Disco derailed my train

My train went off the tracks yesterday, there I was my newly found Thomas The Tank Engine CD (its terrible for any parents thinking of purchasing) clutched in me sweaty hands and was all ready to have a play on the turntables then I hit that part of the day where mister “I can’t be arsed” flew in the window and thus all trains were delayed due to a body on the tracks at London Bridge – well not quite, though that is an excuse British Rail used every day for ten days on end for delays to the service I caught to work back when I lived in London, plonkers.

So no I didn’t make a mix CD yesterday, nor a cassette. I got side tracked and by the time I could have stepped up and laid down some phat beats I wasn’t in the mood. Instead I settled into my evening with a documentary, Maestro. Which is all about the early disco/house clubs of New York (mainly) centred around David Mancuso’s Loft parties and the Paradise Garage and Larry Levan.

Maestro, a feature documentary, tells the story of how a group of people found refuge and a call for life outside the mainstream, what evolved was a scene that set the ground work for what was to come in dance music culture worldwide.

A film 4 years in the making, a rare insight into the underground world as it was. It’s the first time this story is told in a motion Picture, included in the film are pioneer dance music DJs and producers, ”founding fathers”, its center being Larry Levan, as well as high-profile DJs of today.

It vividly portrays the world that spawned today's dance music from 2-step, to the eclectic sounds of tribal, to pop artists. Parties from Ibiza to Philly, all are influenced by the quintessential elements that made New York City's Paradise Garage and The Loft such a powerful cultural force in people's lives.

DJs Larry Levan (Paradise Garage) and David Mancuso (The Loft) continue to be revered today as the leaders of dance music culture worldwide. This seminal movement—encompassing dancers, patrons, artists, DJs, sound designers, and more—gave birth to DJ pioneers in the film and contemporary dance club parties across the globe.

Most film documents of this historical movement have fallen short of its true story and impact to the world, providing us with a glossed over account of the time. Opting for a more personal and candid approach, MAESTRO shows the true history of the people through a realistic creative aesthetic. Tracing the underground's dance origin, MAESTRO brings out a real understanding of this intense lifestyle, and the lives they lived and died for. It is far from mere nostalgia, this film is like the music and experiences it chronicles.

To be honest, I don’t feel the film lived up to the reviews I’d read about it. An essential film to watch, for those who care and know a bit about this incredibly important era, and these seminal clubs and DJ’s. Yet I didn’t learn anymore than I already knew, which I must admit is a bit, as I’ve read a few books that covered all that the film did, as well if not better.

Some of the personal accounts of the clubs, the dancers and the times are brilliant and made the film for me. To get a insight into the places and how it may have felt to have attended a night at either being the real treat I got out of the film. I’ll no doubt watch it again before I return it, plus I have yet to tackle the bonus footage on the two DVD set I have here.

I’ve met a two people in my life, who had attended the Loft, a couple of New York DJ friends who were inspired by the little they experienced - they caught the tail end it, just. One time they visited Auckland I quizzed them both about the Loft – as I was and am very much taken by David Mancuso. I can’t remember much about what these guys told me, though I can remember the look on their faces and the reverence of how they told me about their experiences, which said more than words ever could. Its not often, I think, many of us experience something unique, something different, something so special you just smile, smile like a big loon, relishing the moment so much that everything else pales in comparison.

I’ve had a few instances in my musical adventures that I file under that sort of deal. Not as historically important as either the Loft nor Paradise Garage perhaps, but for me equally as important and hell they’re my memories which is all important. One lot of experiences come from a club called the Paradise Club, but that’s another story built around booyaka’s and the Amen Break.

I signed up to DJ at a NZ Fashion Week do next week, at least I think its next week – why I signed up for that puppy I really don’t know. For I am neither fashionable nor a good DJ, I am not interested in too thin girls half my age – well hell naturally I am, they aren’t interested in me is how that should really read, and rightly so. I should know better than singing up for these things, yet I do every now and then, more so that I can say I’ve done it than any sort of fun that I may or may not have doing the damn things. I’m not a fashionable sort of guy and I do find most involved in fashion to be dead boring – who wants to talk and think about clothes all the time… I am thinking of aiming for mainly kiwi tunes, you know local fashion, local music. I wonder how the Dead C would go down….. like a cup of cold vomit no doubt.

I think I’ll forgo trains for flightless birds if the time and inclination grab me today.