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DANNY KRIVIT:
MY LIFE & THE PARADISE GARAGE LEGACY
– KEEP ON DANCIN’…
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Further to our recent tribute to NYC famous Paradise Garage venue, we’re being offered a complementary view by a man who, sitting on more than 35 years of activities, embodies the genesis of the NYC nightclubbing. This meaning both the progressive establishment of DJing as an artform and the introduction of expression tools that come with, beginning with the varispeed turntables and the 12’’ format. Not to mention the acceptance then the amalgamation of a whole bunch of different vibes, from soul to funk, Afro to Latin, disco to electro and rap to eventually rock which were to be melted with no preconceived idea, except the one to make people dance. From his debut at The Ninth Circle to his current monthly nighter under the 718 Sessions banner, Danny Krivit invites us to a Return To Forever trip…
Hey Danny, thank you for your contribution. Could you please, as an introduction, try to recapture the atmosphere that was around in NYC back in September 1987(*), as far as you're concerned?
In September 1987, the NYC landscape looked & felt quite different…
Mass real-estate speculation was still a long way off, most people still rented their apartments, downtown had a more free, artistic vibe to it. Menwhile, the lower East Side was completely undeveloped & still considered very much alphabet city. There were no ATM's everywhere, cell phones were very rare, everyone used public phones, & phone books. Which also meant people had to tell time with a watch, & rarely had synchronized exact time. In fact, people had a lot of… spare time.
No personal computers or e-mail's, there was a lot of leisure time… Which meant a lot more time for music. There were a lot more clubs to go to & people had more time to spend in them. And with all this extra time, people’s appreciation's of music were much more open. Tthey still had the patience to appreciate great music and when they liked something… they could generally go to the record store and find it. We're talking vinyl, something to hold in there hands & relate to… and without a magnifying glass!
How have you felt yourself, as an individual, a music lover, but also a collegue with your own nights, coming to learn that the Paradise Garage was to go to a definitive end?
All through the 80’s, when people were trying to find their musical directions, Larry Levan & The Paradise Garage always had a very clear path, and in it's 10 year run, for me and many others it had become the center of our musical universe. Then when the end came, it just seemed to everyone like a complete impossibility.
I've been said and I also read recent comments on the DHP forum about this sad experience which has been perceived as a trauma by a whole generation of clubbers. One comment?
It was traumatizing, makes you realize what an extreme privilege it was to be a part of it.
Is it to say, with the help of time going, that this has definitively marked the end of an era?
Clearly!
How would you define the latest?
There's always hope for the future, but this is clearly not the best time…
A less defined, in-between time.
The differences as compared to nowadays?
Unfortunately, if you weren't around to know the difference, then you might not even know what it is to have the music take you on a journey, really talking to you, make you feel like your trippin'... and without even any drugs or alcohol!
I remember the first time going to a club and just seeing a mirror ball actually impressed me!
Seems now with global-instant-gratification, there are a lot of people who have not yet even experienced any kind of club 1st hand, but are already completely jaded & unimpressed, With less clear paths for them to follow, and less time and patience… quite a handicap.
Would you be tempted to say that the strong link remaining to this period, apart from being synonymous with the said Happy Days to the ones in their 40’s/50’s nowadays, also comes from the fact the latest is seen as a pioneering era, a bit like the conquest of the West, with the fantasies that eventually come with?
Yes, I would.
I guess each of you at the time – from the Loft to the Paradise Garage and the list goes on, had their own crowd not to say fans. Where they any noticeable differences from ones to (an)other(s)?
By the time the Garage had come along, the Loft had already been around for some time, and with David's focus on a lower volume, audiophile type sound and no mixing, its core crowd seemed a bit more mature.
The Garage seemed more pumped up & intense, and by the 80's, its crowd seemed a bit younger... the next generation.
More than the Loft, the Garage, with the help of Frankie Crocker & WBLS, had a lot songs that clearly originated at the Garage and went on to a world popularity from there, really earning the tittle... Garage music.
They both had their differences... but seeing as it all seem to start at the Loft, there still were quite a lot of similarities too.
Eventually some rivalry like for instance betw the so called NYC and Jerzy cats as I've been able to read about here or there???
Garage! Garage! Garage! After a while, to some people I could see it starting to sound like “Marsha! Marsha! Marsha!”
One specific souvenir of yours in regards to the Paradise Garage?
Nothing seems quite significant enough… but if I need to point to one thing, I would say it's my original membership wrench from the original construction parties.
What makes a place to become a legend?
Something so great, it still lives on… even if only in peoples hearts & minds.
Was there a specific moto, like for instance at Paris’s famous Palace the founder of which, the late Fabrice Emaer made everything to get anyone havin’ the opportunity to feel like a star for 5 minutes while putting together a crowd made of anonymous mixed with well know people?
I never felt like there was an actual moto. Just a strong feeling of music & family… belonging.
What, according to you, makes the souvenir of this place so alive, not only to those who’ve been regulars at the time but much far beyond?
