Dana Powell with DJ Lori Branch in a Vintage House Show Throwback to 2024!!

0:00You're tuned into the Vintage House Show, home to the original stories of the history of house music as told by the legends, pioneers, and icons. Hosted by Kevin Mega McFaul, Lori Branch, and Lauren Lowry.

0:17All right. Hey, Dana. Hey, Lori. How are you? I'm good. Welcome to the Vintage House Show. Thank you so much. I know. I think you've been on once before. Is that right? I can't recall. It was a long time ago. A long time ago. Long, long time ago. Yes. So this conversation is way overdue. I want to thank you for coming. I want to thank everybody for watching. This is our 10th year. We're going into our 10th year of Vintage House. Wow, how time flies. Isn't that something? It is something. Our first show was like, oh, yeah, it was 2015 at Northwestern Studio.

0:54I remember. Yes. Yes, I remember. I remember. I remember. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. We're excited to go into this 10th year as the year winds down. And I hope everybody is enjoying the holiday season as we get started. I feel like I want to put my Christmas tree up right now because it's been a dark period. You know, it has. True. It has for me and my family as well. It's been very dark, you know, with the death of my brother unexpectedly. Oh, I'm so sorry. Okay. And, you know, it's my family.

1:29My sister, she's deceased. She's been deceased for quite some time. She was the Christmas person in my family. Yeah. You always need somebody to pull it together. She and the nieces and nephews and everybody, they would all get together the day after Thanksgiving and they would put up the Christmas tree and they would start decorating the house. Yeah. It's time you're going to put up a tree. I'm not doing any of that. I'm going to be honest. I used to do all of that, you know, but at this point, you know, I'm far from interested. I had thought about it and I struggled with it. I said, well, let me go and get a flock tree.

2:00I said, I'll get a gold flock tree and I'll do red ornaments. But, you know, that was a fleeting thought. Well, you put some thought into that. Yeah, I did. I did. I really did. And I just conceded and said, I'm not going to put up a tree this year. Okay. Well, that may change because we still have four weeks today. I don't know if anybody's a Catholic, but today is the first week, the first day of ending. Oh, good. Yes. We got to start a Catholic thing. Right. So we have a little time yet. Good, good. All right. Well, you have the flexibility and right to change your mind anytime you want to.

2:34No, no. Hey, well, let's get into it. Thanks again for coming. I'm glad we're not in the studio today because they're on sort of break at the college station. So we're just having this great conversation live. Wonderful. I like it. Thank you. Yeah. It makes it easy, right? Yes. But I want to get into your DJ career. Dana Powell has long, long history in Chicago DJ clubs. I know that I first encountered you. I think either it was at Stop and Drink or Generator. We'll get there.

3:04Well, yeah. Stop and Drink was precursor to Generator. Yes. And I drove past that place the other day. I was like, it's still here. I don't know. I'm going to tell you a secret. I wanted to steal the sign off the building. I really did. Yeah. And I had partied to do that because- Pretty cool sign. Oh, yeah. And it's a venture sign. It's probably worth a fortune right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll say that. But I did not do it, everybody. I didn't do it. It's still there. I just drove past and saw it like the other day. And I was telling my kid about the story of Stop and Drink when we were having gay parties there.

3:38I don't know if they still do that, if they have like gay parties. You know, I don't know. I haven't been in the structure in years. Where is Stop and Drink? It was Clark. Yeah, on Clark Street. Just south of Chicago Avenue. That's right. That's right. So if you ever drive past Chicago Avenue and Clark Street, you'll see a big sign on the west side of the street that says Stop and Drink. It's really beautiful. It was a great bar, huge bar that went sort of all around. Like that was a round bar. Like an old 30s bar, you know, with a big bar, oval bar.

4:11And inside was where the bartenders were and the cash registers and everything. And the lower parts is where all the alcohol was. Where was the DJ? I can't remember. So it was Tyrone Mixon. I said, where was it? Oh, the DJ booth. Okay, so when you walk in the club, immediately to the left was the DJ booth. Okay. Immediately to the left was the DJ booth. That's right. Originally, it was no DJ booth. It was just an open floor. Yeah.

4:41It's coming to me. And then that's when Tyrone decided, hey, let's build a DJ booth here. And that's what happened. And that's how the DJ booth came. We're going to talk about Tyrone next. But first, let's get into your history. Dana, you grew up in Gary, Indiana. I did. Gary is just a short drive from Chicago. And I don't know if the nation or the country understands like the distance, but there was a lot of back and forth. It's only about 30 miles difference to downtown Chicago from Gary, Indiana. Talk about your neighborhood. Where'd you grow up in Gary?

5:14I grew up in what was known as Midtown in Gary. It was bungalows. We had a park that was a very functional park, swimming pool, basketball court. I mean, a complete park. In the earlier years, I learned to swim in that park. And I was five years old or so. Yeah. And when we started swimming lessons, and it was a really, really, how can I put this?

