Getting Closer To the Music

         Musically speaking, I remember FM radio dance mix shows like the WBMX Hot Mix 5 Chicago Dance Party, WGCI's show, and the underground house scene a la the Muzic Box being different in nature. Much of the material that I heard at the Box like "The House Music Anthem (Move Your Body,")  "We're Rockin' Down the House," and "Acid Tracks" wasn't commercially available when Ron Hardy would debut it. People would take their music to Ron Hardy specifically because he was brave enough to play it first; afterwards, labels like DJ International, or Trax would pick it up. Before I was able to go out to parties, I would listen faithfully to WBMX because that was my source to the music. 

    I was a kid with no nightlife experience whatsoever in 1982, so WBMX and the Hot Mix 5 were the shit to me until I learned how to technically execute mixing, and most importantly, until I heard Ron Hardy, and Frankie Knuckles. I'll try to explain the difference between a song that would be typically played by Knuckles, and Ron Hardy and WBMX Hot Mix 5 selections. While there would be overlap in the music they played, bare in mind that WBMX Hot Mix 5 Deejays submitted an hour mix show individually, while Knuckles and Ron Hardy played twelve or more hour sets of music in a night so, the tempo varied. A typical Hot Mix 5 tune would be "I Need Love" by Capricorn, "Native Love" by Divine, "Shame" by B Blaise, "Al-Naafiysh" by Hashim, and "The Mexican" by Jellybean. A typical Knuckles jam would be "Love Never Looked Better" by Trilark, "Don't Stop Your Love" by Booker T,  "Seconds" by Jocelyn Brown, "Tee's Happy" (Tee Scott Mix of "Happy Days") by North End, "Together Forever" by Exodus. Overlapping tunes would be: "Call Me Mr. Telephone" by Answering Service, "No Favors" by Temper, "Walking the Line" by Brass Construction, "You Don't Know" by Serious Intention, "Keep On" by D-Train "Tonight (Love Will Make It Right)" by Hanson & Davis and "You Can't Hide (Your Love From Me)" by David Joseph. 

     Youtube postings are circulating now of tunes that were once exclusive to Chicago: tracks, and edits that were never on the playlists and programming of the radio mix deejays. The reel to reel version of Jamie Principal's "Waiting on My Angel"  "Baby Wants to Ride" the original rough version of "Donnie" (which didn't contain the rap verse) by The It along with Ron Hardy's mix of "Sensation" are just a couple of examples of music that never saw the light of day on commercial radio. 

      A dance mix radio show isn't indicative of club nightlife. You can listen to WBMX in the comfort of your own surroundings, or a recreation center, your neighborhood watering hole can pike in the broadcast, and you can listen without coming into contact with individuals who may not be a part of your everyday encounters, people who you may have been told to stay away from and should not be a part of your life: fags, drag queens, bisexuals, people who smoke weed, do coke, artistic types-whatever. In my opinion, the places that were on the edge musically, and had incredible atmosphere were gay clubs. Anyone could turn on a radio mix show, listen and dance; anyone could go to the many teen-oriented hotel parties like Hotel Continental, the Ascot and the Bismarck-and all the neighborhood joints like the Rink Zone, Divinci Manor, or the Factory but, in order to attend the Muzic Box, you had to be of a certain mindset, even if you weren't old enough to get in but managed to anyhow. 

    Waterworks, Bistro, Rialto's and Club La Ray weren't places where "cool/hot-shot" teens, and all-american jock-types would hang out; you had to be open minded enough to be around gay people. I once left my buddy Juan Rodriguez's Home one evening, and I was standing at the bus stop. I noticed someone in the crowd waiting also, a guy I've seen at the Muzic Box. I said to him: "Hey, you go to the Muzic Box, right?" He was older than me but, I just wanted to share with him a cassette I just made at Juan's. We had different agendas. As I talked about the tape, I paused-he asked me twice: "So, what do you get into?" We were standing at a bus stop for multiple routes so, I got on the first bus that stopped to get out of that line of questioning. One of my best friends was approached once in the Muzic Box by someone in Ron Hardy's entourage: "Hardy wants to see you in the booth!" I could understand why a guy wouldn't care to be subjected to that but, strange encounters with gay men weren't gonna keep me from experiencing what I considered at that point in my life to be the best music I ever heard. I believe it was important to know who you were, and what you wanted to deal with before entering places like the Muzic Box, Club La Ray etc. A couple of my party associates were getting money, and clothes from homosexual men, and soon the money, and clothes were replaced with drugs, and it wasn't long before these guys got caught by drug addiction. I wasn't into stealing clothes, or doing things that would compromise my personal integrity to get money, clothes or "status" in the community of party people. 

  I worked legit jobs for whatever I could afford to buy. One of the guys who was a regular among the Oak Street beach collective, was a basketball player for one of the rowdiest high schools on the west side gradually came out immediately after graduating. He stopped hanging out with the fellas, and would act peculiar whenever I would see him out in the world. One afternoon as I boarded the "Old EL," what is now known as the CTA Red Line, I spotted him sitting next to an older guy who was a popular known hairdresser on the Gold Coast, and as we caught one another's eye, he looked as if he was guilty of something, some misgiving. I suspected that he thought I would "out" him to the Oak Street crowd. I wanted to tell him that I didn't care about whatever his preference, or situation was, that I still considered him to be my friend but, after having a talk with Robert Williams almost thirty years after, Robert told me that breaking from previous friends and people was a necessary part of his "coming out" process.