The Garage was an energizer, a positive motivator, a musical oasis… a piece of Paradise. A weekend escape from the city's fast pace & pressures. There's a lot of unique positivity and celebration stored up in these people.
The Zanz, but also the Factory Sound Bar, then Body & Soul and Shelter, not to mention the Loft are also considered as key elements of the History. What made them so special?The Loft was the blueprint for every thing that followed, and without it... there might of never been a Garage & so on. The same can be said for Zanzibar. Both Tony Humphies and Larry Levan were children of the Loft.
In the void of the Garage came Shelter, void of Shelter (1st run) came Sound Factory Bar, void of Sound Factory Bar came Body & Soul. I know you can't include every club, even though some were extremely important to the development to what followed. But in this paragraph, one you can't leave out is... the Gallery and Nicky Siano!
Like David and Larry, Nicky had a strong personality and a clear path and journey for his people to follow. Nicky was possibly the 1st superstar DJ, and one of the 1st DJ's to mix records together, a pretty new concept in 1971. And where Larry was a child of the Loft, it was at the Gallery, Larry got his 1st got the opportunity to mix.
The Gallery was more pumped up than the Loft, but still on a smaller scale than the Garage, seemed like the perfect link from the Loft to the Garage. Without it, the Garage might have seemed to severe a jump.
Anything that they had in common? If so, what?
Each in their own time, they've all been the center of attention for the NY area underground community since 1970 and share a common thread.
You're reknown for a long contribution in the history of nightclubbing. Is there a specific thing which has firmly inspired you from this place as far as your own activities are concerned?
Again, the Loft started it for me, and where David and the Loft was subtle and pure, Larry and the Garage were aggressive and dynamic and very moody. On Larry's worst day... and he had them, I was still very inspired. The Garage is where songs first really talked to me, as they still do today.
Is/could any of nowadays place to become like the tomorrow's Paradise Garage?
Nowadays there are DJ’s I really like... and respect, but what is really needed is someone who is going to really capture you... take you on that long journey... and not just in a night, but party to party.
Unfortunately, conditions today make for less freedom and adventure. I haven't met anyone recently with the level of talent & most important… the vision that is necessary. But there's always hope :)
There's a project of yours in regards to the 30th B-Day of the PG grand opening. Could you tell us a bit more?
I've done my share of Garage tributes, but it will be my first on the West Coast at a club called Pink in San Francisco. Mel Cherren is involved and I'm expecting a great party.
By the way, did you come yourself to the opening of the PG. If not, did you get any comment of this said memorable night?
I did go to the official opening night, but I had already been going to the construction parties the year before.
You’ve started your own 718 Sessions nighter a few weeks/months after Body & Soul had gone to the posterity. How have you felt at the time? And how have you felt while launching your own thang?Body & Soul, alongside Francois K and Joe Claussell was a very important part of my musical education. On a weekly basis, it was a completely unique & rewarding experience. When the weekly party ended @ club Vinyl, there was clearly a void. I love playing with Francois & Joe, but I also still enjoy playing on my own and setting my own direction. When 718 Sessions came to be shortly after B&S, it seemed quite natural for me.
The meaning of 718?
718 Sessions started in Brooklyn, & the telephone exchange there is 718. Seemed appropriate at the time, but a year later when the party moved to Manhattan, changing the name to 212 just didn't feel right, so 718 stuck.
Any 718 Sessions comp project in the pipeline?
Been talking about it this past year, Just a matter of time.
You (and I) are the results of the so called post World War II baby boom, this meaning we're a part of this generation reachin’ their 50’s nowadays. What keeps your faith alive?
Music! I still love music, and without it… you could probably count my age in dog years!!!
How is it to spin in front of people who might be your kids?
Very rewarding :)
What do suggest you those no less than 25 million inquiries in order to attend the Led Zeppelin reunion concert with only 4,000 entries made available?
It's Greek to me.
Quite opposite to nowadays’ situation as far as building a notoriety is concerned… One comment?
Changing times… can't live with it, can't live without it!
Could it be because today's production looks like disconnected to any social movement, such as funk, disco, rap (as suggested on Joel Schumacher’s famous Car Wash), then house (in the early daze) or jungle later on. Not to mention rock and punk???
Being disconnected is a real problem, but it seems like we're lacking in a whole tapestry of things that hold it all together, can't even predict where it's gonna end up.
How do you live/appreciate the current dematerialisation of the music?
I can appreciate the side of it that allows you more options & choices, but I really don't appreciate its substitution for vinyl, or the laziness it promotes.
Bit of a Pandora's box!!!
Do you see this as the definitive end of the golden era or the beginning of a brand new exciting one with the opportunity to reach new boundaries?
Really hard to say, I like to think positive & hope for a new beginning.
(*) the closing period of the PG
718 Sessions 5th Anniversary w. Danny Krivit, Sun. 10/07 @ Webster Hall – 125 11th St. NYC
30 Years Of Paradise Garage w. Danny Krivit, David Harness & Franky Boissy, Sat. 10/20 @ Pink - 2925 16th St. San Francisco, CA
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