5:46Polish-Romanian community. Wow. Okay.

5:50And my neighbors were Polish and Romanian. Sounds pretty integrated even better. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. It's integrated and segregated at the same time. Okay. In my mother's day, there was no one African-American, Black, whatever we want to call that, could live in that community. Yeah. Okay. It was later when things started opening up a little bit better, and I was, I want to say perhaps 11, 12 years old, you know, we started having baseball games.

6:27Majorly, well, no, not minorly, how do you put it, games in the park. So that drew a lot into our community. Mm-hmm. In terms of the educational system, classic Catholic regimentation. The public school in Gary was known for the William Work system, which was one of the models for the rest of the country. It had one of the more advanced education systems in the whole United States of America. And a lot of people came around school districts to learn this particular method of education.

7:01Wow. What's the name of it again? It was William H. Wirt. I remember hearing that. Yes, of education. Gary, Indiana was strong in Catholic schools. I mean, we had about a million Catholic schools, almost one on every corner. Wow. And there was a lot of people who attended. Well, it was a very, it grew to be a very large city. You had the steel mill there. You had like Seamless Electronics was there. It was a lot of the, you had the Crush Company was there.

7:32Okay. It was Superior Meats. It was a lot of different things. A lot of people just didn't know about it. They just know of the Gary that they see today, which is devastating. And, you know, I recall some years ago, a friend of mine, he was here visiting. And we drove down and we just looked and we were just shaking our heads from what it was when we were little bitty boys. Yeah. To what it is now. Yeah. And it's a little different. But I know that some of that was about the steel mills sort of moving out in the late 60s, early 70s.

8:06Right. But we have to also embrace the social elimination of African-American people. And it happens on many different levels. And many cities, too. When the Black Mirror came in, the investment from, you know, white businesses began to happen. You know, and I'm going to take a cheap plug here. No, I'm not going to do it. I want to, but I'm not going to do it. So it's where, you know, they decided that they wanted to leave the city because there was a black mayor.

8:37Mm-hmm. So with us being there, I grew up in a home where everybody played the musical instrument. Right. Okay. What did you play? I played trumpet, trombone, and baritone. Wow. Okay. Yes. And my older sisters, it was two generations of us. So my older sisters, they were the oldest. And I remember, you know, in the early part of the 70s when she brought home Isaac Hayes' Shaft album.

9:12Mm-hmm. And I sat there and I played that album and I was just totally amazed. The orchestration, you know, just captured me, you know. And then there was this sound that came out of New York. It was a street sound. It was more so like what people would consider today to be funk acid jazz, if you will. Okay. You know, it was a street sound and I loved it. So, you know, me being a younger boy growing up in music, you know, and playing a musical instrument,

9:44that was the thing. That was the thing for us to do back then. I was in a musical group. Some things that some people have don't even know about me. I was in a musical group with some of the neighborhood guys. What was your name? What was your group's name? It was Dana Powell. I'm trying to remember the group's name. It was like the Dana Powell. It was so long ago, I can't remember the group's name. Yeah. But it was all of us from the neighborhood and we all played instruments, you know. And in fact, one of my friends still have a picture that I'm trying to get him to send me an image of that picture.

10:15We got to get that picture. Of us. And, yeah, it was a groovy time. We grew up and music was our passion. It was, you know, it was the getaway for a lot of people. You know, my brother, whom I just spoke about, who made his transition, it was always he and I. And he was older than I was. So when he left the house, my mother said, take your brother with you. One of those type of things. So I was exposed to a whole lot of different types of music.

10:45And I loved it. And then later in life, I'm just fast forwarding on some things. And then later we're going to come back to some things. But later in life, I just got the taste for the music and to understand what music does to people. Because I remember going to clubs in those days, in the 70s. Yes, in the 70s, I was in the clubs. The thing was, it was me, my sister, that's a year older than I. She made her transition some years ago.

11:15And another friend of mine and my cousin and a friend of my sisters. We all got together one day and we took our birth certificates and we changed the birth date on the birth certificate. Oh, so many people did that. Oh, yeah. And then we went to the license bureau and we got us a valid license. Well, it was an ID at the time. We got a valid ID with that altered birth date. So we were like 14, 15 years old, stating that we were 21.

11:49And someone believed that? It was a state ID. They had to honor it. They had to honor it. Wow. That was one of the things. Even though they would look, I can know they would look precariously at us, but such is life. What can you do? Here's this idea and it's saying that we are out of legal aid. So they didn't bucket much. Now, wait. So you're 14 years old and you're trying to get into a club where you need to be 21. Oh, we did get into the club. But what club were you trying to get into? Oh, my God. What's the one that stands out in your mind? Like you got that ID. You're excited to go.

