Item: Former Distorted Pony guitarist David Uskovich (no "k" please) celebrated his 40th birthday last Saturday with a particularly bangin' dance party. Seeing as how us gay folks don't have church, we must attend these functions for our spiritual development (such as it is). I, for one, danced almost non-stop for six hours. This is only just since gay people aren't born with original sin - we are born anew each time on the dancefloor (just ask
Walter Hughes). And we have tons of songs to document the process: I Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet; Don't Stop The Music; Lost In Music; Keep It Comin' Love; Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now; Dancing Machine; Knock On Wood (that we don't throw out our backs); Take Your Time (Do It Right); Never Can Say Goodbye; More, More, More; Don't Stop Til You Get Enough; Don't Stop Movin'; Keep On Movin'; and, of course, My Feet Keep Dancing, that greatest of disco songs from that greatest of disco bands, Chic. For me, the process was so successful last Saturday that I actually felt like I was still dancing when I finally got to bed around 6am that night, kinda similar to still feeling the waves of the ocean after a long cruise. Even when I woke up, I caught myself dancing in the bathroom mirror. And hell - I didn't even have a disco moment as in the first Uskovich/Clarke party I attended when the absurd, bullying, Hopalong Cassidy-meets-Dragnet favela funk fantasia "Pocotocopo" transformed my boogie shoes into anti-gravity boots (the closest I came was a few folks agreeing to sway with me to all nine minutes of Armand Van Helden featuring Roland Clark's really-too-vaporously-gorgeous-for-the-dancefloor "Flowerz"). Still, here are some talking points (mostly about the mix CD I made):
Song I Didn't Think Would Get People Movin' But DID - Aneka: "Japanese Boy" (apparently, there's some real rebop in that Eurodisco thud)
Song That Was Probably TOO Funky - Antibalas: "Che Che Colé Makossa" ("Oooh, I don't know if I can dance to this," said Canada Lisa over the first twenty seconds; she kept dancing, though)
Song I Thought Would Be Way Too Gay And Pop But Did NOT Clear The Floor - Alcazar: "This Is The World We Live In" (Uskovich even gave me a smile and a thumbs up)
Song(s) That Shockingly (Almost) Cleared The Floor - Four Basement Jaxxs in a row but the hardcore dancers wisely kept it up; in fact, Alexis in Texas paid me the best inadvertent compliment of the evening after "Plug It In" ("Wow! That song was fucking amazing!")
Song I Stupidly Forgot To Put On The Mix CD - Basement Jaxx: "Oh My Gosh" (start worshipping now, dorks!)
Songs I Thought Would Make Me Age If I Had To Dance To Them Again But Still Felt Great On The Floor - Michael Jackson: "P.Y.T.;" Michael Jackson: "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough"
Song That I Forgot Has Never Aged (Nor Caused Aging) - Michael Jackson: "Wanna Be Startin' Something"
Song By Prince We Should Hear More Cuz It Danced So Well That Night - "Erotic City"
Song That Cleared Even ME From The Floor - Crystal Method: "Busy Child" (wow! what an energy sucker! techno is so...well, 1997)
Song During Which I Was Grinding Into A Cute Boy's Butt (With His Enthusiastic Approval) - Hell if I can remember
Song That Ended The Evening - Something by New Order which is just as well; like The Velvet Underground's "Beginning To See The Light" or "My Feet Keep Dancing," most New Order is too gorgeous for mortal ear (or foot) although "The Perfect Kiss" danced well a few years back at Saphir in Montréal
