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 Biography Eulogy Remembrances Jockey Slut article Disco Years Timeline Big Paradise Garage Records |
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Larry Levan: Rememberances (1992) "In the early days of the Garage, as a record promoter, I would come to Larry's booth with a new piece of vinyl and he would put in on the turntable. I always figured that if I ever gave him a record he didn't like he'd just throw me out of the booth. What I remember most about Larry was that he believed in people, and I felt privileged when he let me enter his world. Paradise Garage was the house, but Larry Levan made it a home."
"One night I was at the Garage with some friends, and at some point we go separated. I was looking for them in the movie room and upstairs on the roof. The music stopped, and in the silence I heard my friends yelling, "Yo! Rich!" You didn't know whether is was one of Larry's customary quirks turning the music off or whether he just accidentally turned something off, but it enabled me to find my friends. And if it wasn't for the Garage and for Larry, I wouldn't have a show and be doing what I'm doing now. He'll always be around in spirit form 'cause he touched a lot of people. He's in that big Garage in the sky, but his spirit is till felt on Earth."
"The Paradise Garage confirmed to me that a spiritual high can be obtained on a dancefloor. Larry Levan introduced me to some of my all-time favorites: "Moody"/"Standing In Line" by ESG, "Seventh Heaven" by Gwen Guthrie, "Fantasize Me" by Pleasure Pump, "The Jungle" by Jungle Wonz, "I'll Give It To You" by Jomanda, and "Shake Your Body" by Jeanette Thomas. Levan commanded the respect of his dancefloor because that's what he put forth by educating and daring to be original in his mix (case in point: the night Levan played Nina Hagen's "Cosma Shiva" to a packed and bewildered dancefloor). For the short period of which I was a Garage devotee I feel fortunate to have been a part of a wonderful legacy, and for those "Memories" (you better sing, Miss Harding) alone, Levan has played a very special part in my appreciation of the dancefloor as home. Thanks, Larry."
"It was '82 or '83 when my friends Jim, Craig and Joe started bringing me with them to Paradise Garage. Since their membership included Saturdays, I soon came to prefer the exclusiveness of Saturday membership too ... although I could appreciate the distinctive tastes and flavors of the Friday crowd as well. Larry Levan once explained to me how he used a completely different method to introduce a new record to his Friday audience than he used on his Saturday crowd. Both might eventually be exposed to the same music, but at different times, and with a completely different contextual set-up. Levan knew about programming for different demographics ... and indirectly trained quite a few radio jocks how to do the same. By the time I got an A&R gig at A&M Records in '85, I understood exactly how significant Larry Levan could be to a developing artist. Levan was pumping Prince records like "1999" and "If I Was Your Girlfriend" before radio made them hits, while obscure one-offs like "Can't Play Around" by Lace and "Baby Wants To Ride" by Jamie Principle became hits just because Levan chose to play them. When I signed Tramain Hawkins' "Fall Down (Spirit of Love)," it was Ray Smith -- our promotion guy's -- idea to debut this legitimate gospel artist at Paradise Garage. Levan fell in love with "Fall Down" and turned it into a Garage anthem. Larry Patterson (another sadly departed mentor who consulted on the remix) made sure that Club Zanzibar in Newark had simultaneous access to the track for a total underground penetration of a record that is still being played -- in bootleg and original forms. Because going to the Garage was almost a weekly ritual by now, I always got a special thrill when Levan would play "my" record. As time and luck would have it, Levan embraced a number of projects I'd either signed or supported in some way, and spooky things would start to happen. Usually within fifteen minutes of my arrival at the Garage, I'd hear an intro or a snippet from one of "my" records. I always thought of it as Larry's telepathic way of saying "hello!" During '87 and '88, when I was running Done Properly Productions, I would hear entire sets composed of remixes I had commissioned and/or acts I was pushing. It was easy to feel anointed when Larry Levan chose to acknowledge that he liked the work you were doing. And because we club kids were always learning so much from the way Levan and his peers reacted to music and then incorporating that knowledge into how we made music, the communication from deejay to artist to company executive was very open and very circular. When a subordinate melodic hook I'd asked Yvonne Turner to sing on Willie Colon's "Set Fire To Me" popped up later as the central lyric and dominant melodic riff on Liz Torres' "Can't Get Enough," it was Larry Levan's support of both records that made both records possible and both records "classics." In this dream-vision I have of an international, united club-music underground, Larry Levan holds a primary place as one of its patron spirits. Larry himself would be the first to say he was no saint. But in more ways than even Larry would be able to describe, he is the musical father of us all."  |