12:19Where'd you go? That was the first club that we went to was Toshiba. That was the very first one. Toshiba. Yes. And that's in Gary? No, that was in Chicago. Oh, so you were making the trek from Gary to Chicago. Oh, yeah. It was nothing to do. It was nothing to do. I would take my brother to work. My brother worked midnights. Okay. And I would take him to work and I would keep his car. And so we all piled up in the car. Oh, yeah. Oh, we all piled up in the car and we were rocking and rolling. We were rocking and rolling. My brother, he was like, be careful. Because you don't have a license. That type of thing. And it was another place.

12:51I'm trying to remember the name. Age, please forgive me. It was on Stoney. Okay. Right at the Skyway. There was a club right there. Okay. It'll come to me in a minute. There's a few on that little strip. Yes. And that's, we used to frequent there a lot. Okay. So as time progressed, we started going to, we went to all the clubs, white, black, gay, straight. It didn't matter. We went to, it was for me to list all of the clubs that I went to back then.

13:21Oh, my God. It'll probably just chronicle the whole club scene of Chicago. It's important, though. We really do try to track those because many of those were black-owned businesses that were in the community that were patronized by black people. Yes. You know, and that's important to our history. It was also important to Chicago history. Oh, absolutely. Entrepreneurship. Oh, absolutely. But let me ask you a question about the Sheba, since you remember that one. When you were going there at 14, what kind of music were they playing? Well, the thing, it was, okay, okay, okay.

13:52I knew this question was going to come up, and let me, let me answer it this way. Yes.

13:57So 14 years old. Everybody takes the different genres of music, and they lump it together, and they say disco. Okay. So was disco-ish? I mean, so you're 14 years old, so this was going to be in the 70s? I'm going to go back, and I'm going to come forward. Okay, because I want to know how old you were. Okay, so, you know, disco was a derivative of discotheque, okay, and that term came to light after World War II, when they started to ban live music, and they began to play

14:31records. So the first official reference of that came out of France in 1960, okay? Then the term disco was shortened, and it was referenced as a style of dress, okay, and a certain style of dress. I believe it was a female's dress with short arms and short legs, and you see that a lot in the disco period if you pay close attention. Later, I believe Playboy wrote an article or something, and then they referenced the clubs

15:02as disco, okay? Interesting. So then this is how the word disco actually came into light. Now, through the 60s and well into the 70s, they both were going by discotheque and disco. It all depends on where you look at it, but it was well into the 70s, it was still being called discotheques, okay? So I remember I was here to be about, I want to say either, I think I would say 15 at this time. We had gone to a club in Chicago.

15:34It was an African-American club, black club, and we got in there, and they were playing songs like, I know, Evelyn Champagne Kings, I don't know if it's right, was popular. You had stuff like, from the, who are those people, Cameo, what is it? Word Up? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It was before that, it was Find My Way. Okay. Then you had, like, Peaches and Herbs, they had a song, it wasn't Shake Your Groove playing,

16:07they had another song that was extremely popular at that time, too, and it was a, these type of songs was playing. This was before the infamous John Travolta and that season coming out. So this was like 75, 76? Yeah, this was a little bit before that, right, it was a little bit before that. Okay, so early. And I want to say it was summertime because I don't recall us having any coats, okay? So we went in this club, and everybody was having a wonderful time, and Evelyn Champagne

16:41King, I don't know if his rock was playing, I remember this vividly, and then suddenly the music stopped.

16:50So, you know, you're dealing with a whole bunch of people standing around, and there was no music. So this went on, everybody's looking around. Next thing you know, it was the biggest fight that you ever wanted to see broke out. Assemblance of, remember in Cooley High, the theater scene where everybody was in there fighting? It was similar to that. And I was like, oh, my God, I got to get my sister and get out of here, you know, because if something happened to this, I can never explain this to my mother, you know? So I went to get her, and then we rushed out of the club, but it was just fights everywhere.

17:23We was, like, pushing ourselves out of the way to get out of here. First of all, we had no business being there because we were underage. Number two is something that happened to my sister. My mother would have never forgiven me. And it was just too much. But this was the club culture. And I looked at it as the power of music and how music can solve, you know, can calm the savage beast, if you will, to coin that phrase. Because all up until that point, everybody was having a wonderful time, you know? Nobody was angry.

17:53People was laughing. People was, I mean, it was just all type of fun stuff going on until the music stopped. And then it took a little while after that for people to start misbehaving. Interesting. Yeah. So this was about 77, summer of 77. Because I remember this because Saturday Night Fever had not come out yet. Let me ask you this. It came out later that year. So Saturday Night Fever was sort of a turning point in the disco era. Correct. Where it was really starting to take off on an international basis.

18:28And I was a kid. I was like a freshman in high school, somewhere around there. And I remember also being swept up into that. And I had heard, you know, Diana Ross, Love Hangover. There were many things that came out before Saturday Night Fever that were popular in the Black community, Latin community. Yes, correct. But that really exposed white people, I think, on a much more broad level, commercial level to disco. Correct. Do you remember when it came out? Oh, absolutely. Did you go to the theater to see it? Oh, I remember. Yes. I went to the theater with my brother to see it.

