STUDIO! Tonight @ Havana All Night Love Dancin'

We will be doing it again this week, spinning the best in rare disco, italo, cosmic and mustache grooves, as we welcome back DJ H.M.A. from his east coast trip (Showing off the new tan!). The last few weeks the dancefloor has been packed and the night has gotten pretty ridiculous, and this Wednesday should be even more outrageous! Don't miss out!

Shooting Off Menergy

Even though his career was cut short due to his unfortunite death in 1982, Patrick Cowley was involved with many amazing italo projects, working with artist's like Sylvester, Donna Summer, Paul Parker, and many others while also helping to start the San Francisco based italo label Megatone Records. As many of you already know, Cowley released his own material including the 1981 classic LP Megatone Man, followed by albums Menergy and Mind Warp. During his career there might be many songs that could stick out as "defining moments" of Cowley's own music, however, for me the two songs that come to me first when thinking of Cowley's brilliant career is 1981's "Megatron Man" and "Menergy". Both became huge "anthem like" favorites among San Francisco's underground gay disco scene which really helped establish himself and his label. That's not to say he didn't have his hands on many other amazing releases, including Sylvester's high-energy classic "Do You Wanna Funk", an incredible remix of Donna Summer's "I Feel Love", and Paul Parker's 1982 chart-topping single "Right on Target". It's safe to say that Patrick Cowley will forever have a lasting imprint on the gay disco and San Francisco music scenes, and it's unforunite that his life was cut so short especially as it was just starting to peak. That being said, Cowley did leave behind an incredible legacy that can be forever lived through his amaing productions.

Patrick Cowley - Megatron Man
Patrick Cowley - Menergy

Disco Reservation Nation

Here is an interestingly "Native American" themed disco track by one of Salsoul's more cosmically minded groups, Orlando Riva Sound (aka O.R.S.). This slow cosmic grooving song, entitled "Indian Reservation", was originally released in 1979 as a 12-inch single and was produced by Anthony Monn, a well known disco era producer that worked with Amanda Lear, Judy Cheeks, and Magnifique. This was just one of the many great cosmically-minded disco records released during the groups existence, releasing other great records like the 1978 classic LP Body To Body Boogie, as well as the amazing Tom Moulton mixed and co-produced single "Moon-Boots" that same year. Regardless, "Indian Reservation" still remains to be my personal favorite from this legendary disco group.

Orlando Riva Sound - Indian Reservation
Orlando Riva Sound - Body To Body Boogie

Caught Up In Risco Music

In the late 1970's, Joe Isaacs put together a very unique disco project titled, Risco Connection. In this project's short life span, Risco Connection released some amazing 12" singles covering some classic disco tracks including McFadden & Whitehead's 1978 "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now", Inner Life's 1979 "I'm Caught Up (In A One Night Love Affair)", Chic's "Good Times", and Diana Ross's "It's My House" to name a few. This group was able to successfully take these original songs and make them their own, adding their own unique blend of laid-back latin-disco, as well as elements of dub and reggae. Risco Connection tracks make for great 'cool-down' songs within a disco set, as well as great sample material for House, Hip-Hop, and Dub producers. Regardless, Joe Isaacs not only put together a solid disco project during the late 1970's, he was able to put together one that had one of the more unique and interesting sounds. When you put on a Risco Connection record, you definitely know what your getting into, sound wise, however for this particular case, that's a good thing!

Risco Connection - I'm Caught Up
Risco Connection - Ain't No Stopping Us Now

Pow Pow Pow...Shine Down On My Day

If you were to make it down to STUDIO! on a Wednesday night, one of the songs you are almost certain to hear is the overwhelming crowd favorite "Pow Pow Pow" by the italo group Capricorn. I picked up this hard-to-find 1980 classic about a year ago when I first visited New York, along with their self-titled twelve-inch "Capricorn" which in my opinion is equally as good. Both records were written and produced by Claudio Simonetti and Giancarlo Meo, who were also responsible for the legendary italo group Easy Going. Given the brilliance of every release Capricorn put out, which also included the classic twelve inch I Need Love in 1982, the group's existences was overall very short, releasing only three singles. That being said, they are all amazing italo classics and very hard-to-find, so if your lucky enough to find a copy, I would recommend forking out the money and picking one up. If not, fill free to stop by Wednesday night where you'll probably hear a track or two by the legendary group.

Capricorn - Pow Pow Pow

What Last Night Looked Like

Last Night = Lots of Love Dancin', Good Times, & Many Sweaty Sexy Bodies!

See all the photos here

See You Next Wednesday!

Turnin' Up The Body Heat TONIGHT @ STUDIO!

We will be 'heatin' it up' again TONIGHT, spinning the best in rare disco, italo, cosmic and mustache grooves, as we welcome back DJ Glitterpants, stoping in on his short visit from New York. Glitterpants was formerly a resident of Chop Suey's very successful Club Pop night here in Seattle, as well as a part of the first original 'STUDIO!' night before it was moved to Havana. Last week was pretty ridiculous, and I'm anticipating another crazy night this week, so don't miss out!

Studio!
A Weekly Gay-Ass Disco Party
Disco & Italo All Night Long
Every Wednesday Night
@ Havana (1010 E Pike Street)
9pm-2am $3

Miss Broadway

Last night while doing some late night record shopping at one of Seattle's many record stores, I was suprisingly happy to hear Belle Epoque's 1977 disco classic "Miss Broadway" playing over the loud speakers. I immediately fell in love with the track on first listen. Unfortunitely I quickly found that the store wasn't selling the record because it came from one of the clerks personal collection. Belle Epoque has always been one of those groups I've always wanted to hear more from, especially since I've been a huge fan of their popular classic "Bamalama" for quite sometime. Even though my record store shooping didn't result in any Belle Epoque finds, it did inspire me to hunt down some more of their records.

Belle Epoque - Miss Broadway

Finding a Cure...Once Again

It seems like a "Match made in Heaven" when it comes to Dimitri From Paris re-editing a classic Ashford & Simpson track. We saw the first example of this back in the year 2000, when Dimitri's amazing re-edit of "Found A Cure" was included on A Night At The Playboy Mansion mix compilation, which happens to be a personal favorite of mine. Well earlier this year on a new Ashford & Simpson 'best-of' type of compilation, The Warner Bros. Years: Hits, Remixes & Rarities, we saw the two come together again with Dimitri this time re-editing the 1979 classic "Stay Free". Even though the new edit of "Stay Free" isn't quite as ripe for the prime moments on a dancefloor as "Found A Cure", the more laid back edit is equally as good in my opinion. Dimitri does a nice job touching up and extending the finer moments of the original, making the song just right for those early hour dancefloor or coll-down mixes. Nice results again from this solid combination.

Ashford & Simpson - Stay Free (Dim's DJ Friendly Mix)

Magic Mandrake

Lately I've been really getting into the Sarr Band. I tend to find their songs featured in many disco mixes, however I haven't been able to hunt down much information on the group outside of the fact that they released a few amazing disco singles back in the late 1970's with "Magic Mandrake" and "Double Action". Other versions of "Double Action", were also released by both The Salsoul Invention and The Fantastic Soul Invention around the same time. Regardless on the lack of information regarding their releases, it seems from all the tracks that I've heard that the Sarr Band put out some amazing singles and if you can't get a hold of a single or two without breaking the bank, I highly recommend doing so.

Sarr Band - Magic Mandrake
Sarr Band - Double Action