Books by Tim Lawrence

Hold On to Your Dreams: Arthur Russell and the Downtown Music Scene, 1973-92 (Forthcoming, autumn 2009)

This is a photo of Arthur Russell on the rooftop of his East Village apartmentHold On to Your Dreams: Arthur Russell and the Downtown Music Scene, the first biography the be written about the downtown musician Arthur Russell, has gone into production with Duke University Press and will be published in the autumn of 2009. Developed around exhaustive interviews with Russell's closest collaborators, friends and family, and including eight-seven  Read more »


Love Saves the Day / Japanese Translation

This is the front cover of the Japanese translation of Love Saves the DayLove Saves the Day has been translated into Japanese:
<ガラージ><ロフト><12インチ><ノンストップ・ミックス>…
現在の隆盛の礎となった、NYを軸とした70年代のDJ/クラブ/レコード業界まわりの史実を、オリジナル・インタビュー、“ダンス・クラシックス”リス トを通して徹底検証した決定版!DJカルチャー参 Read more »


Love Saves the Day / Italian Translation

This is an image taken from Spanky and Our Gang, the TV series that provided David Mancuso with the image for his invitation card"Love Saves the Day", uscito in prima edizione nel 2003 per la Duke University Press, e' un libro secondo noi importante, giunto a colmare una lacuna evidente nella critica musicale e piu' in genere nella critica del costume. Infatti, sebbene non manchino i libri e le pubblicazioni sugli "anni della disco" -- quasi tutti elencati nell'ampia bibliografia, la più... Read more »


Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-79

This is the front page of Love Saves the DayOpening with David Mancuso's groundbreaking "Love Saves the Day" Valentine's party, Tim Lawrence tells the definitive story of American dance music culture in the 1970s -- from its subterranean roots in NoHo and Hell's Kitchen to its gaudy blossoming in midtown Manhattan to its wildfire transmission through America's suburbs and urban hotspots... Read more »


 

New from Tim Lawrence

Feminist / Queer Desires (Goldsmiths, June 2008)

This is the poster for the Goldsmiths conferenceI was invited by Angela McRobbie, Professor of Communications at Goldsmiths College, to present a paper on the theme of "Disco and the Queer Dance Floor" at the third annual Gender and Theory Conference, which took place on Wednesday 11 June 2008... Read more »


Arthur Russell / Rhizomatic Musicianship (Liminalities)

This is an flyer of Arthur Russell's 24-24 performancea the Kitchen in 1979During the 1970s and early 1980s, a diverse group of artists, musicians, sculptors, video filmmakers and writers congregated in downtown New York and forged a radical creative network... Read more »


David Mancuso and the Loft (Placed)

This is a photo of one of a Koetsu, one of the cartrdiges we use for the Lucky Cloud parties with David MancusoThe following article and interview appears in Placed, an new Berlin-based magazine. Conducted in London on the eve of  Lucky Cloud Sound System's spring party, the interview... Read more »


Arthur Russell interview (Blow Up)

This is a photo of Arthur Russell standing in a corn fieldOn 25 January 2007 I was interviewed by Daniela Cascella for the March 2007 edition of Blow Up (Italy). The full transcript of the interview follows, along with a PDF of the article. Daniela Cascella: Setting out on a new project always implies a great deal of research... Read more »


In Defence of Disco (Again) (New Formations)

This is a photo of the front cover of New Formations"Disco" is the overburdened name given to the culture that includes the spaces (discotheques) that were organised around the playback of recorded music by a DJ (disc jockey); the social practice of individual freeform dancing that was established within this... Read more »


"I Want to See All My Friends At Once": Arthur Russell and the Queering of Gay Disco (Journal of Popular Music Studies)

This is the front cover of the Journal of Popular Music StudiesDisco, it is commonly understood, drummed its drums and twirled its twirls across an explicit gay-straight divide. In the beginning, the story goes, disco was gay: Gay dancers went to gay clubs, celebrated their newly liberated status by dancing with other men, and discovered a vicarious voice in the... Read more »


Disco: Liberation of the Body (Liberazione)

This is the banner of the Liberazione newspaperIn the popular imagination, disco conjures up images of Studio 54, the celebrated New York 1970s nightclub, where hoards of would-be dancers queued up on a nightly basis, waving their arms frantically in an attempt to... Read more »


Discotheque: Haçienda

This is the front cover of the Hacienda CDHistories of UK club culture often tell the following story. Before the summer of 1987, rare groove ruled, beats-per-minute were slow and dance floor energy was low. Then a gaggle of London lads went to Ibiza, tasted the Ecstasy-dance cocktail, and carried on the party when they came back home. The "Summers of Love" of 1988 and 1989 that followed didn't so much mark a new twist in Read more »


Acid - Can You Jack?

Acid house coverHouse music is disco's revenge. So said Frankie Knuckles, reflecting on the charged history of the genre, which emerged in hometown Chicago in the middle of the 1980s. In this case home, to quote... Read more »


Mixed With Love: The Musical World Of Walter Gibbons

This tale begins with a skinny white DJ mixing between the breaks of obscure Motown records with the ambidextrous intensity of an octopus on speed. It closes with the same man, sick with AIDS... Read more »