the dj insisted on "playing the room" so to speak, much to my dismay. i was hoping for songs with an edge, a bit more fantasy involved. instead, the dj spun pop songs from the 80's. madonna came on, micheal jackson. i made the most of it bouncing around like a social butterfly high on life.
it was an interesting crowd, mostly barflies, the die hard billiard guys with their beer guts, a girl from new orleans with gypsy hair down passed her ass, lonely guys smitten with the sexy bartender and random patrons that would come and go.
there was a woman from poland, dressed in all black, long black skirt to her feet, long dry hair parted down the middle, bad acne, no make up, kafka novel in her pocket. she took a liking to me, probably because i was the only one that would listen when she'd go into her angry tirades. so often i'd see her break up the party with her ominous presence. i don't think she realized that i only heard about one third of what she was saying with all the loud eighties music and my bad hearing. things like "my three nigazz at home", "who vill love a vidow like me","vhen the vall came down" and "i had to fight on the streets of poland" all with that heavy accent, witch like, fascinating.
one night i was fortunate enough to sit in as dj for an hour or two. i had my agenda long planned out. i arrived with my shoe box filled with cd's.
it IS a great privelage to be dj as well as a responsiblity. although i protested in the past i soon learned what the wrong tune, a dud, could do to a room and how every second of it feels like an eternity. to me it was like cinema and i was the master scorer of the scene. i quickly found my groove.
...but, there was that one tune, the joy division song, everybody went crazy! the lady from poland leaped into the air, jumping up and down with joy. i always loved this song but didn't realize how powerful it was until that moment when the place suddenly exploded from it. seeing her there like that made me think of freedom in it's truest form...and everyone else...i heard that in casinos in atlantic city or vegas they pump oxygen into the rooms to keep everyone awake and active so they gamble more, i don't know if this is true or even makes sense, but something did happen there, with that song, it was like the whole place simultaneously took a popper. i saw a documentary on joy division recently and learned about how much the landscape of manchester informed their sound. one gentleman said "joy division captured the sound of manchester, but they made it cosmic, they made manchester cosmic"
it's true, i saw it light up a room.
here's a video. this version is a bit more relaxed. the recorded version kicks, go put it on.
Anna gave me a medallion from her necklace of a miracle saint.
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