David Mancuso's Loft on RBMA

Jeff "Chairman" Mao  has published a momentous oral history of David Mancuso's Loft for Red Bull Music Academy. The history is comprised of interviews with Vince Aletti, John Benitez, Barbie Bertisch, David Felton, Fred Flores Ernesto Green, François Kevorkian, Louis Kee, Hiromi Kiba, Danny Krivit, David Liu, Tina Magennis, Colleen Murphy, Paul Raffaele, Mark Riley, Josie Ritondo, Alex Rosner, Douglas Sherman, Nicky Siano, Will Socolov, Elyse Stefanishin, Yukihiro Suzuki, Luis Vargas and Donna Robbins Weiss--I hope I'm not leaving anyone out. Jeff even spoke with me; I have fond memories of an intense interview conducted on a scorching hot day in NYC in early May last year. It's a huge piece of writing and a valuable addition to the historicisation of the Loft--thank you, Jeff! 

While I'm here, I'd very much like to flag up a crowdfunding campaign organised by Ben Goldfarb on behalf of the wonderful Judy Russell, a longstanding employee at Vinyl Maniac and Downtown 81, a regular at the Paradise Garage and a close friend of many in the scene, including Larry Levan, who fell on hard times after becoming ill. It was wonderful to be able to interview Judy and include some of her memories and insights in Life and Death on the NY Dance Floor. Please donate! 

Lastly, the New York Times has published an obituary of the magical Boyd H. Jarvis, already much missed. The article ends with sister Yvette Jarvis recounting how Boyd made and recorded music until his death. What else was he going to do?

Brilliant Corners Valentine’s party to mark the NYC Loft 47th anniversary

Happy 47th anniversary to everyone associated with the NYC Loft. Today, the first without David, is bitter sweet, but will be marked by what I'm sure will be a beautiful ceremony in NYC (to be led by Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy and Mark Riley) and an evening of Loft classics at Brilliant Corners in London. The photo is of David at the Light in London in 2005. When we first started searching for a space David always said that the most important thing was for it to feel comfortable. When I asked him what he meant by that he replied that comfortable meant that you'd feel relaxed if you ended up needing to sleep the night in the space. This, remember, came after David lost his space on Avenue B in the very late 1990s and so started to think of how the Loft could be staged outside his own home. Several years later David looks comfy in his socks, standing next to a newly-acquired klipschorn. Good times...

Brilliant Corners 14 February 2017: well that was fun and also cathartic. At the start of the night I assumed I'd while away the time playing some great music on a exquisite sound system to people who were primarily focused on eating fine Japanese food and gazing into the eyes of their partners. By the end the space had transformed into a full-on, sweat-drenched dance party. Music-wise I stuck to records that David Mancuso played at the Loft in NYC and London, many of them classics, some a little less well known. Any feelings of ventriloquy-weirdness were brushed aside by the total enthusiasm of those gathered to mark the 47th anniversary of the Loft through music and dance. The toughest part was working in "What's Going On" and "Law of the Land", but the times seemed to call for both, and perhaps it's time we started to address Trump with the line "Girl you need a change of mind." As the end approached, some five hours later, the records were pretty much picking themselves, which was cool as I was itching to get onto the floor, where I belong. Thanks to everyone who showed up--it was special to get to spend time with a bunch of folks who up until yesterday I only recognised in passing from the Lucky Cloud Sound System parties. Double thanks to Amit Patel and Aneesh Patel along with the music and dance-savvy staff at Brilliant Corners for being so hospitable. I left with a smile on my face...

14 Feb 2017, Brilliant Corners tracklist:

Bob Marley “Exodus” From Dreams of Freedom: Ambient mix translations of Bob Marley in Dub
Ravi Shankar “Raga Abhogi”
Chuck Mangione with the Philharmonic Orchestra and Esther Satterfield, “Land of Make Believe”
Alfredo de la Fé / the Latin Percussion jazz Ensemble “My Favourite Things: Live Version”
WAR “City, Country, City”
Karma “High Priestess”
Barrabas “Woman”
Eddie Kendricks “Girl You Need a Change of Mind”
Marvin Gaye “What’s Going On”
Temptations “Law of the Land”
Brass Construction “Movin’”
Manu Dibango “Soul Makossa”
Fela Ransome-Kuti and the Africa ‘70 “Shakara”
Peter Brown “Do Ya Wanna Get Funky with Me?”
Ednah Holt “Serious, Sirius Space Party (Club Version)”
Led Zeppelin “Whole Lotta Love (album version)”
Chicago “I’m a Man (album version)”
No Smoke “Righteous Rule Dub”
Eddy Grant “Nobody’s Got Time”
Joakim “Spiders (Ewan Pearson Remix)”
LCD Soundsystem “Get Innocuous” 
Dinosaur L “Go Bag! #5 (François Kevorkian mix)”
Undisputed Truth “You + Me = Love”
Lonnie Liston Smith “Expansions”
T-Connection “Do What You Wanna Do (Disco Version)”
Crown Heights Affair “Say a Prayer for Two”
D Train “Keep On (Vocal)”
Âme “Rej (original)”
House of House “Rushing to Paradise”
Celestial Choir “Stand On the Word”
Patti LaBelle “Music Is My Way of Life”
Stevie Wonder “As”
280 West featuring Diamond Temple “Love’s Masquerade”
Sun Palace “Rude Movements”
Ozo “Anambra’

LSD x