Legendary NY Nightclub: Better Days

Better Days was a New York dance club which opened in the 1972 and closed in 1988. Re-opened and closed again in 1990 or 1991. It was located on West 49th Street. DJs Bert, Tee Scott, Bruce Forest, Francois Kevorkian, Kenny Carpenter, Larry Patterson, Shep Pettibone, and others played to a loyal, attitudeless black black crowd over a period of more than 15 years. Bruce Forest was the house DJ at Better Days from 1981 to 1988. Bruce Forest helped Shep, Dave […]

August 8, 2024 212 1

House History

DJ Tee Scott: Candy Store & Better Days

Let's go back before our most memorable dee-jays, Larry Levan, Frankie Knuckles and Ron Hardy. Before our most memorable clubs, the Garage (NYC), Warehouse (Orig Chicago) and Music Box (Chicago). There was another lost but not forgotten jock, a foundation upon which many others have built careers without even knowing it; DJ Tee Scott. If you are a true dee-jay and not a record spinner like so many today, if […]

August 8, 2024 52

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DJ Interviews

Bruce Forest brought Better Days

Bruce Forest’s long residency at midtown Black gay club Better Days is one of clubland’s more unlikely stories. Forest was the white middle class kid who won over the hearts and feet of a tough New York crowd who didn’t take kindly to an impertinent upstart replacing their beloved Tee Scott. He eventually won them over and stayed until it shut down in 1988. Thanks to his fascination for […]

August 8, 2024 54 1

House History

The Warehouse: The Place Where House Music Got It’s Name

Frankie was originally from NY and he was friends with Larry Levan and they frequented “The Loft” parties given by David Mancuso for the NYC gay scene. Larry and Frankie attended the Loft parties regularly. It was not only a place of joy but also a place where they became acquainted for the first time with the techniques of House music. Mancuso taught them how to create “a scene”. He […]

August 8, 2024 13

House History

Forty Years Later, Disagreement About Disco Demolition Night

On July 12, 1979, 48,000 fans packed Chicago’s Comiskey Park for Disco Demolition Night. Some spectators went out of control. "They got really, I would say, violent," says Darlene Jackson, who was 10 years old when the White Sox held Disco Demolition Night. "It was so primal and tribal." Steve Dahl had lost his job spinning rock records when the radio station he worked for changed to an all-disco format. He quickly […]

August 8, 2024 7

House History

Stonewall then and now

"The joke is that if everyone who claims they took part in the famous 1969 uprising in lower Manhattan that catalyzed America’s gay-rights movement actually had been there, the crowd would have filled Yankee Stadium.” Michael Bronski - In truth, the crowd that day numbered about 200, at least at first. And they weren’t protesters but mostly patrons of the Stonewall Inn, a popular Greenwich Village gay bar. The trouble […]

August 7, 2024 8

House History

David Mancuso Residence / The Loft

"The crowd was a rich mix of classes, colors, and sexual tastes with two key things in common: they were hard-core dancers and they were utterly devoted to the Loft. Their high spirits preserved the Loft’s house party atmosphere and helped establish its reputation." Vince Aletti, Village Voice, 1975 The Loft, the name anointed by attendees, was an invitation-only, private house party held weekly on Saturday nights from midnight […]

August 7, 2024 21

DJ Interviews

Interview: Timmy Regisford

"I started out at 14 years old. Somebody took me to the Paradise Garage. People were dancing and it wasn’t called house music then, it was just called club music or Disco. That was my introduction and my love just started" Timmy Regisford- There’s not many who can boast such a colourful career in the music industry as the legendary Timmy Regisford. From his early experiences at New York’s […]

August 7, 2024 15

DJ Articles

Ron Trent

"Art and music are the same, they're just different dialects." Ron Trent grew up in Chicago, where he dreamed of being a musician from a young age. He would end up becoming one of the architects of the Chicago house sound and working alongside contemporaries like Chez Damier. His label, Prescription Records, became a renowned purveyor of deep house. He spread his vision from the American Midwest to New York, […]

August 7, 2024 24

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