19:02And I was like, okay, you know, I was like, okay, okay.

19:08One of the things that I, and I'm going to say this, a lot of people may get upset about this, but I'm going to say it anyway. I think that was the introduction to the destruction of disco music. Now, I don't think that's a bad assessment. Tell me why. Well, what happened at that point and thereafter, everything became disco, disco, disco, disco, a disco house shoe, a disco Venetian blind, a disco pool stick. Everything became disco. And this is what I talk about.

19:39And I'm going to talk about disco culture in a second and to tie all of this in. And this is what I say when we talk about, when you asked the question earlier, what was the music that was being played back then? It was so many different genres of music, but it became what is known to me as a disco culture as, as instead of a disco genre, because there was many different songs in many different genres. When you want to, you look at Cherche Lafumme, for instance, and, and, and, and it was considered

20:10a disco, uh, a jazz type of song when you want to go to, what's those guys that came out of Atlanta, a brick, you know, uh, ain't, ain't going to hurt nobody and Doozik and all of that, you know, that was another disco jazz that was also, so you had funk, you had R&B, you had, I mean, cause Philly International, if anybody says any of that was disco, you, you cooking for Cocoa Puffs, it was all R&B. Really? We just lumped everything to disco. It's kind of how we lump everything into house now.

20:42Correct. Correct. Correct. And we're going to talk about that too in a few, in a little bit later. We will definitely talk about that. So getting back to, uh, to the Saturday Night Fever. So now everybody began to just lump everything into disco, but nobody really understood the true disco sound. Disco had a certain sound of its own. You know, when you, you, when you want to take a look at, uh, like one of my favorites would be Voyage, uh, East to West, you hear that sound, you know, that was a true disco

21:12sound, if you will, you know, um, these are some of the things that a lot of people just did not understand. And so, uh, and I, and I, and I question, but I don't argue, you know, everybody's entitled to their own opinion. I'm saying to myself, how can we just simply lump all of this together and say, it's disco. Let me ask you this. Well, it was Saturday Night Fever. I think the soundtrack was disco. I think about, you know, uh, the, the tramps, you know, right. We had the tramps, which they made into disco.

21:45Yeah. I mean, R&B, but certainly, you know, and you had the VGs of course. Right. Um, but was it for, in my opinion, and let me know what you think is, I think the sound was all right. I think the culture around it, sort of the exposure of like middle working class white people on Long Island or, you know, wherever they were really sort of framed it differently so that I don't know if it was taken as seriously. And so I think they saw the commercialization when they saw white people dancing.

22:18Oh, we just need to slap the word disco on it. There we go. Because even before that, now, during that period of time, when you look at, when you go and get 12 inch records, it was extended versions. That's right. Or it's 12 inch version. It wasn't disco version until after all of this happened and everything became disco. But before that, it was, it was extended version. It was 12 inch version. It was this, you know, then after, after this, it was like, and then another benchmark that helped to destroy it was Star Wars, you know?

22:48Star Wars. Oh, yes. When Michael came out with their disco record. Oh, that's right. Yeah. And then they had this whole disco album. I don't know if anybody remembers that or not. The Star Wars disco album. They had a whole disco album, you know? So it kind of reminds me of Vincent Montana, the Montana sex set, that, that sound that they hit. Yeah. You know, like the third encounter, the close kind, whatever that sound was. And it was a couple more like that. It kind of reminded me much of that. Uh-huh. And then I'm going to tell you another story and then we're going to, this is how I feel

23:18that the destruction of disco came. Now, what was the girl? Right back where we started from. Oh, why can't I remember her? Oh, Candy Staten? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It was. Yeah, I know who you're talking about. Right back where we started. Oh, I can't think. It'll come to me in a minute. At any rate, when she released this song, the record label refused to put out a 12-inch version of that song. Why is that? They didn't feel that it would be successful. They didn't want to dump the money into it.

23:49So Maxine Nightingale, that's the girl. That's right. So then when Barbara Pendleton came out with 24 Hours a Day, they said, we're not going to make the same mistake. We're going to put out a disco 12-inch on that. And so they ended up putting out a disco 12-inch on that. OK, so what happened was in the clubs, all this BG sound and when Star Wars, the Mako group, they did this sound. They saw so much money because everybody gravitated towards it like you would not believe.

24:21Everybody was in love with disco. You know, everybody was in love with disco. So the clubs started putting in the Saturday night movie dance floor in a lot of different clubs where it lights up and do this. A lot of clubs did it. Even the Jeffrey Pub did it, you know. So everything said, we'll just make everything disco. They were pumping out records like you would not believe. Every three seconds, there was a new record. There was a new record. And it just destroyed the whole craft because there were so many people who took their time

24:55and put a lot of production into the songs and for it to be minimized by a group of people who were being very, very greedy. And they decided that they was just going to make money and they was going to put all of this out so that they can make money. Right. And that's exactly what happened. It was greed. It was a cash cow. You know, it reminds me of something that happened in the mid 90s when the emergence of hip hop came and all of the all of the DJs, they decided they was going to drop house music and they

25:30was going to jump on the hip hop band. OK, and it was only a few DJs that were still playing house music at the time. This is the mid 90s. It was still it was still a few places playing and everybody else jumped to the hip hop sound. And in total disclosure, there was nothing new about hip hop sound. It was something that was emerging simultaneous to disco back in the 70s anyway. You know, they were doing their thing and they was developing that culture as a disco was going. Now, here's the thing, though. Here's the clincher.

