Tag Archives: disco

My favorite monthly dive bar party gets uncharacteristically political this Saturday. Always a blast.

San Francisco’s annual reunion of the performers and patrons of the legendary Trocadero Transfer disco takes place on October 7th. As longtime readers might recall, I’ve attended this party several times and will be there again this year. (I’m pretty sure I’m somewhere under those white balloons above.) This year’s party begins immediately after the conclusion of the Castro Street …

I forgot to mention Sylvester’s 65th birthday, what with all the DNC hullabaloo. Here’s some disco-gay education for the tender ones.

As part of Lincoln Center’s free concert series, last night R&B/disco legend and famed songwriter Valerie Simpson performed a tribute show to her late husband Nick Ashford, who passed away a year ago this month. Below Simpson performs what some consider Ashford & Simpson’s best song, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, which was first a Top Twenty pop hit for …

I’d have given you an earlier notice, but I only found out last night. Five or six years ago I was very lucky to attend Chic’s 25th anniversary concert at Webster Hall, after which Nile Rodgers generously hung around to sign a million autographs, including one for me. I’m such a huge fan of his, it pains me to single …

It’s been a really shitty week for pop music. Robin Gibb, one of three brothers who made up the disco group the Bee Gees behind “Saturday Night Fever” and other hits from the 1970s, died on Sunday, according to a statement on his website. He was 62. Gibb “passed away today following his long battle with cancer and intestinal surgery,” …

Thirty-six years ago today, Donna Summer’s Try Me, I Know We Can Make It was in its third and final week atop Record World’s disco chart. (Billboard did not launch its own national Disco Action chart until later in 1976.) Clocking in at an epic eighteen minutes, this three-song medley from the aptly named Love Trilogy album was used as …

“I’m so sad. This woman was the queen of disco and so much more. Her records sound as good today as they ever did. That she has never been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a total disgrace, especially when I see the second-rate talent that has been inducted. She is a great friend to me …

We cannot properly memorialize Donna Summer without mentioning Paul Jabara, the late gay songwriter and performer who won the Academy Award for Best Original Song after his Last Dance was performed by Summer in the pitiful disco movie, Thank God It’s Friday. Jabara had a bit part in the film and his own track, Trapped In The Stairway, was included …

Three years ago, with Dr. Jeff and our DC pal Jimbo, I trekked out to Coney Island for Donna Summer’s massive outdoor free concert under the Brooklyn stars. It was hot, pushy, and maddeningly overcrowded. It was also fantastic. But not just for the music. It was also amazing to see several generations of gay men, including not a few …

Horrible news. Donna Summer, the queen of disco, has died of cancer. TMZ has the early details.

Thirty-five years later the song (arguably) still most closely associated with Grace Jones is her first chart smash, I Need A Man, which spent two May 1977 weeks atop Billboard’s disco report before being shoved aside by Marvin Gaye’s epic, Got To Give It Up. An early version of the track was first released in 1975, reaching a limp #83 …

This Upper East Side townhouse was built in 1966 by noted modernist Paul Rudolph. When Halston lived there, it was known as the Studio 54 after-party house. The Alexander Hirsch and Lewis Turner Residence, aka Halston House, 101 East 63rd Street, New York NY. Includes a private garage and rooftop deck. 7349 square feet. Sold in 1974 to designer Roy …

Thirty years ago this week disco/R&B star Linda Clifford enjoyed what would be her final of four Billboard dance chart toppers with Don’t Come Crying To Me. The track was written and produced by Michael Gore (Lesley’s brother) who was hot off winning two 1980 Oscars for writing and producing the Fame soundtrack title song. Gore is also revered among …

In 1977 Jody Watley was plucked from the Soul Train dance floor to become part of Shalamar, Don Cornelius’ grudging acknowledgement of disco, the genre he scorned nearly as much as he would later loathe hip-hop. In 1987, ten years after Shalamar began a long run of hit singles on the pop, R&B, and club charts, Watley’s debut solo release, …

RELATED: Trammps lead singer Jimmy Ellis died yesterday at the age of 74. The New York Times has the obit. Mr. Ellis’s melodious voice overlaid the funky guitar riffs and driving bass and drums of the Trammps’s dance music. He sang lead on most of the group’s songs, backed by the bass singer Earl Young, and later harmonized with Robert …

Here’s a Valentine’s Day message from the world’s most popular (and likely only) Bulgarian gypsy drag disco bear.(Tipped by JMG reader Bobby)

A favorite of 1977, but I still prefer the original.

An old school disco t-dance at the old school t-dance time. That’s almost revolutionary for Manhattan. The promoter also brings us the fantastic Trippin’ parties that I love so. XL’s grand opening is Friday. It’s the first large new exclusively gay club for NYC in years.

Last night I attended Trippin’ On The Moon, the recurring disco oldies party for the members and performers of NYC’s legendary Saint disco. The featured entertainer was Tony winner and four-time Grammy nominee Melba Moore, who looked and sounded so amazing that I had to whip out my phone to confirm that it was, in fact, 42 years ago that …