I'm still here

I've neglected my blog. I'm glad it's still here. I've been up to this for almost 20 years. But I've really just let it go. Do people want me to post? Do they read what I write? They certainly don't make many comments.

Is everyone enjoying the beach this summer as much as I do? Is it sunny where you are?

How cool is that press release? I remember when she first came out. I was crazy about Everybody. Who'd have thought that just a few years later Mark Kamins and I would have been buddies. That he would have taken me to Japan. I miss Mark. I miss being clubby. Now it's all just faded memories.

THE QUEEN'S ENGLISH Jose & Luis Xtravaganza background vocals MADONNA

Here is another re-post with a refreshed link.  This time with the addition of the Hot Tracks remix.

Jose Guiterez and Luis Camacho first appeared on vinyl on the Sire New Faces compilation in 1993.  My dear friend Risa Morley was the Aand R Director for the project.  She had been working side by side with the illustrious Seymour Stein in her career at Sire. 

So Madonna saw Paris is Burning and felt so inspired that she had to have voguers on her tour and do a song about voguing.  The rest is history for Jose Guiterez and Luis Camacho.  But where exactly do you go after you've been on tour with Madonna?  You can of course get a record deal and then not have your record promoted well enough to become a hit.  Some would say it was a bad record, and what can you do with that?  But I beg to differ.  It was a fun record and those boys had their pulse on the N.Y. ball scene and the downtown trendy scene at the same time.  Their voguing at The Sound Factory among other places remains legendary.  And left Madonna herself in awe.

Clearly had she offered more substantial backing vocals then the song would have been a guaranteed  hit.  Seems like what she offered was like throwing a bone.  But I guess that was a big deal for her because she has never done backing vocals for anyone before or since.  Junior Vasquez the most important DJ in N.Y. at the time produced and co-wrote the song along with the boys.

HOT TRACKS WAV

A QUEENIE ZIP

I heard Queen's English a few times at The Sound Factory but I wouldn't say Junior pumped it so often that he made it a huge hit there.  Not like he did with "X" his ode to the house of Xtravaganza.  Larry Levan used to create hits at The Paradise Garage by forcing his taste on the crowd.  Junior did that too to a certain extent.  But to me it seemed more like he was forcing a particular sound on his crowd and if you didn't really care for it tough luck.

Granted one could say that the boys contributed greatly to the massive success of Vogue and she acknowledged that.  Otherwise she would not have brought them to perform at the 1990 Video Music Awards or used them for her Rock the Vote advertisement or had them featured in the documentary Truth or Dare.

Jose also appeared in the controversial Justify My Love video.  The first video that had to be sold in stores because it was not permitted to air on MTV.  It proved to be one of the all time best selling single video's of all time.  Jose was named father of the House of Xtravaganza in 2002.  Both boys have since been inducted into the Ballroom Hall of Fame and have appeared in the 2006 ballroom documentary How do I Look?  In the fall of 2012 Jose Xtravaganza partnered with filmmaker Jason Last, known for his work in the field of fashion, to create the short film VOGUE(ing).   Both Jose and Luis have taken their talents to Japan on several occasions to represent their house and the art form.

XTRAVAGANZA'S IN GET OUT WEEKLY

How to Vogue for Vogue Japan

Alright, what's this about the Queen's English?

The Queen's English
Do you know the Queen's English?
The Queen's English
Do you know the Queen's English?

Hey Luis
Yeah?
Hey Luis
Yeah?
Introduce yourself
Alright
Introduce yourself
Alright

My name is Luis
I come from downtown
And I get down and I know it

The Queen's English
Do you know the Queen's English?
The Queen's English
Do you know the Queen's English?

Hey Jose
Yeah?
Hey Jose
Yeah?
Introduce yourself
Alright
Introduce yourself
Alright

My name is Jose
I come from downtown
And I get down and I know it

The Queen's English
Do you know the Queen's English?
The Queen's English
Do you know the Queen's English?

Queen's that read are the best
Mmmm
Queen's that read are the best
Tally, tally, tally

Love break, love break, love break, love break
(3x)

Queens that read are the best 
Queens that read are the best
And they can also get a job anywhere

Can you read
Can you read Queen's English
Can you read
Can you read

Can you read
Can you read Queen's English
Can you read
Can you see

The Queen's English
Do you know the Queen's English?
The Queen's English
Do you know the Queen's English?

I'm refreshing this old post and adding a .wav of the Hot Tracks Mix to the comments section

Before there was Madonna there was Deep in Vogue

No need to get into a whole theory on how important Malcolm McLaren was.  Fact is he was genius!