26:02The the underground was the true work of dance music. It was the underground culture and the gay underground. And even even what's the lady, Corey Day would tell you that that's how Shea Shea LaFont got its success. It wasn't because they took it and they shopped it to the straight venues, whatever, because they did that and it didn't go anywhere. It's when they took that song and they gave it to the gay culture. It blew up and it's still a dance for a classic today. So it was undeniable.

26:33Some of these things that we may want to look at and we may want to say this is this and this is that. But it's not actually what happened, you know, and I was I am very grateful to have come around and sneaking in, though, but I was a part of that movement. And then I started buying records because I was like, I had to go home because I just didn't have enough getting in the club. I had to go home and I would play it. And I remember, you know, my my sister and I, we would play these records and we would

27:04just be dancing and dancing and dancing, you know, to to all of this. And it was and it was a wonderful thing. You know, it was it was an absolutely wonderful thing at the time. Yes, we used to do that. I have my little brother and I would do the same thing where. Who, Carl? Yeah, my little Carl and I know each other, don't you? Well, see, that's a small world. Everybody knows my little brother. I'm always surprised. But he's he's a musician as well. You know, he's a pianist and he, you know, he does a lot. He's been doing it since we were children and he's very good at it.

27:37But we were a musical family, too. And we would do that game, Dana, where it's like, guess that tune. And we can do it all night. We're just playing music. So I feel sorry for sometimes the kids today that don't have some of that tactile experience, that tactile experience where you're holding it and you're guessing and you're like dancing. And there's no other thing except for you and the music. And I really encourage people to do that. You know, and that's like the song Dynasty did. I don't want to be a freak, but I can help myself.

28:08And it talks about a relationship between a dancer and the dance floor and the music, you know. And that's what it's strictly about. You know, when I hear those percussions, the sound hypnotize me. It's just my body moving, just the music and me. You know, it's just this relationship with music. And another one, Sheik, My Feet Keeps Dancing. It's the same thing with the relationship with music and dancing. At the end of the day, we can say whatever we want to say, but it's something about music that shapes us.

28:39No matter whether it's good or bad, you know, I hear frequently the stories on how house music has saved a lot of people. And I do believe that because I remember, you know, when I was at the warehouse, when I was going to the warehouse. And then another thing I want to know is so much I want to talk about, but I can't take your time. So when I was at the warehouse, I would like- What year was that? Around the parameter of the dance floor. I would dance around. So when you, you know, on the main floor, you know, the DJ booth was in the front and it had glass over it or what have you.

29:12And then in the back is where the people were hustling and doing all that hustle dance and doing all that. And these people were dancers. They were actual dancers. I mean, and they were good. They were damn good. So you're talking about, and so for people who don't know what the warehouse was like, why don't you describe your, describe your entry into that. Okay. Like when you're talking about the dance floor. Okay. It's nice to paint a picture of. So, so I had come into Chicago. Yes. And I went to Marshall Fields. What year was that? You know, that was everybody's spot in Marshall Fields. Yeah. And so I met this girl, you know, and I didn't know she was a lesbian at the time.

29:47And, but we, you know, every time I come in, we'll see each other. We'll go and hang out up north and everything. So she told me, she said, I want to take you to this club. Okay. And I said, okay, like that. And so I didn't know that it was the warehouse that she was taking me to. Right. So then she took me to this, to this club. We, we came in and we walked up the stairs and I was scared shitless because I had marijuana in my pocket, you know, and the guy, he frisked me. He said, what is this reefer? Oh, they did. They searched you? Yeah. He said, what is this reefer? I said, yeah, it's reefer. I've never heard that before.

30:17Oh yeah. Oh yeah. People, there's a whole lot about the warehouse. I don't remember that. At any rate. Okay. So, so we went upstairs and then the first floor, top floor, if you will, was like a little sitting there. Right. Right. I remember that. And then you went down and there was the main dance floor. And then you went in the back and you went down and that's where the, what they say was the fruit and the light. And it was spike. I asked Frederick Dunstan. So you had to go down another set of stairs for that. So I asked Frederick Dunstan about that. I said, Frederick, I said, it was rumored that when the light came on, that it indicated that the punch was spiked.

