I hope you've all had a great summer.
Just before the holidays kicked in Lawrence Webb conducted an interview with me for the cities and culture journal Mediapolis. It took on a life-force of its own and so has been published in two parts:
Part I: www.mediapolisjournal.com/2018/08/the-mediapolis-qa-tim-lawrence-part-one/
Part II: www.mediapolisjournal.com/2018/08/the-mediapolis-qa-tim-lawrence-part-two/
Hope you enjoy x
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?
Public conversation with Martin Beck at Bergen Kunsthall
Last weekend I had the pleasure of travelling to Bergen to take part in a public conversation with NYC artist Martin Beck, whose ongoing interest in countercultural structures led him create a series of "Last Night" artworks that explore the Loft and, in particular, the penultimate party David Mancuso held at the party's Prince Street location in June 1984. Matthew Higgs/White Columns published Martin's "Last Night" book, after which the immersive, 13-hour "Last Night" film premiered at the Kitchen before appearing as the centrepiece artwork in Martin's comprehensive solo exhibition "rumours and murmurs", staged at mumok, Vienna. ArtForum went on to give Martin's work extended coverage in its "Best of 2017" issue and the immersive 13-hour "Last Night" installation film is now showing at Bergen Kunsthall, where Martin and I exchanged thoughts on the development of the piece. Many thanks to everyone at the gallery for the warm hospitality--we had a lot of fun. The exchange can now be viewed on online, https://vimeo.com/254116835
PS I'm working on bringing "Last Night" to London :-)
Life and Death interview on the IASPM-US
I was very happy to have been interviewed about Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor by Jarek Ervin of IASMPUS, now published here. It's all gone quite well with L&D, I guess I should write another book...
Vogue Hommes feature
Vogue Hommes (Paris) has published a 6-page interview with me about Life and Death on the NY Dance Floor.
"Il consacre avec Life and Death on the New York Dancefloor 1980-1983 [...] une somme prodigieusement fouillée, intensément politique, gorgée de détails, de titres de chansons, et d'anecdotes," writes Julien Gester in the intro. "Généreux et maniaque jusqu'à l'excès, le récit de Lawrence se nourrit aussi bien de playlists extensives que de documents d'époque et d'entretiens avec les principaux acteurs--devenus superstars ou restés dans l'ombre--de ce moment incandescent dont notre modernité ne s'est toujours pas remise."
I'm amazed. The only thing that would have amazed me even more is if they'd slipped a copy of the book into the picture of the mean-looking guys on the front cover--no, strike that, if they'd invited me to appear in the shoot.
In other news...
If your German is good and your French not so good, the Austrian magazine Malmoe has published an article about Life and Death on the NY Dance Floor, http://malmoe.org/artikel/tanzen/3263
If English is your preference, Matthew Billy has posted another episode of his Between the Liner Notes radio doc, 19: Discophobia (Disco Part 2). It includes i/vs with Joseph Carvello, Ray Caviano, Jim DeRogatis and me, http://bit.ly/BTLNdisco02
Signature has published a feature titled “10 Weird and Wonderful Biographies on the Music of the 1970s” that includes kind words about Hold On to Your Dreams: Arthur Russell and the Downtown Music Scene, 1973-92. “As a musician and composer, Russell’s body of work includes everything from boldly experimental compositions to ecstatic dance tracks to heartfelt pop confessionals,” writes Tobias Carroll. “Lawrence’s book is a fantastic look at Russell’s music, and the impact it continues to have on what we listen to today.” http://www.signature-reads.com/…/10-great-biographies-on-t…/
If you haven’t already, please sign the petition “Let NYC Dance: Repeal NYC's Cabaret (No Dancing) Law Now”, https://www.change.org/p/new-york-city-council-repeal-nyc-s…?
