Jul
14
2010
Cloud And Sun DJ Services The venue gig
this is a short film about setting up for an extra large mobile disco in Chichester UK
Duration : 0:7:8
Jul
13
2010
Disco Dies An Exciting Death
For decades, rock vinyl was king. From the hip-rattling swagger of Elvis Presley to mind-altering explorations of the Beatles, from the primeval howls of Little Richard to the grating roar of Led Zeppelin, rock n’ roll was here to stay. But as mid-1970s came, a new sound – complete with quick hi-hat runs, infectious choruses and pop sensibilities – could be discovered on Turntables and the charts. Disco was challenging the new king.
But for some, the change was hardly welcomed. Wax was the realm of rock n’ roll and rock vinyl would not go down without a fight. Enter Steve Dahl, a Chicago DJ, who had summarily been fired from his job at WDAI after converting to an all-disco format. As someone with more than just a personal interest in seeing rock vinyl remain at the top, Dahl hatched a plan.
The game was rescheduled on July 12, 1979 as part of a doubleheader with the Detroit Tigers after rain forced the cancellation of a Chicago White Sox game in early April. Dahl, in conjunction with Gerry Meier, his broadcast partner, Mike Veeck, son of Chicago owner Bill Veeck, and other radio station executives hatched a fateful idea that would eventually live in infamy in both rock vinyl and baseball history: Disco Demolition Night.
The promotion asked fans to bring unwanted disco vinyl albums to the park in exchange for an admission charge of only 98 cents. And boy did they arrived. Rock aficionados turned up in thousands; nearly 90,000 turned up at the 52,000-seat Comiskey Park. Some scaled fences outside the park, and the freeway had to be shut down after it clogged with cars. When the stadium staff had collected more than enough albums from the crowd, many began using them as Frisbees, littering the field and hitting other spectators. It stood as a witness to their love of rock vinyl at the least. No enthusiastic music lover would ever treat “real” ‘records as such.
In between games, Dahl appeared, with a young female in town, dressed in fatigues and riding in a jeep. A crate filled with disco records and wired in explosives was brought onto the field. Rock vinyl would rule the day. The ensuing left a gaping hole in the outfield and a small fire burning. However, it was just the beginning.
True to the spirit of the beloved rock vinyl albums collections, fans stormed the field. Some walked aimlessly; some ran from police, some started more fires. In all, a small-scale riot started in the middle of a baseball game. The field was cleared by the Chicago Police Department in the end. The field was so badly mangled that the White Sox had to forfeit the game to the Tigers. And while Disco Demolition Night has gone down as perhaps the most ill conceived promotion ever, in a twisted way, rock vinyl certainly ruled the day.
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