30:48He said, no, that's not true. That's not true. Well, I'm not sure if Frederick was telling me the truth on that or not. Yeah. I don't remember that. I tell you, it was a lot of people that'd be running to that punch when that light. I don't know what it was about that light. Yeah. Maybe I missed the light, but I drank a lot of that punch. I don't remember feeling high. Right. And where I was heading with this was when I was dancing around the parameters of the club, I would see people on the floor dancing. And these people were, in my opinion, they were releasing their weekly frustration.

31:24You know, I mean, people was just looking up and their hands was up in the air and it was like eyes closed and all this. Like it was a church sermon and they came to the altar just to release all of their burdens. Yeah. You know what I loved about about that place, too, Dana, is that people were they were living for the music. And there wasn't this kind of idea of like, I like this song and I don't like this song. No. You know, you just were there. You were so present with everybody. And that's why it could go for like 10 hours.

31:56Oh, God. And I remember falling in there sometimes and the sun would be shining. Oh, my God. OK, I'm going to give you another thing about the warehouse that people may not know. Some people would know who went there. OK. Coming out of the alley in St. Patrick's Church. OK. Say more. So we're leaving and the church is starting. And where was St. Patrick's Church? Where was that? So St. Patrick's Church was on Des Plaines, was it? OK. OK.

32:26So it was on Des Plaines. It's there today. It's still there to deserve it. So you're coming out of the alley. We're coming out of the alley and the parishioners are going into the church. Wow. And, you know, if you can just take an image of those outlandish outfits that they would have on. OK. And the parishioners coming over trying to pray everybody out of this behavior. Oh, my God. It was a force to be reckoned. And, you know, that just enticed the kids to just cut up more.

32:56Right. You know, and it was like, I was like, right. You know, it was it was it was I laughed. It was me being Catholic. And I understood where they were coming from. But I would laugh because to me, it was funny. You know, they were going to mass and you were coming from church. They were going to mass and y'all were coming from church. Exactly. We were we were right. We were coming from church from the Baptist. Good old Baptist church. Church of the warehouse. Right. Church of the warehouse. And we did the church of the warehouse.

33:26Met the St. Patrick's Catholic Christian. Yes. Orthodox versus the warehouse. And it was. Well, hey, I think it's all the same. It's all the spiritual experience. Everybody's trying to find God. Right. It really is. And, you know, people get so caught up in religion. And they lose sight of a lot of things. But, you know, I'm not the person to tell the person how to believe or what they should believe in or how they should practice their belief. That's that's that's their relationship with God. And that's strictly up to them. I have no right in that at all.

33:58The only thing that I can govern is what I do. And that's it. You know, I can offer suggestions to other people, but it's up to them whether or not they want to take it or not. Yeah. Your spiritual path is a very personal thing. Absolutely. I believe that you can believe what you want to believe. But that's your belief. You don't need to impose it on anybody because then it's become something else. That's not spiritual, in my opinion. And I remember when the black church was angry at several songs that was being played in the club. Like what?

34:29Mighty, what is Mighty Clouds of Joy, Revelations, Get Ready. It was it was a whole lot. They was like, these songs does not belong in no disco, you know, and it was a bit well to do about that. A lot of people don't know that, but it was a bit well to do. But at the same time, you know, it just reflects. I reflect back to when Jesus was going to Peter's house frequently and the crowd stopped him and asked him, why does he go to this house all the time?

35:01Why do you go there all the time? And Jesus said, I go to anyone's home who welcomed me. Who wants me. That's right. Right. You understand what I'm saying? Anyone's home who welcomed me. So anybody comes with anything opposite of that saying that he would beat you down and you know, you need to read a little bit more. And then secondly, he went on to say, I've come to help the sinners. So if you're not doing anything to help anybody, then. There you have it. I'll just end it on that note. I'll just end it on that note.

35:34I'm with you, but I don't think that's a new concept. You know, I talk about my great grandfather's church, Roberts Temple, this family church on 4th and State Street, you know, and Sister Rosetta Tharp, godmother of rock and roll, came out of that church. And just because she started singing, you know, she was very intentionally distanced from that church. Because she was brought that, her church energy into what they call secular music at the time. So the church has always had tension with anything that they don't deem appropriate for praising God, you know.

36:10And then scripture becomes a convenience at that time. It becomes a tool to beat you down. Now, all of a sudden, you know, God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve, you know, or this, that instead of the many things that you've done that we can call scripture on to say that you should not do, you know. But, you know, I look at those people and I just go, I do the buckwheat a lot. I've learned that over time. Buckwheat who every time you look at Ote, Ote.

36:40So a lot of people, I just look at them and their ministries and their position in life, and I'll just simply say, Ote, Ote, I'm not going to offer an argument on that. Why? You're a grown adult, and there's nothing that I'm going to do to alter your opinion, and I'm not going to try. I agree. And I want to get into your DJ career. But before we do that, I want to ask this question, because you hit on it, about this tension with disco, gay music, religion, what have you. I think that continues to this day, especially the part where you said that disco was not really embraced until it went underground.

