When I first got started in radio the song in the video below was a very popular dance track. I have never seen the video before tonight. I never realised that the chorus is:
“Happy is, happy is, we’re happy is what we are, happy is what we are when we’re together.”
Of course, we used to play the faster dance version (127 beats per minute versus 120 BPM here).
From 1993, here’s Legacy of Sound featuring Meja with “Happy”.
So it has been a year since I last made a DJ SuperCub “Beat Assimilation” mix. The last time I spun in public was last New Year’s Eve, when a young woman drinking bathroom tap water out of a dixie cup she was sharing with her friends asked me when I was going to start playing dance music. To her, dance music meant bumping and grinding to rap on the dance floor.
I then decided that I was DJing in the wrong place. It wasn’t long afterwards that my aging mixing console decided to give up the ghost. Instead of investing the money into new equipment, I sold the aging PowerBook G4 that ran it all and settled into music obscurity.
For Christmas I was given a new mixing console along with a bunch of other sound equipment for the studio. The stars aligned and I now have Earl’s old MacBook Pro, which is working fabulously despite having been dropped five or so feet, all loaded up with my old music library.
Last night I took the new console out for a spin. And it works BEAUTIFULLY.
There will be a new “Beat Assimilation” mix by the end of the year. I have to take a few days to catch up on dance music I have missed out on, including Freemasons featuring Sophie Ellis-Bextor and “Heartbreak (Make Me A Dancer)”.
It’s time to ramp DJ SuperCub back up to full potential. Enjoy the ride.
Even though this is one of my favorite songs of the 80s (and nearly all time), before tonight I had never seen the official music video. It’s kind of cool to see music videos from back in the day when they were low budget.
I remember the first time I heard this song. I was riding in the back of my friend Scott’s Buick Century on Interstate 81 heading home from the movies in Watertown, N.Y. I remember asking him to turn up the radio because it sounded like such a good son.
The girls look a little cranky in this video but it’s fun nonetheless.
Here’s “Automatic” by The Pointer Sisters.
By the way, it’s Anita on the left, Ruth singing leads and June on the right.
While I was listening to old music today I stumbled upon one of my old favourites from the mid 1970s, England Dan and John Ford Coley’s “I’d Really Love To See You Tonight”. I still crank this song up when I get the chance.
From the release of the song in ’75(?) until 1993 or so, I thought one of the lines was “I’m not talkin’ about the linen.” I didn’t know that the line was really “I’m not talkin’ about movin’ in” until I saw my friend Storm sing the song with the radio at camp.
Looking through the comments on the YouTube video below, I’m happy to say I’m not the only one that thought that!
I have recently discovered Pandora Internet Radio on my iPhone and have fallen in love with the service. It works flawlessly on my iPhone, even on the non-3G connections. The only problem with it is that I can’t listen in Canada without building up a HUGE international data charge.
Here’s the link to Pandora if you’re not familiar with the service.
Here’s the stats on my profile just in case you’re interested in what I’m doing on there. I have also added it to the “DJ SuperCub” tab at the top of the blog.
It’s the weekend, so it’s time to dance. I have recently discovered a wide selection of dissertations, analyzations and uncanny inspections of various ABBA recordings strewn throughout the internet. So I decided to feature this remix of “Dancing Queen” from YouTube, which includes the “lost lyrics” of the second verse, lifted from a documentary video from the 70s and remixed by audiophiles across the world to make it fit back into the song. It’s kind of neat.
Here’s ABBA with “Dancing Queen”. (Listen carefully around 2:48)
Fall of 1986. Freshman year at SUNY Fredonia. Doc’s. Jamestown, New York. The first time I stepped foot into a gay bar, this song was playing.
This song remained in my playlist until the very last night I DJ’d at a bar. If I ever DJ again, it will be heard. For now, I share it on my blog.
To celebrate the weekend, another Human League track. Before we get on to the video though, I’d like to share a reminder of the longevity of the internet. Here is a message I wrote on usenet back in 1990:
Clickable to make it bigger.
A simple Google search brought up my message today, almost 19 years later. Just for kicks here is what I looked like back then.
Now, the first single from the 1990 “Romantic?” album, here is The Human League with “Heart Like A Wheel”. (Personally I like the 12-inch single version better).
Getting in the vibe for the weekend, I decided to crank up a rare Human League track from 2001. This single was from their latest album on a record label that went belly-up shortly from the release, hence, not many people in the states have heard this song before.
Here’s “All I Ever Wanted” by The Human League.
I have been messing around with my iPhone a little bit to get it to try to sound better on the car stereo but it’s just not happening. I have mentioned before about the challenges of getting a good sound on the car sound system with an iPod.
Last night I burned six new CDs for the car in anticipation of more road tripping. For the curious, they are:
There you have it. Confirmation that I’m a gay man.
Just a guy with a husband. We’ve been together 28 years and he still makes me see fireworks on a daily basis. Hiker. Storm Chaser. Private Pilot. Tech Guy. Hackerish.
Weird? Eccentric!
