Category: Music

RIP, Viola. “Sing to the Angels, baby. You’re in our hearts.”

I’ve always preferred this song played at a slightly slower tempo, but I’m obviously not going to find that on YouTube. Lots of memories of dancing with my friend Lee at the Fineline.

Lee, if you’re reading this (doubtful, as I know you’re never online) call me!

I never noticed it back in the day, but I think Mr. Foster was trying to channel the BeeGees. (At this point I don’t remember if this song came out before or after Saturday Night Fever.)

Alec Costandinos produced under several studio monikers, one of which was Sphinx. I always thought this to be an odd subject for a dance tune, but whatever. It has all the lushness Alec was come to be known for.

Continuing with yesterday’s theme, more “symphonic” disco from Alec R. Costandinos… (It’s broken into four parts because of YouTube’s length/size restrictions.)

Possibly the greatest dance tune of the 70s. I know it’s definitely in my Top 5.

Despite the rather depressing lyrics, this tune never fails to put a smile on my face.

…and a story of unrequited love.

Steve Golden and I met in 1979 and had a strange relationship from the very beginning. I think that in another timeline things might’ve taken a decidedly different course, but in this one, a full blown relationship was never meant to be.  That did not mean, however, that we did not love each other deeply; it just meant that circumstances never allowed either of us to fully move upon those feelings, physically or otherwise.

Steve is now gone from us for twenty years (twenty years!) and is another one of those stories I hope to blog about in more detail at some point, but suffice to say that he was a DJ at one of Phoenix’s big gay clubs during the period this song came out.  One night I was down on the floor dancing with Dennis, my partner at the time, and out of nowhere Steve stopped the music (absolutely unheard of), came over the speakers and said, “Mark, this is for you.” I looked up to the DJ booth and as he blew me a kiss, played this song.

Unrequited love, indeed.

But if things hadn’t gone the way they did, I wouldn’t be where I am now, or with who I am now, and that is infinitely better…

Because I love to bring you some really obscure tracks…

I seem to be in a 1977 sort of mood.

This was my late friend Kent’s favorite dance tune, possibly of all time. I remember many nights on the dance floor with him, twirling our asses off…

This was one of those records that I had a hell of a time finding back in the day.

No reminiscing this time, just a great tune from 1979…

This was the first song I ever slow danced to with another man. David Martinez, August 1977 at The Forum in Phoenix, AZ. I remember being so disappointed when I actually bought the album and brought it home because it wasn’t on the same translucent pink vinyl that I saw playing at the club. It wasn’t until the late 90s that I finally got hold of the elusive pink version…

I was quite infatuated with David. We dated long distance (he lived in Williams, and I was at school in Tucson). He drove to Tucson one weekend to see Fleetwood Mac with me, and I made the six hour trip (by bus) shortly thereafter to spend a weekend with him as the trees were changing up north. We hiked to the top of Bill Williams Mountain where I took this picture of him:

I had also decided at this point it was time to come out to the rest of my family (my dad had known for some time already), and since I knew my Mom always went through my dresser drawers, I left a copy of the then-seminal Loving Someone Gay in the top drawer on the way back to school. Needless to say, this prompted another trip home the following weekend…

Eventually the pressure of living in two separate cities proved too much for the budding  relationship and David and I drifted apart.  I briefly reconnected with him via email in 2000 and had every intention of looking him up after I’d moved back to Phoenix two years later, but it never happened.

How did this get sidetracked from the Thursday Dance Party?

Ah…memories of dancing at The Connection in Phoenix.

This came up on random shuffle on my iPod the other day and I’ve been meaning to share it since. It is one of my favorite tunes of the era, but surprisingly was not one of Sylvester’s bigger hits. To this day I can’t understand why.

I agree 100% with the comments left by a guy who posted a slightly shorter version of this on YouTube:

There have been many “classic” versions of this tune done by many artists over the years (from Shirley Bassey to Tom Jones, and more), but in my humble opinion, nothing comes close to the emotional resonance of Sylvester’s version. Astounding and brilliant, it brings tears to my eyes, not only because of the beauty of his voice, but also because it was a such a special time period that will never be repeated. It didn’t matter who you were or what you were. Everyone loved Sylvester.

My favorite track from the Eurythmics album 1984:

…I was extra nice to my Barista this morning. I honestly never realized they had it so bad.

BTW, this is exactly the kind of guy I would’ve gone after when I was his age. Amazing how tastes change as you get older. Anyhow, I still think he’s cute, but from experience I know that very often under that kind of blond cuteness there lurks an unbridled propensity to break hearts, not that I’m saying he would…

Check out his other videos. This boy doesn’t need Starbucks…he needs a manager and a record contract!

Very atmospheric. Courtesy the Phoenix Public Library.