“Afternoon delight is what I remember about this event,I remember checking the mail everyday for this invitation to arrive.At this time in my life I thought I was going to be a fashion designer.I was really into clothes bigtime,not only wearing them but,I also had interest in making them.I had subscriptions to Women’s Wear Daily & Gentelman  Quartly magazine,that’s how I found out about the fashion show.I was so excited to be seated next to the runway and see Judith Jamison & Maurice Hines do a number right in front of me.This show also featured Dolph Lundgren making his modeling debut, and he was dating Grace Jones at the time although she was not there.I remember coming home from New York that day very thrilled and when I got in the house,my father told me he had seen me there at the fashion show on ABC 7 news that day.I thought I was famous already.RedSaid

This was the party of the year as far as I’m concerned,just look at the entertainment listed on this invitation,not to mention the hosts of the evening.The cause was one thing that had significant meaning at this time.You see,multi-culturalisim was at its peak in the United States as a result of Nelson Mandella being freed and making a visit here to America.Also, in the same year there was an assasination attempt on Ronald Regan and HIV sindrome was introduced to the public as AIDS so,this particular event was, and did bring all the people together who were concerned and effected by the current state of the country.This night the Michael Todd room was filled with celebrities,the balcony had tons of people just chilling out in the seats doing their thing,just watching the big jumbo trons with views of the dance floor & stage.One great memory I have of the evening is that I was dancing with my mentor Keith Haring at one point or,I really should say,we just ended up dancing near each other while positioning ourselves for a better view of the stage.I remember he was wearing on of those hand painted cycle jackets that were the epidomy of eighties fashion back then.RedSaid

The night I had this signed by Keith Haring was a tense one.I was shooting off my mouth trying to impress a friend who I had brought with me to the studio.I was trying to tell Keith what to paint and he quickly put me in my place.I thought he was going to kick me out of the studio.
I remember talking with Keith about the Paradise Garage and how spiritual the dancing was and how a person could transend oneself through rythym & sound.He really tried to capture it in most of his iconoclastic images he painted.The club was known around the world for having the greatest dance music which was supplied by resident Dj Larry Lavan up until his death.The club finally closed its doors in 1988 and there has been sort of a resurrection of the vibe with the advent of clubs like SHELTER & Deep Space but none of those have a screening room for films like the Paradise Garage had.RedSaid
Keith Haring artwork © Estate of Keith Haring

We all kind of agree that church is for sinners right?Imagine going inside a real church at night to dance.Well,if you are, or not, of the religious type this was the place for you.This sounds like an oxymoron but,this place had its own way of balancing good and evil.
This was the only nightclub that I know of that had its own limited edition swatch watch accented with a diamond like a cheap version of a movado® museum watch called”Limelight”,it was great.I liked the club best in the beginning when it wasn’t easy to get passed the doorman without a date.After that the so called “ClubKid”was invented and the place was a haven for gay white males who had to dress up like clowns to get attention because they couldn’t dance to save their lives so the music even changed to accommodate this lack of rythym and the place along with other ones soon became all decadence with no spirituality,and to make things worse the heavy use of extasy and other drugs resulted in a brutal murder that was documented in the film “Party Monster”staring that kid who played in the movie “Home Alone”with Seth Green as his co-star.
I just recently strolled by the place and it is now called Avalon,I noticed the croud outside wasn’t too exciting to me and I don’t think any of them would have gotten in back in the day.RedSaid

I got a story about going to this place for one of my friends seventeeth birthday celebration.We thought we were real cool and ahead of our time so I got the bright notion to go to BONDS because he wanted to hang out in New York.I told him all about the club because I had been there before and how I did my first hit of mescaline there and danced all night.He said he would drive because he wanted to test out the car he fixed up in auto shop class and try some mess if possible so it was on then.
We did manage to find the mescaline(tab) once we got in the club,it takes about forty five minutes for it to kick in so we had to just wait and casually walk about the club checking out all the women dancing and what not.When the tab kicked in we hit the dance floor and remained dancing for at least five hours nonstop.We were slaves to the rythym of Carlos Ramos who was a resident Dj there at the time.My boy was so messed up,when it was time to leave,he kept on dancing right out the door and through the middle of Times Square in the rain without missing a beat.He was doing the smurf and patty duke dance singing”play at your own risk.RedSaid
HEY BUDDY BUDDY HEY

The Tunnel was one of four large nightclubs that kept on changing with the croud.At first it was club & house music then it progressed into the techno/rave scene and finally Hip Hop with Funk Master Flex at the wheels of steel on Sunday nights.

If you didn’t know, the tunnel was an old train tunnel platform,the dance floor was where the tracks would normally be and it went into a tunnel that was blocked off by a gate,hence the name tunnel.there was a lounge designed by Kenny scharf called the “Cosmic Cavern”that I personally didn’t get a chance to check out while it was there.
I remember the night that Bipo from the Pop Shop was going to debut his new track called “Crack is Wack”based on Keith Haring’s murals with the same title.I had V.I.P status that night and I remember going into the dressing room before the show and seeing all these fine girls packed in the room trying to get Bipo’s autograph & stuff.