| Brothers and a Sister From Another Planet | | | | 100 Disco Hits and wanted to hear it. She put it on |
| By Mark Kirby, MusicDish e-Journal | | | | over a few protests and by the third cut half the bar |
| One night several years ago at an Irish pub in the East | | | | was up dancing. "This s**t is great, what were we |
| Village of New York City, the discussion of music | | | | thinkinâ?" What were we thinking? The cuts |
| turned to disco. It involved musicians and people over | | | | that he played -- "Boogie Nights," "Disco Lady," |
| 40 years-old, people who might know what | | | | "Ainât No Stoppinâ Us Now" -- were |
| theyâre talking about. Several of us were, in | | | | all songs with soul power. Killer musicians, great singers, |
| the heyday of Studio 54 and the disco era, into punk | | | | and songwriters that had some skills were at work on |
| rock. Others of us were -- me especially -- strictly jazz | | | | these gems. So many of the songs that turned off the |
| heads. I reminded my friend of lonely nights in college | | | | young cynic back in the day -- and I was one of them |
| smoking out of a four-foot bong and listening to Zappa | | | | -- now sound like musical versions of the politics of |
| and John Coltrane and wondering how to meet girls. | | | | hope. Besides the quality of the music and the infusion |
| They were at the campus disco parties, while we | | | | of beer and liquor, these cuts stood out because the |
| were above it all. And alone, getting in touch with | | | | party music of today consists of desperate, vapid |
| ourselves. | | | | consumer fantasies "sung" over prepackaged, overly |
| Now a guy walked into the bar - no, this is not a joke, | | | | mechanized "music." From Justin Timberlake to Mariah |
| this is true - leans over and asks Nancy, the bartender, | | | | Carey, this is what dance music is all about. |
| to put on a CD he brought. He had a box set called | | | | |