Always Dancing

I've had a dancefloor addiction since my early 20's when I started going to gay clubs in Minneapolis. My friends and I had a rotation of several nightclubs we would hit up on any given weekend, and, although the players were different (or were they...), the music was largely the same (verrry deep house and cheesy diva "homohouse," as I like to call it). I would dance for hours along with the shirtless men. I had no worries, and no intentions, other than to dance. I didn't meet people, I didn't drink (lie), I didn't do drugs, I just danced. How pragmatic and Lutheran of me. And, although my taste in dance music has changed and evolved over the years, my love for getting sweaty and losing myself on the floor has not.

When I'm feeling particularly old and like I've wasted my life, I like to think about what would've happened had I tried djing at a much younger age. With my suspect taste in music at the time, I would've LOVED djing at the local gay clubs. They would've had to drag me out of there, ranting about trance, waving my glo sticks around like a fool. Had I stayed on that path, I would currently have frosted tips, wear lipstick, and play music at White Parties in Miami and Palm Springs. It's never too late, I guess.

On that (frosted) tip, I've got a few songs to share that I've really been into the past month. The Hot Toddy jam is new, and is from the UK producer's debut album, on Om's sister label, Smoke & Mirrors. It is so niiiice and synthy with a hook that sounds very familiar (read: a slower Daft Punk). The other tune is from half of Rub-n-Tug, Dr. Dunks, and it's a Dolly edit, which is GENIUS. He highlights the bass, brings out the dance jam elements, and trims the fat from the original. I love it!!

Are we over disco edits yet? I sure hope not because I love them and want my fellow Norwegian, Todd Terje, to still have a job, so, please dj's and dancers, support your local disco edits!

Hot Toddy - Won't Let Go
Dr. Dunks - No P's

And, here's the Dolly original performed "live" on Solid Gold in 1983. I love Dolly, and, Dolly doing a disco-esque number? So cute! I particularly love the line "leave us alone tonight, if things don't work out right, he's all yours." Ha. Better keep your hands off my...

DJ Bobby Viteritti & The Trocadero Transfer

San Francisco's Trocadero Transfer was THE city's disco venue in the 70s and 80s. It was of the caliber of the large New York disco clubs (Studio 54, Paradise Garage), but, because it was in SF, it had a more bohemian "anything goes" vibe (maybe less coke, more poppers and shrooms?) with a choreographed light show to add to the journey. The venue and its cast of characters shaped gay dance culture in SF and across the country. Icons like Sylvester, Cheryl Lynn & Martha Wash performed at "The Troc" and the stories of what went down on a typical weekend night are legendary. As with any successful nightclub, The Troc had its share of successful dj's, and, I've become enamored with one in particular, Bobby Viteritti. Viteritti was an East Coast transplant who could mix his way through a 5-hr set so seamlessly, you couldn't tell when one song ends and the next one begins. Viteritti has talked in interviews about how he would start a song in the middle, play it til the end, maybe go to a new track then start the old track from the beginning just to mess with the crowd, to throw off their expectation of what was coming next. He was also known for using rotary knobs instead of faders, and, considering the mastery of his mixes and the equipment he was working with completely blows my mind.

I've tried in vain to find mp3's or cds of Viteritti's mixes, and, it looks like his website is under construction with promises of samples in the near future. In the meantime, the following blogs have posted his work: Discoworkout posted this absolutely mind-blowing 1st hour of a 5-hour 1979 Trocadero set; and, one of my favorite blogs, Beat Electric, posted this 1980 set.

If you love dance music or disco, gay culture, or San Francisco history, check out all you can on Viteritti.

**9/18/10 UPDATE: I JUST FOUND SOME DISCO MIX GOooooOOOLD! BAM!