Roy Thode @ Studio 54 05/11/1981 скачать в хорошем качестве

Roy Thode @ Studio 54 05/11/1981

P.S. by Dolly Dots is blocked by copyright issues, so no sound between 23:32 - 25:49. Relive a night at Studio 54, maybe the worlds most well known club in history. Mixed and recorded live on Nov. 5th 1981. Remember remember the 5th of November. Intro spoken by Marsha Stern, a friend of Thode. Roy Thode, a native New Yorker from Long Island, moved to the city in his early 20’s after establishing his DJ skills as a young man growing up in Wantaugh. Roy was perhaps best known for being the DJ for “Saturday Nights at the Ice Palace” in Cherry Grove. His NYC DJ career was highlighted with residencies at both Studio 54 and The Saint however it was the Long Island Gay club scene that fueled and created the foundation for Roy’s illustrious career as perhaps one of the best technical DJ’s of his era. In the ‘early days’ Roy’s friend and mentor Bob Lombardi, began mixing with 8-track tapes. It was a unique set up, more radio broadcasting equipment than what we are now familiar with in the DJ booth. This system evolved into turntables and a mixer, especially as the 8-track tape became obsolete. Ultimately vinyl and turntables became the tools for DJ’s as more and more clubs began to employ a DJ who played records live, replacing the jukebox for dancing music. Additionally, there was so much more creatively and technically that one could do with turntables and vinyl as opposed to the clumsy 8-track tapes. In the early ’70’s Roy honed his craft with Lombardi at a club called “The Corral”, where he was resident DJ. Around that time they met and became friends with Wayne Scott and Sharon White. Together the four friends explored the emerging sounds of the day. All of them became highly respected, influential and award winning Billboard Reporting DJ’s. Bob Lombardi moved to South Florida in the late 70’s where he was the house DJ for the Limelight. He had installed that fully functioning original 8-track system in his booth at the Limelight and integrated it with his other equipment, where I witnessed him mixing between vinyl and 8-tracks! By 1976 Roy was living in New York City. He had already established himself as the ‘house DJ’ at the Ice Palace in Cherry Grove for summers and now his career expanded as he began to play at various venues in Manhattan like Les Mouches, a private club in Chelsea. In 1977 when Jimmy Merry opened his Ice Palace in NYC on West 57th Street, Roy opened the club and was the headlining DJ. He played there regularly becoming the featured DJ for the ever-popular Sunday Tea Dance during Fall, Winter & Spring months. Summers he always returned to Fire Island for his residency at the Ice Palace in the Grove. During the summer of ’78, on numerous Saturday nights Steve Rubell was in Cherry Grove at the Ice Palace. It was toward the end of the summer that he asked Roy to come and DJ for him at Studio 54. After the summer season ended Roy added Studio 54 to the roster of NYC venues where he played music. The nights Roy worked, Thursdays and Sundays at ’54, became popular as ‘Unofficial Gay Nights’ as Roy had a devoted following of Fire Island friends and dancers that populated the club. Roy may have worked in the Grove and been an integral part of the Ice Palace however he was also an active resident of the Pines. In 1978 ‘Just a Party’ was the largest house party ever seen to date in the Pines. At Utopia, on Beach Hill and the bay, the pool was covered to make a dance floor, a full lighting rig was assembled complete with mirror balls and a Dj booth was built. Howard Merritt and Roy Thode played music while Jorge Vilardel ran the lights. (Jorge was one of the current lightmen from Flamingo and also IP57). Back then all the property behind Utopia between the end of Seaview Walk and the Great South Bay was undeveloped woodlands. A ‘private meat rack’ was created for the guests complete with Crisco cans conveniently attached to trees along paths. It was at the peak of Roy’s career that it ended. There are many stories surrounding Roy’s passing, most of them false. The simple fact is that he died of an apparent overdose in his apartment and was found on May 21, 1982 one week after his 33rd birthday. I unlocked the apartment door for the police to enter. He looked very peaceful. There was no blood, no violence and no obvious drama. That summer there were no Saturday migrations to the Ice Palace for dancing. That migration ended with Roy and is part of the legacy that remains with him to this day…as the man behind the turntables whose greatest pleasure was in making us happy. Rights of this recording owned by Marsha Stern.