Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Larry Levan Way: Paradise Garage Revisited


The famous logo!
"I Hear Music In The Street"

werking it
Yesterday was pure magic on King street as we celebrated Larry Levan's  spirit and legacy outside the building where the Paradise Garage and Levan reigned "king".  There was a petition to rename the street Larry Levan Way, a membership card photo booth where you could take a picture and also you could actually get a real membership card as a memento as well. Yes, I got mine! But it was all about the music, the people and dancing with Francois K and David De Pino doing their best to capture the spirit by playing some of the favorites that made this a place where music, dancing and freedom became one.  There was also a great performance by disco legend Jocelyn Brown belting out classics such as "I'm Caught Up", "Aint' No Mountain High", Someone Else's Guy", "It's Alright, I Feel It" and "Believe".


Jocelyn Brown giving some fierce disco to the masses
 There was also another great performance by Serious Intention's singer Anthony Malloy doing their seminal house classic "You Don't Know" as we all chanted along oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh...and a heartfelt  homage to the great Frankie Knuckles as we danced to "The Pressure". It was pure bliss, and as someone who's never got the chance to go to the actual party, it was as close as I could get to and kept wishing those garage doors would open and walk up on that famous ramp with it's blinking floor lights while hearing that thumping base getting closer and closer. I'm sure I wasn't the only one with that wish, maybe one day a part of that dream will come true. Who knows.  One thing for sure, we definitely felt Levan was watching over us.  Here are a couple of songs that captured some of that feeling. "Call Me" by Skyy and Serious Intention's "You Don't Know". Enjoy

Paradise Garage street dancing



Anthony Malloy performing "You Don't Know"


photo booth membership card

No comments:

Post a Comment