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

FRANKIE KNUCKLES MIXES, THE PARADISE GARAGE 1978, WAREHOUSE 1981, more mixes and some reminiscing

WAREHOUSE CHICAGO 1981 MIX  YOUR LOVE  
So I'm a little late to the Frankie tribute game.  But I'd have to say that it's because I've been beside myself.  But by now I've cried it out and I'm ready to share, like I always do here in Disco Vinyl.
YOUR LOVE DUSTY KID EDIT

I feel like Frankie Knuckles is the soundtrack to my years in New York City.  He was freshly back from Chicago and spinning in The Crystal Room at The World in 1988 when I was just coming up in the club kid scene and working the ticket ripping post at The World's v.i.p. club IT.
FRANKIE MIX SOUND FACTORY 1991
Then magically he got to take over the wheels of steel at The Sound Factory for a period in 1990 to 1991.  Definitely the period in which I went to factory the most.  Why?  Because with Frankie you could be insured the pretty.  You knew you'd get female vocals and not just bitch tracks.  You knew you'd never get pots and pans.  Frankie had a dreamer's touch.  The magic of a man who loved what he played and wanted you to love it too.

And when the spot got snatched back and returned to Junior Vasquez, Frankie made the ex Private Eyes, Sound Factory Bar Fridays into the primo dance spot that it was for those years in the early 90's.  A cozy spot and a great night out with his sweet buddy Manny Ward spinning downstairs.
SOUND FACTORY BAR 1993
He got a gig in Philadelphia at a circuit party.  I can't remember the name other then it had colors in the title.  But I do know that agroup of my friends and I went down and had a great time.
THIS TIME FRANKIE KNUCKLES BOMB MIX
I remember I went up to the booth once at Sound Factory Bar and even though Frankie and I had only said a few words in passing over the years, he knew exactly who I was.  And when I handed him a cassette he gladly recorded the next 90 minutes and what a 90 minutes that it was.  I played that tape out!  If only I could figure out what I did with it.
A HOT ZIP OF FRANKIE MIXES
Oh and the tears on that last Friday night in 1995.  I remember a gorgeous moment when rose petals fell from the ceiling during the peak of This Time by Chante Moore.  One of the definitive Frankie Knuckles mix masterpieces.
NOTGONNACHANGE CLASSIC CLUB MIX
I also remember that night at The Roxy on a Saturday when Frankie debuted his mix of Swing Out Sister's NOTGONNACHANGE.  Oh my God it was simply astonishing.  I was dancing yet I felt like I was being transported into the heavens.  I might've had a little help in reaching those celestial heavens but I was in my 20's and that was then.
GROOVE ON wild pitch mix...another dance floor fave from that era

LIVE AT THE PARADISE GARAGE

SOUND FACTORY BAR 1991

Tracklist Sound Factory Bar mix from 1991.

1. Michael McDonald - All We Got (Shep Pettibone Remix) [Reprise]
2. Frankie Knuckles - Workout (Original Demo) [Virgin]
3. Alison Limerick - Where Love Lives (Red Zone Mix) [Arista]
4. Basscut - I'm Not In Love [Charisma]
5. C&C Music Factory - I wanna Rock and Roll ]Sony]
6. Sounds Of Blackness - The Pressure (Frankie Knuckles Classic Mix) [Perspective/AM:PM]
7. Mike Wilson Feat. Shawn Christopher - Another Sleepless Night (Red Zone Mix) [BMG]
8. Fast Eddie - Let's Go [D.J. International]
9. Trilogy - Love Me Forever Or Love Me Not [ACTO]
10. Frankie Knuckles - The Whistle Song [Virgin]

5 DEFINING TRACKS FROM FRANKIE'S CAREER ROLLING STONG MAGAZINE

What other DJ has his own street name?

And how many DJ's have ever been photographed with the President and the First Lady?

And what D.J. did they mention in the N.Y. Times?
N.Y. TIMES FASHION AND STYLE SECTION