dance hall days

garage bands, punk bands, underground techno, industrial, and experimental hardcore. the 80's weren't all technopop and smoothed over r&b for me. although i loved those sounds, i also really gained a taste for the unusual and the "boutique".

there used to be little record label in nyc- the village really, called 99 records. i am trying to think of the name of the sweetie that used to be the director, the manager, the promoter, and everything else. oh ed, that's it ! he was a dreamboat. anyway, im not familiar with with all the acts on that label, but i am familiar with at least 4. liquid liquid, esg, bush tetras, and glenn branca.

firstly, there was the band called liquid liquid which had a couple of underground club hits in the early 80's, one of which, cavern, was pretty phenomenal. so much so, that grandmaster flash and the furious five used the rhythm track from their song to provide the most of the interest to their song "white lines, don't do it". i believe there was some negotitation with sugar hill records about royalties which did end up in litigation.

medusas made an inquiry to 99 records about liquid liquid playing at the dance hall in 1983 or 84 and we found out they weren't really doing any touring then, but there was this other band that he had called esg, and he would love to bring them.

i greeted the girls when the got to the club. they were the sweetest, most unassuming women i remember meeting during that time. the were just girls, who were indeed bronx new yorkers, but that was as far as their 'tude went. i think we went to dinner for a bit. and if i remember correctly, we had some sort of panic about something in the club- which actually was most weekends (lol)- but a friend of my mothers, jackie came into town from peoria and she ended up driving ed around chicago, while i took care of business, in her big lincoln continental.

he did mention that it was an evening he wouldn't easily forget, as she talked nonstop and kept him entertained for about 4 hours.

but back to esg- i asked them about their name and replied- simple- it stands for emerald, saphirre, and gold. and they still remain just that for me. i was reading lexx's blog and saw a photograph and thought it quite moody. that made me think of this tune that i loved so much by esg along with more of my memories of my dance hall days.

and for any of you 80's enthusiasts, i put together an 80's playlist which is posted to the right on finetune. not my top 50, but 50 i enjoyed nonetheless. i am also starting a series of posts on life aftermeth called retro fitted which will be more of my favorite 80's sounds. i am looking forward to that. i have been watching logo channel once in awhile and many of the music vids such as the gossip, etc. really take me back to those underground no-wave days.

got a note that chris is home and i'm glad about that. welcome home chris. job well done.