Madonna ever the one to take inspiration from others was certainly influenced by this 1989 release by Malcolm McLaren and the Bootzilla Orchestra.  I can assure you being on the New York club scene in flying colors during this period, Deep in Vogue was OVER!
ZIP O VOGUE

And the video of course featured the legendary Willie Ninja.  Truly a master of the art of voguing and an inspirational force on the New York Club scene in that period.  I used to love to go to Sound Factory Bar on Wednesdays where it seemed like the whole dance floor was packed with professional dancers and banjie boys.  But it was always just for a hot minute because my tribe was around the corner at Disco 2000 at The Limelight.  And whatever party was serving club kid action that competed with it.

Still In Love extended version Rose Royce

From the time they were introduced to us in 1976 on the hugely successful Car Wash soundtrack Rose Royce were a force to be reckoned with.  Just the fact that such great music came out of a flop film is a case in point.

They were deeply talented musicians and those Gwen Dickey vocals were nothing short of amazing.  Her voice became an iconic part of the late seventies and into the early eighties.

STILL IN LOVE TWELVE INCH VERSION

There were really so many songs I could have chosen for this blog post.  But I chose Still in Love because it's one of the best boogie tracks from 1982 and yet made no dent on the pop charts so Rose Royce is in no way remembered for this track in particular.  It's a sizzler all the way through.  Clinging to all the best elements of disco yet funkin' out in an early 80's way.  Rose Royce was a band often able to refresh their sound but rarely able to take it up high on the charts.  Though certainly they did a bit better on the R&B charts and ironically for an L.A. based band they found some decent success on the U.K. charts.  In any case they were responsible for one of the definitive songs of the disco era with Car Wash.  There is no mistaking that hand clap intro. that shot it straight up to number 1 in the U.S. and Canada and Top 5 in several others.  Their songs were later covered by artists as prominent as Mary J. Blige and Madonna.

As an example of how huge Rose Royce were in the U.K. their greatest hits album released in 1980 actually made it to number 1, while in the States it didn't even chart.  1980 was of course the year that the word disco went out of style and suddenly anything with the label got the kiss of death.  In Europe they were not quite as cruel to the genre and disco or what many called boogie still had a couple good years.

Christina Aguilera also re-made Car Wash but let's not go there.

LOSING GAME JO JO ZEP

The last single for Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons was a lush morning music beauty called Losing Game.

Here I provide the scarce extended remix done by Jellybean Benitez back when he was the Junior Vasquez of his day. Man his name is on tons of my records. All sorts of styles too. Jellybean as we know was also instrumental in launching Madonna and was one of her many lovers.

Aussie Joe Camillieri (Zep) also wrote and produced the song. I think one of the best parts of this song are the tasty female background vocals. I wonder who they are? They deserve some kudos.

Unfortunately the group broke up just as they were about to be launched in the American market and that's probably why this great track remains relatively obscure.

Click the title of this blog and it will bring you directly into my Ebay store and it's listing for this Promo 12".


LOSING GAME

Sometimes artists wish their songs would go away wished would go away

Canadian rocker Bryan A.'s debut single is a disco classic. He hates it. Previous to it's release he had been in a band called Sweeney Todd. Let Me Take You Dancing was co-written with Jim Vallance from the rock band Prism. The original version released in 1978 went nowhere. But the next year when legendary re-mixer John Luongo got his hands on it he sped up the vocals to near chipmunk style and it broke into the U.S. Disco charts managing to climb all the way up to #22. It's one of those disco happy songs that just makes you smile from cheek to cheek when you're out on the dance floor feeling oh so carefree. Unfortunately for Bryan it didn't make him very happy. Now he's mostly known for his work with animal rights group PETA. He hasn't had a hit single in years. Though he has recorded some of the schmaltziest pop ballads of the last century. I suggest he go for the Electronica sound like Madonna! Perhaps he can bring in Lady Ga Ga and record a duet. In this tasty zip I include both the vocal 12", the instrumental and a cool mix a Belgian buddy of mine Erwin did called the E man mix, an 8 minute remix. Erwin recently left us and just a couple weeks before I mentioned my intention to share his remix and so in his honor I am exposing him for the great talent he was. I also couldn't let you down by not letting you have the link to this 12" in my Ebay store. Unless of course it's sold by the time you pop over to check it out. Just click on the title of this blog and it will take you right there. It's even on sale at the moment.