37:19And then that sort of started this underground development of a new genre, you know, that sort of helped us lead into punk and sort of the fusion of disco and where we started thinking about, like, house music culture. Correct. Okay. Let me just finish this statement. And there's been a fair amount of what I call straight washing of that whole evolution. And I just want to hear your thoughts on that evolution, and if you think that there is what I would call sort of straight washing of that.

37:52Well, I do. You know, and I believe it's unnecessary. And I'm going to speak to that, too, because I don't want anyone to get offended in thinking that that's a blanket statement, but that's a conditional statement. And I'm going to define it. Okay. When we look at this, then we have to look. Okay. I'm going to define nightclub, and then you're going to see where I'm going with this. It's going to be very good. So, when we look at the word nightclub and the origin of that, the origin of nightclub, it predates 1840.

38:25Okay. So, it was night and club, a combination mix. A lot of the times, it was referenced to the French breast clubs. You know, it was a lot of stuff that was happening there was a bit risque. Okay. Things that they had not seen before. They were coming out of the archicultural revolution, and they was going into something new.

38:47Romanticism has ushered in. Classism was going away. And all of these new things have begun to happen. Okay. So, in about 1840, in the nightclubs, that's where most of the African Americans were at the time. Okay. So, I'm not going to spend any time there because we don't limit the time. So, fast forward. You said 1840. Are you saying 1840? 18, 1-8-4-0. Correct. 1840 in the United States. Over a century ago. Well over a century ago. In the United States or in France? In the world.

39:18This is something that happened in the world at that time. Okay. Because remember, the archicultural revolution came out of France. And then the industrial revolution was in Great Britain at the time. So, well, just after that. And then it came into the United States when they set up the colonies and everything. Just a little history. But at any rate, all of that to say, and nightclub was heavily used like in Chicago, New York, and Detroit. Because a lot of places did not want to cater to African-Americans, period.

39:51We were Black at the time or Afro-American, Negro, whichever part of time we were at. Okay. We've been all of those. Okay. So, they did not want to have us in the clubs. Not just gay, but Black also. This is where I have a problem with the straight washing and all this other stuff. Because everybody was thrown into that same pool. Whether you were gay or straight. It was if you were Black. And what years are you describing now?

40:24So, I'm describing like, you know, like we're looking at 60s, 70s. Oh, 1960s and 70s. Yeah, 70s. And some of that even spilled over into the 80s. Because we got to look at Chicago. Yeah, of course. I agree. We have to look at Chicago. When a lot of people went up north to hang out in the clubs. You know, the white people that went in, they all just do one ID. They wanted three or four IDs. Oh, yeah. We've heard those stories. It's Black. You know. So, it still happened. It still was going on. So, my thing is, why is it always, when it comes to us African-Americans, we have to separate when we all were in the same boat from the very beginning?

41:03So, why is it that we're coming out and we have to separate? Why can't we just embrace this wonderful thing that came out of Chicago, this house culture that came out of Chicago, and just support it and love on one another? Well, the argument I hear, Dana, is that when house music is referenced, when queer people or gay people are referenced as part of the genesis of house music, that men, specifically men who don't identify as gay or who are not out, who were not out, you know, they feel like it takes away from their contributions.

41:41Okay, so, we're dealing with a very powerful term here, men who don't identify as gay. I mean, that reads, we can read a lot into that. Well, or men who identify as straight. Okay, okay, okay. So, you know, I just want to make sure that, you know, everything is clear here, because some people. Yeah, well, there's both of those things that exist. Exactly. There are a lot of closeted men who were at the beginning of house music. Exactly. Who still may not be comfortable being out about their status. And there were a lot of heterosexuals, too. Because, and then, because if that were the case, why were you so, why were you trying to break down the door to get where we are, you know, get inside the clubs?

42:16I mean, people were dressing up, you know, to have that illusion to come inside the gay underground clubs. Well, there was something special going on at the warehouse and music box and these places where you had these gay DJs. And I would even go so far as to say at Paradise Garage and many other clubs that were part of that underground scene. But when you try to give credit to people who helped to create a new genre, then it feels less, you know, I don't want to attribute too much to that.

42:51I want to say that, you know, it informed me, but that's not who I am. And I'm not trying to take that away from them. But I just, I do feel like it's, they hit it a little too hard too often. You know, and I agree with you on that, you know, and this is not to subvert any of their destinies. You know, I bid them all well on their vocation, you know, but at the same time, it's certainly no esoteric secret that this exists. Right. And it's an unnecessary existence. I will say that. And I'll be strongly in saying that. Yeah.

43:21Your contribution is your contribution. And no one can take that away. Absolutely. No one can take any of that away from you. That is your contribution. And we embrace that contribution. Because at the end of the day, everybody played the same damn records that came out of Chicago. Whatever club it was, gay, straight, white, or black, they all played the same records. Tracks, DJ International, et cetera. You understand what I'm saying? Everybody played the same records. That's amazing. There was no restriction or no societal rejection on the music at that time.

