Hot Stuff

After reviewing it, Ron Cohen gave me Alice Echols’ new book “Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture.” A feminist who has written a book about radical feminism called “Daring to Be Bad,” the author was a deejay at an Ann Arbor club called the Rubaiyat and even includes a play list of her dance-floor favorites that includes “Disco Inferno” by the Trammps and “Pull Up to the Bumper” by Grace Jones. There are several chapters that deal with disco and gay culture but not much about lesbians – although it was at this time that large numbers of women discovered that they didn’t need men to achieve orgasm. One song Echols really likes is “More, More, More” by former porn star Andrea True. My favorite disco song, “Boogie Oogie Oogie” by A Taste of Honey” sadly didn’t make Echols’ play list but the BeeGees’ “You Should be Dancing” did. She has an entire chapter on “Saturday Night Fever,” one of my favorite movies, and concludes that while the movie is remembered for its fashions that operate as shorthand for 70s ludicrousness, one should not forget its critique of sexism and racism and (her words) “its queering of Tony’s world.” I recall when Jackson’s Steakhouse in Gary switched to disco and went there once with old fraternity pal Dick Jeary and wife Donna. Even though we were probably among the oldest in the crowd, it was fun and a sociological experience (it seemed at cursory glance to be more heterosexual meat market than gay enclave).

Alice Echols’ new book “Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture.” A feminist who has written a book about radical feminism called “Daring to Be Bad,” the author was a deejay at an Ann Arbor club called the Rubaiyat and even includes a play list of her dance-floor favorites that includes “Disco Inferno” by the Trammps and “Pull Up to the Bumper” by Grace Jones. There are several chapters that deal with disco and gay culture but not much about lesbians – although it was at this time that large numbers of women discovered that they didn’t need men to achieve orgasm. One song Echols really likes is “More, More, More” song by former porn star Andrea True. My favorite disco song, “Boogie Oogie Oogie” by A Taste of Honey” sadly didn’t make Echols’ play list but the BeeGees’ “You Should be Dancing” did. She has an entire chapter on “Saturday Night Fever,” one of my favorite movies, and concludes that while the movie is remembered for its fashions that operate as shorthand for 70s ludicrousness, one should not forget its critique of sexism and racism and (her words) “its queering of Tony’s world.” I recall when Jackson’s Steakhouse in Gary switched to disco and went there once with old fraternity pal Dick Jeary and wife Donna. Even though we were probably among the oldest in the crowd, it was fun and a sociological experience (it seemed at cursory glance to be more heterosexual meat market than gay enclave).

Echols devotes a section of each chapter to an analysis of a disco song, including “Fodderstumpf” by Public Image Limited featuring John Lyden (aka Johnny Rotten). Even though it was meant as a parody, Lyden claimed he loved disco. I saw PIL with several of son Dave’s friends in Chicago. At one point John Migoski was being crushed against the stage until a beefy security guard pulled him up to safety. He was minus a shoe, however, which we were able to retrieve after most everyone had cleared out.

Toni and I stopped off at a motel where Dave’s family spent the night Friday to give James and Rebecca some fun near the end of their spring break. Sunday I won two out of four board games and barely lost one we recently added to our heavy rotation called Small World. One tries to conquer territory with various tribesmen (ghouls, ratmen,orcs, wizards, dwarves) that you combine with various special powers. I helped Toni, a crossword puzzle master, with answers to two sports questions, “James of the Court” (Labron) and 2008 Olympic star (Usain Bolt). It was a big sports weekend with the NCAA Final Four (go Butler, boo Duke) and a desperation ice hockey game for the Flyers to make the playoffs that was on TV (Philadelphia beat the Red Wings 4-3). I still have a Bobby Clark jersey from the Flyers glory days in the early Seventies. Toni and I head south tomorrow on our road trip to Florida, and I hope I’ll be watching the Flyers with brother-in-law Sonny (Joseph Okomski), an even bigger fan than I. I was with him in Kansas City for his daughter Charlene’s graduation from medical and we put on a Montreal-Philadelphia playoff game. The Canadiens had a pregame practice of shooting a puck in the opposition’s net before skating off the ice, and the Flyers were determined not to let that happen. Before the game even started, a fight broke out that lasted 45 minutes. Players came out of the locker rooms that were still only half-dressed. Sonny roared with laughter the entire time.

I am taking the Tom Robbins novel “Skinny Legs and All” to Florida with me. Years ago, I enjoyed his “Another Roadside Attraction” (so did friends Ivan Jasper and Tom Orr, who started a restaurant in Wheeler by that name). The novel bears little resemblance to the 1967 Joe Tex song and got off to such a strange start I almost abandoned it. One of the characters is a can of pork and beans (I kid you not).