In this episode Jeremy and Tim are checking in to Nicky Siano’s downtown spot The Gallery, a legendary party space often uttered in the same breath as the Loft, the Paradise Garage and the Warehouse. Nicky was a highly influential and original DJ who had as much as influence on Larry Levan and Frankie Knuckles as David Mancuso. We hear a history of the Gallery, setting it within the complex web of 70s Soho, including the temporary closure of the space and its triumphant reopening. The show covers how party spaces were regulated, the regulatory regimes of dancing more generally across time, and the tension that the requirement to promote oneself as a freelancer DJ put on the emergent ethos of the scene.

Tim and Jeremy also talk about Studio 54, drugs, the role of lighting in a party setting, and the place of women - and especially women DJs - in downtown party culture. Finally, all this is contrasted repeatedly with what David Mancuso was doing simultaneously as his Loft night moved venues.

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

Tune in, Turn on, Get Down!

You can get Nicky Siano's book 'I, DJ', serialised, through his Patreon. Visit https://www.patreon.com/nickysiano.

Become a patron from £3pcm at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

And check out our new website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Tracklist:

MFSB - Love is the Message

Books: