I have had my share of lovers, BUT... none like the love I have for House music, the underground community, and sound. I have loved this funky, deep, disco, spiritual, jazzifunkinnova since I was a child.
My parents weren't big music lovers. But my aunt Rye was, (she was my mother's father's sister). My aunt Rye was the wild child of all of my great-grandmother's children. Hanging out in gin/ juke joints. Never staying in one place for long. Having babies and allowing my grandmother to raise them. My guess is, something other than the mundane life of family and motherhood pulled her away from family and into the clubs of Tennessee and happening spots of post-war Chicago.
As Rye got older she became the guardian and de facto mother of my favorite cousin Tiffany and her little brother Joseph (J.J.) and this is where my love for what would become House music began.
You see Rye had gotten sick and my great-grandmother who was well into her 70's at the time, got on a Greyhound bus and brought her baby girl back to Detroit and with her came all the sinning ( as my grandmother would say). The devil's music, hot pants, smokin, etc.. etc..
My great-grandma kept us in church, and Rye kept us into the hottest music. So, when did I fall I love with House? The Moment that four on the floor touched my soul and enlightened my consciousness.
Of course it was the mid 70's like '77/'78, it was Disco back then, the progenitor of House and we just couldn't get enough of it. The radio stations blasted the sounds of Thelma Houston, Donna Summer, The Trammps etc..
.... Meanwhile, back in the windy city a few like-minded, disco loving talented teens were tinkling with machines and inventing or re-inventing a sound that would become the biggest underground movement world has ever known. But more about them later.
I think it was the summer of '80 or maybe maybe '81? I don't recall. I was blossoming into what would become a bonafide Househead ( YES!...it's a proper noun)
I don't think it's a coincidence that I hit puberty around 1980 and discovered a new (kinda) sound. You see, to me...House ( called Progressive back then) is sexy, sexual, provocative...alluring, primal. And when you hit puberty, while you may not understand those feelings at that crucial part of your life but, like House that's what puberty is. A journey a discovery of self and the world around you. No matter how big your, "world" was at that time.
Ask most people from the, 3 1 3rd and they will tell you, it took off or began somewhere off West 7 mile, here in Detroit. But for me it started on the radio. Mojo was/is his name. He took myself and all of Detroit on a musical odyssey. He played music most others didn't. He played music, that this preteen understood in a way she had not yet learned how to articulate, but she understood her feelings and emotions through the music. The music of George, Fonda, Raw Silk, Dayton and many many others. Ok I don't really remember singers and groups so..yeah, there's that. So from 1980 to about 1983 I was part of what was called the Midnight Funk Association. Where most, if not ALL of us Househeads in Detroit were born.
My parents were your normal parents when it came to discipline so going out to the disco's for kids my age was out of the question.
I figured out how to get around that foolishness. So the nights I was at, "my friends" she and I would make out way to this club called L'UOMO'S . Just a building, a building off 7mile and John R. All you heard was music, thumping, bass, hit you in the chest music. I here I was a 12/13 year old kid hangin out with the big dawgs. We had a DJ by the name of Ken Collier, I am sure he played there. He had been in the game since the mid 70's and I'd like to think most all Detroit DJ's learned at the foot of that Master in some form or another. I know Delano Smith did he was a high school kid at the time., but he played like he was born to do this. So perhaps they were the 1st DJ's I heard. I was just a kid, all I know was the venue and the music provided a freedom, a freedom from parents, school, neighborhood beefs. The music was called, Progressive, not House... yet! House, is a Chicago thang, and I had yet to experience what would become the music that Damn near defines who I am. Progressive, New Wave, Punk, Funk, Jazz, Soul, and yes even Rock and Roll. I love them all but this thing that we now call House was different.
But...then came Rap, and I left what I understood to discover what I wanted.
High School circa 1983...little did I know, but our small Catholic High School would birth some of the HOTTEST DJ's/Produsers in House music today! Rick Wilhite, Patrice Scott, David Spivey just to name a few.
So, yeah I dipped out of the Progressive music scene to venture into the world of Rap..but by the late 80's early 90's The Jungle Brothers, DeLa, they had an element of that sound I liked. By this time I think it was called House. If my time line is correct, by this time The Warehouse in Chicago was up and running Frankie and Ron controlled the groove and a kid names Jesse had made what became known at the 1st House record. So we were well on our way to becoming a House nation.
After the college years, and rolling full speed ahead into the 90's while I had been to many parties House and R&B. R&B just wasn't doing it for me, Jazz clubs were filled with old men, so all I had was the radio, The Wizard, and by this time.. Earl Mixxin McKinney were playing this House music, and BOOM I left that Rap life alone. Oh sure I listened to what was being played on the radio, but when they played House, that's when I become alive!
from the mid 90's well into the next decade, we had a show dedicated to House once or twice a week, it's just was Teresa Hill and her, "go to" DJ was Alan Ester. Earl had started playing more Hip hop and The Wizard was no longer on the radio. So all I had for House was Alan, and he was my god!
So I started going back to wherever House music was being played. And there's this guy named Vernon English who changed my life. Because while I understood the vibe of the music he made me understand the force of the DJ! Sometime in 1984 two Cass tech grads went to WSU for college and that is where their DJ careers took off fast forward a few years and here they are as, The Tandem. A DJ collective that had parties all over the city, they ruled the night life from the early 90's until this very day!
Then came Bruce...Bailey and his CD's that is, as the story was told to me. It was Vernon who taught Bruce how to spin. Don't know the validity of this but..yeah, that's what I was told. And He became what's known as The God Father. He is one of it not the biggest House music promoter in the city!
M!X and me! Where my life as you know me began! Fresh off divorce and a failed relationship. Around 2008 I start hitting this club called Lola's I started going just as it was coming to an end. We didn't know it at the time though. After Lola's (around 2010/2011) closed a new club hit the ground running with Bruce as it's resident. Earl as it's MC and DJ Lynda Carter as it's designer/owner! I had more freedom to move in the streets as I please and I met a DJ that would be my teacher, partner in crime, and in some regards my mentor. His name is unimportant, but his role in my life is, it was he who would teach me style,and the technique of the DJ and respect for the music. He took me behind the groove and, proverbial velvet rope. Somewhere I became a quasi party promoter. From 2012 on I was the baddest bitch in the room.. parties, giving and receiving that "club love" but the shade and was really real. Thankfully, I found my calling..if you will, in writing about the scene and the players, movers and shakers there in. Its 2016 I become a street reporter for an internet radio show, I've met people from all over the world. Mark de clive Lowe, Tony Morales, Louie Vega, Glenn Underground etc..etc..
2020 by this time I have a fairly popular Vlog called Popping up on a playa where I feature short convo's with the DJs in and around the city. I think I have come a long way since the time before House, the time before progressive, it was Disco that drew me in but its House that keeps me home!
So what does House mean to me? Freedom, love, joy, acceptance, euphoria,sex, a vertical hold. It's allows me to FINALLY discover who I am, that journey that started with disco, to pubescent preteen Progressive lover, to Rap fan, all the way back home. Yes home because House is every genre's I love all rolled into that 125 bpms four on the floor. Those bpms are the same as we all hear while in the womb. So there's a comfort in House to me. A comfort I knew long before I ever heard music. And the music is timeless.
That you Chicago Larry Frankie and a shy quiet guy named Jessie you made me who I am...musically that is.
footnote: my most memorable moment came one summer during MOVEMENT. For a very brief moment I got to talk to Robert Williams, and if you don't know who THAT is....oh you ain't really down. I got to hang with Chosen Few DJ 's Alan King and Wayne Williams (who also double as Jessie 's big brother). Those kids grew up and formed a collective. Now I can tell what House means to me, but they can show you what House music does! Every July, a park on the south side of Chicago becomes a community United in dance, love, peace and harmony! And that, my friends is what House music is!
Fin
Of course it was the mid 70's like '77/'78, it was Disco back then, the progenitor of House and we just couldn't get enough of it. The radio stations blasted the sounds of Thelma Houston, Donna Summer, The Trammps etc..
.... Meanwhile, back in the windy city a few like-minded, disco loving talented teens were tinkling with machines and inventing or re-inventing a sound that would become the biggest underground movement world has ever known. But more about them later.
I think it was the summer of '80 or maybe maybe '81? I don't recall. I was blossoming into what would become a bonafide Househead ( YES!...it's a proper noun)
I don't think it's a coincidence that I hit puberty around 1980 and discovered a new (kinda) sound. You see, to me...House ( called Progressive back then) is sexy, sexual, provocative...alluring, primal. And when you hit puberty, while you may not understand those feelings at that crucial part of your life but, like House that's what puberty is. A journey a discovery of self and the world around you. No matter how big your, "world" was at that time.
Ask most people from the, 3 1 3rd and they will tell you, it took off or began somewhere off West 7 mile, here in Detroit. But for me it started on the radio. Mojo was/is his name. He took myself and all of Detroit on a musical odyssey. He played music most others didn't. He played music, that this preteen understood in a way she had not yet learned how to articulate, but she understood her feelings and emotions through the music. The music of George, Fonda, Raw Silk, Dayton and many many others. Ok I don't really remember singers and groups so..yeah, there's that. So from 1980 to about 1983 I was part of what was called the Midnight Funk Association. Where most, if not ALL of us Househeads in Detroit were born.
My parents were your normal parents when it came to discipline so going out to the disco's for kids my age was out of the question.
