In 2009 the BBC Interviewed Karen Cook, the first female Disco DJ in the USA.  Here is the interview, uncut and unedited.  The interview went on to be edited and included in the BBC Music Special, “The Death Of Disco” in 2009.

Shotgun and Karen were married in 1976. Check the corduroy suit and the baby’s breath in her hair.

Shotgun Cook was the #1 nighttime classic ROCK jock on KRBE in Houston, TX. Karen was the first female DISCO DJ in the USA(wiki article) working at Todd’s then Elan in Houston.  They were introduced and married in 3 months. When Rock and Disco get married, sparks fly in a good way. 30 years later, they still spend their evenings laughing and reminiscing about the boots on the ground stories from back in the day. Here you can hear their stories and their uncanny ability to find the wacky, wild and a little bit twisted.

1979 Death of Disco Shirt “Disco Sucks”

One day, out of the blue when I was creating a video script for a client, I got a call from the BBC. They asked if I would be willing to do an interview for their upcoming show, “The death of disco.” I said I would be glad to but asked how they found me. He said I was in Wikipedia as the first female disco DJ in the USA. This is how I found out about my trail blazing status.

Here is the overview from the website where the show will be posted when it is done. In the meantime, I have included part 1 of the live interview with the BBC, where he must have said “Brilliant” 50 times. “Brilliant” is the new “great.”

 

In 1979 the disco industry was worth an estimated $4 billion – more than movies, television or professional sport – and accounted for up to 40 % of the singles chart. The same year in Chicago, Steve Dahl, a disgruntled rock DJ left his WDAI radio show in protest at its switch to an all-disco play list. He really hated disco. A switch to rival station, which shared the same owners as the Chicago White Sox baseball team, resulted in an audacious publicity stunt that signaled the death knell of disco.

The promotion was simple: For a mere 98 cents listeners could bring all their unwanted disco records to the White Sox’s Comiskey Stadium and watch them being blown up by Dahl and his chums, who called themselves “The insane Coho Lips Anti-Disco Army.” Over 70,000 people turned up to offload their disco records and chant, “Disco sucks! Disco sucks!” Thousands were locked out and the riot police were called in to quell pitch invasions.

Recalling the event, Dahl has said: “Disco was a fad probably on its way out but the event hastened its demise.” Presenter Candi Staton sets out to uncover if there was a true anti-disco sentiment while legendary DJ Frankie Knuckles charts disco’s revenge and metamorphosis into house a decade later. We track down some of the pitch invaders and baseball players to find out how strongly they felt about disco then, and how they view the events of that July evening thirty years on. (Courtesy of BBC2 radio http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lk05w)

 

*We still stop on July 12 every year to have a moment of silence for Disco, RIP.

Between 1969-1975 Mick and the boys were the best Stones ever. They did, after all, achieve the title of “The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World.” They were wild, nasty, untamed, and seemed completely unintimidated by the world of chart-busting rock and roll. I loved to play the Stones on the radio.  They would always cause the phones to light up.

These are the Top 10 Rolling Stones songs from the 70’s:

1. Beast of Burden

2. Tumbling Dice

3. Brown Sugar

4. Miss You

5. Wild Horses

6. It’s Only Rock ‘N Roll (But I Like It)

7. Angie

8. Shattered

9. Happy

10. Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)

Donna Summer was not only my fav, but the undisputed queen of 70’s disco. With hits such as “Love to Love You Baby,” “I Feel Love,”(Wins the double award for best bathroom break song and also for having the most segway moments in one song.) “She Works Hard For the Money” and finally, “Last Dance” – she was one of the greatest voices of the seventies. I remember hearing “Love to Love you Baby” and thinking how risqué it was for that time. It sounded like she was having sex while recording the song.  The reason for that was that a producer once told her “You couldn’t be sexy if you tried.” So she was proving him wrong. Don’t ever tell a woman she can’t be sexy…geesh.

One of the more interesting things about Summer was her faith. She was born and raised a Christian and, later in life, turned back to the faith of her childhood. One line from “Last Dance” could, in retrospect, be interpreted as a nod to her faith: “Oh, I need you, by me/ beside me, to guide/ to hold me, to scold me/’cause when I’m bad/ I’m so, so bad.”

Her death was like her “last dance.” She lived a good life filled with love. “Last Dance” gave hope to those who needed it. Even though she is gone, her voice will not soon be forgotten…especially in my little disco heart and sparkly platform shoes.

In my career as a DJ, my most loved and played song was “Rock Your Baby” by George McCrae. It was the best, slow, sultry, sexy “come out of a slow set” song. So popular that most people who had joined the dance floor just for the slow set, would continue to stay for the song even if they were not fans of fast dancing. That was huge for someone who didn’t want to clear the floor after the slow set, which happened… a lot.

But quickly I became a fan of his wife, Gwen. She was the youngest of five children and grew up (just like me) singing in her Pentecostal church. She began performing in local clubs as a teenager. But in 1963, she met a young sailor named George McCrae who she married within a week. And as they say…the rest is history.

From the time they married she recorded as a duo with George, but also she had her own career. Gwen recorded a major hit in March 1975 with “Rockin’ Chair,” a #1 R&B hit which also reached number 9 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Their separate successes were took a toll on the McCraes’ marriage (Gwen has since alleged that her husband beat her frequently). The couple split.

Janis Joplin was the greatest female rocker of the Woodstock era. She was the “Amy Winehouse” before there was an Amy Winehouse. However, aside from both of their bad habits, both had one great thing in common: they were amazing artists.

If you ever listen to Janis, her voice will make you do one of two things: stop cold in your tracks or get up and dance. The first three songs on her posthumous release, Pearl, are great examples of this – from “Move Over” to “Half Moon.”

However, for someone that was such a great singer, many considered her to be the “ugly girl.” In fact, her hometown of Port Arthur, TX thought so. In highschool, she was constantly harassed because not only did she hang out with the social outcasts, she was the overweight girl with visible scars.

Janis did not realize how pretty she really was. In many ways, she was a fashion icon with her feathers in her hair, her many accessories, and even her trademark coke-bottle sunglasses. Those are now considered retro-cool.

It’s not fun to be called names like “freak” and “pig.” When that happens, it does damage the person’s self-esteem and psyche. As a result, different people respond different ways: some turn to religion or therapy, others turn to drugs. The latter of which killed the Queen of Psychedelic Soul herself.

You can’t help but wonder if, psychologically, that is what both drove her success and eventually, drove her into the grave. One can only wonder.

Disco DJ’s Create Love and Liquor Sales:

There are 2 types of people who dance. The slow dancers and the fast dancers. The popular guys in the disco were not the slow dancers, but the ones who could fast dance. The most popular ones were the guys who actually knew how to Bump, Hustle, East Coast and line dance. Women love to dance and sometimes would even dance with other women because there were no men to dance with. Some really awful guys dated really beautiful women just because they could dance. Sad but true. The slow songs were more for the men…it was an opportunity to rub up against a woman they know they probably have no chance with. Women hate that and learn quickly not to dance with certain guys on the slow songs.

My goal was different…I needed to sell liquor, my job depended on it. I needed a plan. Sales moved up 30% when I started the 6 up 3 down set. I played a progressively fast set of 6 songs. To get people up to dance and wear them out. The goal was to keep them on the dance floor by creating segways (mixes) that were unrecognizable. People on the dance floor thought it was a continuation of the same song. (There is a whole science to this and will be featured in another blog post) At the end of the fast set was a long, very fast song. Then it would come to a jarring halt when I played “Feelings” or some other super slow song. The people on the dance floor were hot and sweaty…the last thing they wanted was a slow song…they wanted a drink. At the same time, the guys who had been sitting there nursing a drink during the fast songs would come out of hiding to slow dance. Apparently it was a lot of exercise for them because they would, after 3 slow songs, immediately have a seat and order another drink, usually for both him and his dance partner.

Check this month’s finds:

I found this extremely creepy.  Totally looks like this cougar took
this underage boy out for a night on the town!

Wow, these are placed piece by piece, but makes a rockin’ disco ball!
I want this in miniature hanging from my rear view mirror.

Jewel FX?  This should be called “Disco Ball Nails!”

and finally:

I would totally wear these!!!

And here are some other random shots of items I thought were totally disco cool….

The world is just a much better place when the disco balls hits the lights and makes every location a party.