Thomas Del Pozo

Episode 6 of Body Rhythm broadcasting Sunday May 10 at 17:00 EDT on @anothersetting.radio —> See slide 2 for all the records played Archived episode now available to listen on Soundcloud. Tracklist and track notes on the blog. See link in bio. Photo: James Haan for Upfront America (April, 1980)

Ad for 13 Buttons Disco-Lounge in Miami, FL From the February 1978 issue of Cruise.

“Still the Carolinas’ finest!” Three ads for Scorpio Discotheque in Charlotte, NC. Established in 1968 and still going strong today. Now known as The Scorpio (@thescorpiocharlotte ), they operated at the 2301 Freedom Drive address on these ads until October 2023. By August 2024, the original location had been demolished and The Scorpio reopened as The Scorpio RSVP complex at its current location. Ads from the February, April and October 1978 issues of Cruise.

Episode 5 of Body Rhythm broadcasting Sunday April 12th at 14:00 EDT on @anothersetting.radio More on the boogie/funk tip this time around. —> See slide 2 for all the records played Archived episode now available to listen on Soundcloud. Tracklist and track notes on the blog. See link in bio. Photo: Alvin Fields by Chris Callis, 1981

Ad for a Sylvester concert at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, with Geraldine Hunt opening. Sounds like a fabulous bill to me! From The Advocate, November 1980.

“Let Giorgio Do It” Ad for Giorgio Moroder’s LP “From Here to Eternity” on Casablanca Records. (@giorgiomoroder ) Full-page ad from the November 1977 issue of Christopher Street.

Episode 4 of Body Rhythm broadcasting Sunday March 15th at 15:00 EDT on @anothersetting.radio —> See slide 2 for all the records played Archived episode now available to listen on Soundcloud. Tracklist and track notes on the blog. See link in bio. Photo: Alexandra Hutchinson (l) of Dance Theatre of Harlem and India Bradley (r) of New York City Ballet by Ye Fan (2023)

“Disco ‘Til Dawn.” A couple of ads for Galaxy 21, a multi-level discotheque on two adjoining buildings at 256 W. 23rd Street in NYC. Galaxy 21 was established by black entrepreneur George Freeman, later the founder and chaplain of the Universal Life Church. At the dawn of disco, Freeman started throwing promotional parties in his apartment as part of his job with WOR Radio in NYC. As his parties started becoming more popular, he eventually organized investors to convert the space of the once famed Cavanagh’s Restaurant into a discotheque. Galaxy 21 is perhaps best noted in disco history for being the first residency of legendary DJ/mixer Walter Gibbons who played there from 1975-1977. François Kevorkian also played there with Gibbons, not as a DJ but as a drummer, hired to play along with the music. Galaxy 21 posted multiple versions of this ad in various publications, featuring a reprinted review by Chris Woodward originally published in The Chelsea Clinton News, The Villager and The Westsider. The site, last occupied by the Cinépolis Cinema, was demolished in 2025. Ads from the September 1976 issue of Mandate and the April 7, 1976 issue of The Advocate. More info: /george-freeman-early-years/ /articles2/2013/7/16/disco-madness-walter-gibbons-and-the-legacy-of-turntablism-and-remixology-journal-of-popular-music-studies-20-3-2008-276-329 /read/francois-hasnt-stopped/ #waltergibbons #francoiskevorkian

The first of two LPs from the band Mammatapee in 1980. Produced by the great Norman Whitfield and released on Whitfield's label. The group members on this album were Isy Martin (guitar, vocals), Mark Kenoly (bass, vocals), Walter Downing (keyboards, vocals), Ella Faulk (vocals) and Jimi Valdez (drums - not pictured on the album). The lineup would be whittled down to three (Martin, Kenoly and Downing) by their second record later in the year. Kenoly, Martin and Downing would also appear on a number of Whitfield and associated productions at the time. Either individually or together, from 1978-81 they all appear on various albums by Stargard, Rose Royce and The Undisputed Truth. A bit more on the soulful side of things, this being a Whitfield production, there are still some nice uptempo tracks here - "Don't Bite The Hand That Feeds You" (slide 3), and "Caught Up In The Race" (slide 6). The slower tracks really shine here though. The moody "Something On Your Mind" (slide 5) the sublime soul of "Good Lovin'" (slide 7) and "Girl, I Wanna Get Right Up Next To You" (slide 4) are standouts for me. As of now, this remains one of those Whitfield releases which has yet to make it onto streaming or digital.

Been enjoying Roxy Robinson’s 1977 LP “Silence and Other Sounds” since picking it up a little while back. An intriguing slice of Italian disco sung in English, my copy still has stamps and stickers from CHIN, the Italian radio station here in Toronto. From the opener “Come On” (slide 3) to the title track, “Silence” (slide 5) and “Movies” (slide 7) the album ranges from the sensual to the dramatic. Note the “Love to Love You Baby” reference in “Nice and Easy” (slide 4). For something relatively obscure, it’s a rich and satisfying listen all the way through. I wish I knew more about Roxy Robinson (sometimes credited as Rosalinda Robinson or just ‘Roxy’). She appears to have some other credits on Italian releases from the time, either as singer or songwriter. The album was produced and arranged by Enrico Intra, Pino Presti also appears on the record and a couple of the songs were recently reissued under Presti’s name.

R.I.P. to Monti Rock III, who passed away last week at the age of 86. Posting the album here which made him a disco sensation, “Disco Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes Review” from 1975. Written & produced by Bob Crewe, “Get Dancin’” and “I Wanna Dance Wit’ Choo” were the hits but unfortunately the album, as fab as the artwork is, doesn’t quite live up to the singles. The mixes of the hit songs aren’t as tight on the LP, with the whole thing done as a false live show. Rock doesn’t exactly sing all that much and when he does show up, he mostly banters through the whole thing. Seems fun as a concept, but perhaps a little tedious as a full album. Nevertheless, some interesting facts: Motown group The Sisters Love appear on the album, credited as The Chocolate Kisses. When they took his show on the road, top disco session singers Jocelyn Brown and Christine Wiltshire would join the group as part of the road act. Born Joseph Montanez Jr. in 1939 in Bronx, New York, he claimed to have been kicked out by his Pentecostal family as a teenager due to his gayness. Reportedly he had to hustle in the streets of New York before becoming a celebrity hairdresser and eventually a celebrity himself. He would become a regular guest on various late night talk shows, most notably Johnny Carson, where he appeared no less than 36 times. Even if his Disco Tex act had a limited shelf life, he was nevertheless a prime example of the way in which disco was providing a new queer visibility. Speaking about his career to Zeitgeistworld in 2010, Rock would say, “[b]eing a disco artist was the real beginning of my life. That thrust me into money, the limelight. I became a gay disco queen, along with Gloria Gaynor and Donna Summers [sic]. I did three albums and toured for about three years.” In a 2017 interview he would later say, “I was just one person shocking the world by being so outlandishly innocent about what he was doing. I’m not a good actor but I did film. I’m not a good singer but I did records. I’m a columnist who can’t type. My one genius was hair. I could do hair. But doing hair for 30 years was not exactly something I had in mind.”

Ad for Brass Construction’s self-titled debut LP, and their biggest. Featuring the disco hits, “Movin’” and “Changin’.” From the back page of the April 7, 1976 issue of The Advocate.