Fun and fascinating - with fabulous fotos - Danceteria oral history by Joy Press, aka the missus, who was a regular at the legendary New York club in the 1980s.
Everyone from Madonna and Fab 5 Freddy to Marc Almond and Johnny Rotten to Beastie Boys and Butthole Surfers (worth reading the whole article just for the "piss wand" story) makes an appearance.
Something in the air clearly - in freaky synchrony the final Soft Cell album is titled Danceteria, while Madonna has a single out called "Danceteria". Joy was working on this story for months before discovering these unexpected pegs for the piece.
"John Sex was singing there..."
(and in reference to the late Anita Sarko who deejayed at Danceteria)
“I said to Anita, ‘Play me what I want to hear’ / She said, ‘Dear, I’m not a DJ I’m an atmosphere engineer.’”
"Everybody here is a work of art"
Here's a real-time tribute by Soft Cell, shaped by their New York clubland adventures, when they hooked up with a character called Cindy Ecstasy. She has a spoken-word on the re-recorded version of "Memorabilia" that appeared on Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing. This was one of the very first remix albums, alongside The Human League's Love and Dancing (released under the alias The League Unlimited Orchestra) and The B-52s Party Mix!
Really like the echo-chambered horn section on this, which reminds me a bit of "Papa Was A Rollin' Stone"
"Memorabilia" is much more in the zone of avant-funkers like 23 Skidoo and A Certain Ratio than the Northern Soul meets Suicide smashes that made Soft Cell pop stars.
Later Almond - veering away from the overlit pop world to the arty dark demimonde - would perform at Danceteria as part of the Immaculate Consumptive, an abject cabaret revue involving Lydia Lunch, Nick Cave, and Clint Ruin.
Looking forward to reading this!
ReplyDeleteA sad footnote to that second-last picture: Michael Stewart was an artist who had died less than a week earlier, after being arrested for alleged graffiti spraying.
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s great picture Defacement, about the death of Stewart, was originally painted on the wall of Keith Haring’s studio. Haring later had the section of drywall cut out and framed, and it was hanging over his bed when he died. I saw the picture at a gallery in NYC - the Guggenheim? - a few years ago, and it is incredibly powerful. Madonna was dating Basquiat at the time, I think.
Meanwhile, on an unrelated note: doesn’t Marc Almond look fresh-faced and innocent next to the other three?
..."the other three" being Cave, Ruin and Lunch, I meant
DeleteYes Joy covers the Michael Stewart story in the piece.
ReplyDeleteMark Almond's fans call themselves Gutter Hearts, don't they? After his 1984 song. But you are right, somehow the sleaze doesn't stick.