LOLLIPOP UNWRAPPED

"To my greatest desire: I want to Rock With U and have a Sensual Seduction. The only problem is I'm Paralyzed in Daylight - WOW! I know it's hard to believe, but I'm a Fire, I want to get Low and have you Touch My Body. Oh baby, What Do You Want From Me? It seems to be 6 of 1 Thing or half a dozen of another. Just Relax - I don't need any more Disco Lies. I want The Right Life. How do I Break the Ice? Since I met you at the Funplex I can't get you out of my thoughts. Have Mercy on me, me amore."

My husband Allan and I traveled to New York where we were invited to PETER MAX's office for a private reception.  There we enjoyed seeing the inner sanctum of one of America's cultural legends.  I was absolutely thrilled to see so many large pieces of his work.  His collection of eclectic souvenirs included President Clinton's saxaphone, a full-sized fiberglass cow, a 6' tall soda pop bottle and the signed piano from 'Ringo Starr' all glowing in psychedelic colors painted by the man himself.

The best part of this experience was being invited into PETER MAX's personal painting studio by Peter himself.  He was warm and genuine as he welcomed me by shaking my hand and showing me where he creates his art.  He showed me his painting easels, brushes, paints and the DJ booth he has set up in the corner of the room.  TURNTABLES!  lol - apparently he likes to paint accompanied by a musical muse and has someone come in and keep the tunes going for him while other members of the entourage jam on bongos and other percussion instruments. GROOVY COOL!!!

"Not necessarily stoned... but beautiful" (Jimi Hendrix: 1967)

'The local teenage haunt in Norridge Village, Illinois was the Hub Axle. Known by most as the BEST ROLLERSKATING RINK EVER!  To this day, I've never seen a rink that could compare to it's size.  It was twice as big as it's closest competitor (Chicago's Rainbow Roller Rink on Clark Street) and it is missed and mourned by everyone who was a regular.

This mix reflects the most magical time in my life. This was when the seeds of the realization that I could mix records for a crowd were planted.  Weekdays existed to only fill the void between my next visit to the rink for a speedy whip around it's glorious wood floor.  We waited in long lines in 3 feet of snow to get into the Hub's disco roller skating on Friday nights and Saturday nights.  What a thrill!  The energy and heat that radiated from that place literally steamed up all the windows.  The fantastic lighting - awesome sound system.  Brilliant!!

I recently rented a DAT machine (very 80's) and transferred some old DAT's that had studio production on them from when I also did production.  I found a glorious medley I thought you would enjoy.  This one is all 1987 club hits that I was spinning at the time.  I now do digital editing and it's funny to think that I originally put this together on a Tascam 4 track by just overlaying vinyl records and using a razor blade and tape to physically cut and edit it together!  Oh my did it take a lot of time!!!!!  It's so much easier now.  I hope you enjoy it!

The 1981 Top Tune Medley is the first of my productions to be released as a vinyl record.

It is a collection of all the big dancefloor filling hits from my first nightclub in Chicago called "POETS" on 9 West Division Street.  When I produced this first medley, I was still learning all the tricks of editing. Also, all the songs used were hits during 1981. Some were released at the end of 1980, but my production was a sonic snapshot of what was packing dance floors in Chicago that year.  I was 17 years old at the time and working with a fake ID that said I was 22 - I still can't believe I got away with it. lol.  What fun. I was so naive.  I just wanted to spin records for a packed dancefloor.  I hope this brings back lots of great memories for you. I bet it will!