43:54I appreciate you saying that. It's a really good way to frame it. People weren't looking at the records going, is this gay or straight? They were just playing. Yeah. Correct. We were just playing. Everybody was living and everybody was having a wonderful time. So let's talk about some of your DJ career, because you've done a lot. We talked a little bit about Stop and Drink in the beginning of this episode. Stop and Drink was a bar on South Clark Street. Or North Clark Street. North Clark Street. North Clark Street, near Chicago Avenue. Still there. Tyrone Mix was the DJ. So how did you get introduced?

44:24Was that your first residency, Dana? In Chicago. In Chicago. So you started DJing in Gary. Yeah. Yeah. So I started in Indiana. And then it came to a point in life where I had to go to undergraduate school. And I'll tell that story, because I don't think I told this story. I'm trying to think in any of the interviews. So you went to undergraduate school? Yes. My mother was ill when I was in high school. She was dying of cancer. I'm sorry. And my mother pulled me into the room, her room, one day.

44:57And she told me, she said, I need for you to promise me something. I said, what is that? She said that you will go to college and that you will get an education. And so, you know, at the time, you know, okay, mama, yeah, you know, no problem with that. So how did I know that was going to be my last conversation with her at that point? You know, so during the times of partying, I got grace from my mother to go out to a lot

45:29of these clubs because she didn't want my sisters going by themselves. So I was the, I tagged along in a sense, but I was a part of the culture. In fact, more than ever. I think of my, then my sister that was a year younger than I, who was deceased, she and I became running buddies with a couple other friends, both and a cousin. And we started out going together. So when I got out of high school, I went to college. So I left the same and I went to college because I, I not only did I promise my mother this

46:04education, but I wanted it for myself, you know, and, uh, I, I continued on and, and I do remember after undergraduate school, you know, uh, my uncle told me, he told me that I should go to law school. And that's my single greatest regret. It's not going to law school. Never too late. It's no, no, it's not. It's not. This is what he wanted. And I, and I did not do it because at that time I, you know, I finished undergraduate school, you know, uh, I moved into Chicago and I was a part of the movement of the great underground

46:39and, and I loved it. So, you know, years after that, I was still, you know, living in Indiana and I was going backwards and forth to Chicago and I was playing records in Indiana. So, uh, then that's when I met Tyrone and we started having conversations and then he, and he invited me to, uh, come and join him at stop and drink. Gotcha. What year was that Dana? Ooh, 89 or 90, something like that. I was going to guess late eighties, right? Yeah. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

47:09And, um, uh, that's when that started, you know, he and I, and, and then from there, you know, the, uh, the, uh, design of the generator had come into form and the generator, talk about the generator. So this was a club on Hostet street, right? Hostet and Fulton. Who were the, who were the owners? And Jim and Nick, don't ask me to pronounce their last names. They were Polish. Jim and Nick. Yes. Okay. Yes. And they own the generator. They opened in, I believe it was early nineties, right?

47:40Yes. It was 93. It was 93. I believe it was the Memorial day weekend was the opening for that. And it had, uh, it had the same growth as the warehouse. Yeah. Okay. Uh, at the beginning, it wasn't very many people going as was the warehouse. And I always compare this to this, to that because it was, it was a similar story. And then, um, then, uh, suddenly like, uh, suddenly everyone began to go to the warehouse and the warehouse became popular.

48:12I would say, you know, maybe the 80, 80, 1980 ish, you know, it was only open for five years from 77 to 82 when I was going there, uh, you know, 79, 80, it was packed every week. Yeah. And I, when I, when I returned in, in 80, 80, I want to say in 80 or something, uh, that's when, uh, I was like, oh, wow, this is cool. This is groovy. So I, you know, I started going pretty regularly. There was clubs on the North side. I was going to blah, blah, blah. You're talking about the warehouse again?

48:42Mm-hmm. I used this to, I used to do the growth of it to, for the generator, because after a while we were so packed that we couldn't even do anything. I, I, I remember the generator being packed. My friend, uh, so I, I was a DJ at CK's, Augie's. I don't know if you remember, that was a lesbian bar. Oh yeah, I know. And, uh, uh, my, my friend, uh, Pickles, uh, was a DJ, was the, was the bartender at CK's. Was the bartender, that's correct. After they closed, they, she was a bartender generator. Correct. That's correct. Yeah, yeah. That's absolutely correct. So I remember hanging out there a lot, yeah.

49:13Yeah, Pickles, she was one of our bartenders. She was very good. Very nice person. She's great. Hey, Pickles, if you're watching. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very good. Very good. We, in fact, we had, uh, a lot of really good, uh, bartenders and employees at the gym. Yeah. So, so you were working, so you were at Stop and Drink. You spend that, you were the DJ there. Were you the regular DJ? Like, what night were you there? Yeah. Um, uh, I, I, so it was Friday night and Tyrone did Saturday night, something like that.

49:46Yeah. And then simultaneously was the generator or was that after? No, no, no, no, no, no. It was after. Okay.