While walking past West 57th street in Manhattan, I had a moment of Dejavu. What came to mind was, I’d been here many times. Friday and Saturday night, I’m talking about the late 70’s, good old 80’s. Those were safe days, clubbing with friends and just having a great time partying. It was rare the night ended in a shooting at a club. Although on occasion you might see a Bouncer putting some drunk Idiot out. I know many of us can identify with that scene.
Clubs like The Red Parrot, Leviticus, The Silver Shadow, Pegasus, Bentleys and Justine’s just to name a few were the spots that many of us remember. I am not living in the past but, you have to admit those were the best times of our life. We were young, carefree, could dance until the wee hours of the morning, and still get up and go to work. It was more than about the music. We all knew that special friend that could hustle better than anyone or so we thought.
What a great escape for after work and I remember the free buffet if you arrived by 6 PM. Those same Nightclubs became a meeting ground for social networking and dating along with house parties. Couples dated in those days and an explosion of weddings and long-term relationships contributed to a mini baby boom, you could say brought about by the R&B tunes of the 70’s & the 80s.
Dance Clubs such as Bentley’s and the Silver Shadow made you want to dress to impress and were more upscale clubs in the heart of midtown Manhattan. In fact, some of the highly popular disco clubs would feature spectacular lighting which would beam to the beat of the music. In researching some of these clubs, I discovered, in October 1975, the most famous discos were identified as “Leviticus” in New York City, “The Library” in Atlanta, and “Studio One” in Los Angeles. One club in particular known as “Studio 54 played a major role in the growth of nightclub music as well as the growth of the disco fad! Here is a former DJ turned CEO of “Genesis Music Entertainment” Kevin D Woodley, known as “Sugar-Daddy”. He spent many evenings spinning the turntables in some of the most famous Night Clubs in the world, from New York to Singapore. I wanted to share his story because it’s such an interesting read and I’m sure most of us from the 70’s and 80’s era can identify with him!
Link: http://www.genesismusicent.com/genesismusicent.com/ABOUT_US.html