I figured out how to get around that foolishness. So the nights I was at, "my friends" she and I would make out way to this club called L'UOMO'S . Just a building, a building off 7mile and John R. All you heard was music, thumping, bass, hit you in the chest music. I here I was a 12/13 year old kid hangin out with the big dawgs. We had a DJ by the name of Ken Collier, I am sure he played there. He had been in the game since the mid 70's and I'd like to think most all Detroit DJ's learned at the foot of that Master in some form or another. I know Delano Smith did he was a high school kid at the time., but he played like he was born to do this. So perhaps they were the 1st DJ's I heard. I was just a kid, all I know was the venue and the music provided a freedom, a freedom from parents, school, neighborhood beefs. The music was called, Progressive, not House... yet! House, is a Chicago thang, and I had yet to experience what would become the music that Damn near defines who I am. Progressive, New Wave, Punk, Funk, Jazz, Soul, and yes even Rock and Roll. I love them all but this thing that we now call House was different.
But...then came Rap, and I left what I understood to discover what I wanted.
High School circa 1983...little did I know, but our small Catholic High School would birth some of the HOTTEST DJ's/Produsers in House music today! Rick Wilhite, Patrice Scott, David Spivey just to name a few.
So, yeah I dipped out of the Progressive music scene to venture into the world of Rap..but by the late 80's early 90's The Jungle Brothers, DeLa, they had an element of that sound I liked. By this time I think it was called House. If my time line is correct, by this time The Warehouse in Chicago was up and running Frankie and Ron controlled the groove and a kid names Jesse had made what became known at the 1st House record. So we were well on our way to becoming a House nation.
After the college years, and rolling full speed ahead into the 90's while I had been to many parties House and R&B. R&B just wasn't doing it for me, Jazz clubs were filled with old men, so all I had was the radio, The Wizard, and by this time.. Earl Mixxin McKinney were playing this House music, and BOOM I left that Rap life alone. Oh sure I listened to what was being played on the radio, but when they played House, that's when I become alive!
from the mid 90's well into the next decade, we had a show dedicated to House once or twice a week, it's just was Teresa Hill and her, "go to" DJ was Alan Ester. Earl had started playing more Hip hop and The Wizard was no longer on the radio. So all I had for House was Alan, and he was my god!
So I started going back to wherever House music was being played. And there's this guy named Vernon English who changed my life. Because while I understood the vibe of the music he made me understand the force of the DJ! Sometime in 1984 two Cass tech grads went to WSU for college and that is where their DJ careers took off fast forward a few years and here they are as, The Tandem. A DJ collective that had parties all over the city, they ruled the night life from the early 90's until this very day!
Then came Bruce...Bailey and his CD's that is, as the story was told to me. It was Vernon who taught Bruce how to spin. Don't know the validity of this but..yeah, that's what I was told. And He became what's known as The God Father. He is one of it not the biggest House music promoter in the city!
M!X and me! Where my life as you know me began! Fresh off divorce and a failed relationship. Around 2008 I start hitting this club called Lola's I started going just as it was coming to an end. We didn't know it at the time though. After Lola's (around 2010/2011) closed a new club hit the ground running with Bruce as it's resident. Earl as it's MC and DJ Lynda Carter as it's designer/owner! I had more freedom to move in the streets as I please and I met a DJ that would be my teacher, partner in crime, and in some regards my mentor. His name is unimportant, but his role in my life is, it was he who would teach me style,and the technique of the DJ and respect for the music. He took me behind the groove and, proverbial velvet rope. Somewhere I became a quasi party promoter. From 2012 on I was the baddest bitch in the room.. parties, giving and receiving that "club love" but the shade and was really real. Thankfully, I found my calling..if you will, in writing about the scene and the players, movers and shakers there in. Its 2016 I become a street reporter for an internet radio show, I've met people from all over the world. Mark de clive Lowe, Tony Morales, Louie Vega, Glenn Underground etc..etc..
2020 by this time I have a fairly popular Vlog called Popping up on a playa where I feature short convo's with the DJs in and around the city. I think I have come a long way since the time before House, the time before progressive, it was Disco that drew me in but its House that keeps me home!
So what does House mean to me? Freedom, love, joy, acceptance, euphoria,sex, a vertical hold. It's allows me to FINALLY discover who I am, that journey that started with disco, to pubescent preteen Progressive lover, to Rap fan, all the way back home. Yes home because House is every genre's I love all rolled into that 125 bpms four on the floor. Those bpms are the same as we all hear while in the womb. So there's a comfort in House to me. A comfort I knew long before I ever heard music. And the music is timeless.
That you Chicago Larry Frankie and a shy quiet guy named Jessie you made me who I am...musically that is.
footnote: my most memorable moment came one summer during MOVEMENT. For a very brief moment I got to talk to Robert Williams, and if you don't know who THAT is....oh you ain't really down. I got to hang with Chosen Few DJ 's Alan King and Wayne Williams (who also double as Jessie 's big brother). Those kids grew up and formed a collective. Now I can tell what House means to me, but they can show you what House music does! Every July, a park on the south side of Chicago becomes a community United in dance, love, peace and harmony! And that, my friends is what House music is!
Fin
