DJ

16 years ago tonight I was spinning for the first time in a small bar in Jamestown, New York called “The Nite Spot.” Adjacent to a set of railroad tracks, whenever a train was heard in the distance I had to switch from vinyl to cassette single while the train passed by, because the vibrations would occasionally make the record skip.

I remembering playing this song that night. At the top of the dance chart 16 years ago today, here’s the video to “Got A Love For You” by Jomanda.

I always love a good 80s pop tune on a sunny Saturday afternoon, so here’s a live performance of Dead or Alive’s “In Too Deep”. Pete Burns (the lead singer) has never done anything for me, but I’m really grooving on his backup singers/dancers.

If you want to view paradise,
Simply look around and view it,
Anything you want to, do it
Want to change the world?
There’s nothing to it.

As performed by Ford on the dance track “Pure Imagination” and cranked up on Route 5S today.

Remember when you could turn on a Top 40 radio station and hear fun music made with real instruments? Here’s a very rare fun song from 1987.

Presenting “Holiday”, by The Other Ones. I used to spin this record a lot when I was a baby DJ.

I’ve mentioned before that I am a huge Cathy Dennis fan. Originally with the group D-mob in the late 1980s, Cathy embarked on a solo career in 1990 with top hits such as “Just Another Dream”, “Touch Me (All Night Long)” and “Too Many Walls”. After a couple of albums, Cathy found contentment in writing and producing, working with artists such as the Spice Girls, Kylie Minogue (she wrote “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head”) and others. Cathy also had a hand in the theme from Pop Idol/American Idol and wrote singles for many of the winners. She sings the famous “Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh” on the American Idol theme song.

As a former club DJ it excites me in many ways when I discover ‘lost’ versions of singles. While browsing YouTube, I found the video for the original version of “Just Another Dream”. The instrumentation is considerably different from what became popular in late 1990, and, there’s an extra verse in there. And despite urban legend, that is not Rick Astley singing the male vocals on the track, it’s actually Dancin’ Danny D from D-mob.

Here’s the video for the original version of “Just Another Dream” courtesy of YouTube. I would *love* a copy of this version on MP3 if anyone has it to share.

Find it here

It seems this weekend is all about partying for us in our merry little home, so I’ll share a music video to keep this party moving.

Have fun!

OMG, for some reason I just remembered what I would announce at the end of the night when I was a club DJ. “Drive safely getting home, ride safely when you get home.”

Such wit.

O.k., one more.

The year was 1974. The room was numbered 104. I was in the first grade at the newly christened Lura Sharp Elementary School in Upstate New York. My teacher, Miss Kania, was a young woman that I found incredibly beautiful. She was smart and hip and pretty and had beautiful eyes. This was her first year as a first grade teacher, every year before and afterwards she taught third grade.

School officially started at 9:10. The buses started arriving around 8:45. Our bus driver, Mr. Curry, must have been a leadfoot, because bus 43 was always the first bus to arrive at school. If we had behaved during the ride, we were allowed off the bus and into the school for an informal recess before class started. If we were unruly on the bus, he’d park next to the playground and we’d just sit there, watching the other buses pass, watching our friends gather as they met each other before walking into the school, without us. He’d then let us off the bus at 9:05, leaving us just enough time to get settled before the buzzer sounded the beginning of our studies.

During the informal recess before class, Miss Kania often set up this old dinosaur of a record player. Normally used for playing records such as “Free To Be… You And Me” and instructional narration that accompanied a filmstrip, she let us bring in our favorite records to enjoy.

Scott brought in some old waltz record he’d pilfered from his parent’s collection. I don’t know why he liked those waltzes but he always did. He and Janice would try to waltz around the braided rug. He’d usually stomp on one of her feet.

Bobby (who was killed the year before we all graduated) brought in some nursery rhyme, sing-along type record. Once in a while he’d bring in something from the Mickey Mouse Club.

I always wanted to make everyone have fun dancing, so I brought in my Mom’s copy of “Rubberneckin'” by Elvis Presley. I’d get the girls to do 1st grade versions of go-go dancing and the boys would dance like monkeys all around Room 104. I cranked the music up so loud that it broke the volume knob off the old dinosaur of a record player. We ended up having to get a replacement. Miss Kania was pretty and nice, she didn’t scold me for it.

Today I stumbled upon the video for the Paul Oakenfold Remix of “Rubberneckin'” from 2003. I hope it makes you want to dance.

I love “Never Can Say Goodbye” as performed by The Communards in 1987. I *always* play this track when I’m spinning (usually the last fast song of the night). Today’s dance music doesn’t come close to the energy of songs like this. Plus, it brings back so many fond memories from my first spin at college and “Doc’s”, the classy(?) bar in Jamestown, N.Y.

Enjoy the video.

I was bopping around “YouTube” tonight and came across a track from 1990 or so that I used to go crazy over.

Here’s Lizette Melendez and “Together Forever”.

Oh, in the “let’s reveal something about our past department” I used to dance to this song (much like the dancers in this video), in nothing but Fruit of the Looms and a leather jacket, on a big speaker at a bar called “Citi” in Boston. How’s that for fun?

Tonight’s Friday Night Jam is one of my favorite tracks. It reminds me of spring and just gives me a happy feeling all over.

Enjoy The Stellar Project and “Get Up, Stand Up”. Unfortunately, it’s a shorter version that what I’m used to but what can you do. If this was around during my radio days it would have been on the station 110+ times a week (once every 90 minutes or so). Our thanks to YouTube.