went someplace we’d never been before, to check it out. I know I was at Danceteria a few times - and there were various places w of Times Square near the river, and more around 14th street and several around the meatpacking district and lower W Village. And something in Soho.
I was in Paradise at least once that I remember. Maybe more. And, hope I got to your place when you were working. Never had a bad time.
@droopus
I finally read the article at the link above, instead or barely skimming it.
Wow. I remember that being such a creative time in NYC. And there you were creating original sounds every night.
I know just about nothing of what what dj’s were doing. But I was aware that the dj could completely set a mood and create energy, even frenzy, and do it with wit and elegance. In a great night nobody wanted to leave. So what if you had to go to class or work on just a shower and coffee, no sleep or mebbe an hour? Worth it. When you’re young, you can pull that off. No more tho.
@droopus
Found more info. Wow.
http://newyork.carpediem.cd/events/1105884-better-days-with-bruce-forest-at-analog-bkny/
http://www.analogbkny.com/calendar/2016/10/15/better-days-with-bruce-forest
https://m.mixcloud.com/discover/bruce-forest/
http://www.djhistory.com/interviews/bruce-forest
https://www.discogs.com/artist/34859-Bruce-Forest
http://testpressing.org/2016/05/bruce-forest-naughty-boy-mix-better-days-classics/
Love that Captain Rapp jam. Early Jimmy Jam Terry Lewis Production.
Also, today’s Meh post is the best Meh post of all time, to me.
@Junior305 Yeah but you had to play Version 2, with just the Kimberly Ball vocals. The rap was eh…
@droopus I actually agree with you. I’m really there for the beat.
I wished that T.C. Curtis - You Should’ve Known Better (Dub) was on that list. Would’ve picked that in a heartbeat.
Songs specially selected to destroy your brain.
or something to that effect. It’s a craptastic collection. They aspire to mediocrity. These are the skid-marks of Motor City. It’s good to see somebody can continue creating “art” after the debilitating stroke. My cats hit at the sound of the first one I played and haven’t come out yet.
I mean seriously… Yoko Ono. We support you, meh.com, why do you hate us so?
I wonder how many Meh tables are teetering now that you pulled these old records from under the one short leg.
This was a tough call between a classic Talking Heads track, and Yoko’s “Walking on Thin Ice”. Prince and The Clash were contenders, too.
Though if this was in the list, it would have gotten my vote immediately: