A Mind Blown 3, (8/2/14)
“Before there was OldSkool or NuSkool, there was PreSkool” - PreSkool, (2003)
Three months ago I ended a 27 year period of depending on capitalist pigs for my survival, choosing to spend whatever time I have left on the planet pursuing my first love music.
Thirty six years ago this month, I was the coordinator of the People's Ballroom ( a community based coalition in the Haight Asbury, that put on outdoor concerts and block parties and also provided full concert production services to community organizations). We were responsible for producing the Gay Freedom Day concert in the Castro that year. We built the stage, and provided the sound system, security, logistics and stage management. I was fortunate enough to be about 5 feet away from Sylvester when he and Two Tons Of Fun took the stage at Castro and Market. It was one of the first and a very successful cooperative effort between the radical Gay and hippie communities in San Francisco. Around 6:00 pm as we were breaking down, 6 cops broke into the backstage area grabbed me, beat the shit out of me and arrested me for assaulting all six cops.
On Saturday August 2nd, I am putting on A Mind Blown 3, my ongoing attempt to provide a dance party to be proud of. It's main features are:
• Providing music, visuals and performances of the highest quality and having the essential attributes of being conscious, powerful, inspiring, sublime, joyous and beautiful.
• Providing an atmosphere that is feminist, anti-misogyny, supportive of LGTBQ people, conductive to positive vibrations, encouraging of transcendence, exploration, joy, fun and profoundly psychedelic.
• Insuring that every single person who works on the project gets compensated.
• Providing the highest quality at the lowest cost possible.
• Playing the best in contemporary and classic electronic dance music
I have been very fortunate to have had some great people work with me on this party. But the essential element of any successful party is you, the people who come out. I am well aware of how it goes in NYC, way too much good stuff and not enough time for it all. Be that as it may, I am reaching out and asking you to come by this Saturday, and/or reach out to your networks and spread the word. Over the last 15 years Djing in NYC, literally 100s of you have seen me spin, I rarely disappoint. In addition we have some amazing visuals coming from Big Vic and myself and a live performance from a very good band. ( whose name I can't mention for legal reasons).
I attended my first dance party when I was 12, in 1962, we danced to live performances by The Shirelles, Beach Boys and The Kingsmen. I intend to keep playing dance music as often as I can till the day I leave the planet. I would really appreciate any support you can give me in keeping the Mind Blown parties going and growing, regardless of your actions much love and respect to any of you who takes the time to read this.
The way to fight the darkness is to create light.
“Hey, Hey, My, My, Rock and roll will never die, It's better to burn out than to fade away” Neil Young