No it had changed. It had changed drastically. It was a completely different crowd. I mean the first time a marathon was played at the Warehouse, I did that, I instrumented that. Ron Hardy was still in LA. He didnt know what the fuck that was. By the time I was leaving there they were trying to get him to come over there and play. He came to me and asked me how did I feel about it. I told him I really think you should go ahead and do it. But go in there with your eyes open and your mind sharp, and dont let them offer you things you can get yourself. Go in there, make sure that when it comes to everything it takes to make you comfortable in there they give you. Dont work with a half-assed sound system. Dont have them offer you drugs and this that and the other when you can just as easily go out and buy your own. tell them this is what you want and this is how much money you want and this is what you need in order to do your job here. This was my advice to Ron, so they would never have him in a position where they can have him over a barrel. I saw that happen to too many friends of mine.
Who else was important to the scene in like 84, 85 How important was the radio, the Hot Mix 5?
Well OK I was a part of the Hot Mix 5 too, and I didnt necesasarily like it. I was with them for about a year. everybody that was on that team, they had egos beyond, beyond out there. It was ridiculous. Everybodys head was so big. And it was alright, I mean they were all riding around in their fancy cars and they had their gold jewels dripped all over them and all of this. And thats fine.
They wanted me to be a part of the team that in all actuality I had nothing in common with. I mean the four of them Farley and Julian, Frankie Hollywood, and who else? not Ralphie, but... But anyway I had nothing in common with them. I had probably the most successful underground club in the city; the only underground club in the city to be honest with you, and it was the most successful. And with me being a part of that team and making tapes and being on the radio it lent a lot of credibility to the show.
Was it easier to break records from the radio or from the club?
Its easier to break them from the club, but anybody whos making records wanted their song to be on the radio. So automatically with those guys, they played all these one off gigs all over the city, and with the exposure from the radio station, there was always a lot of hype behind those guys wherever they go. So it drew a lot of people out there. I wasnt interested in that. I had the Warehouse, I had the Powerplant. I had my own club, so anytime I would get booked out to play anywhere else it would usually bring out more paople than anyone expected. But I didnt run myslef around like that all the time.
So I used to get accused of not being a team player. And when I broke it down to them I said look I dont have anything in common with you guys. I mean plus out of all of them being the only one thats gay, didnt help matters any. But none of them would attack me to my face. None of them were man enough to attack me to my face. They would say stuff behind my back about my lifestyle and my being gay, but theyd never come to me and say it.
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In your opinion what were the things that came together to create house music?
Im not exactly sure. And Im being absolutely sincere. Im not exactly sure. Because when it looked like things were about to take off, I guess in 85, 86 I came her to New York with Rocky Jones and the whole DJ International thing. And for that New Music Seminar that summer. And there were a lot of British press that were here, trying to chase down the story of the whole house music boom. And my name kept popping up. And when I came here that summer for the conference all of a sudden I was being chased down by all these journalists. they said well we know you got the right story.
It really freaked me out at first and I wouldnt talk to that many people. So eventually what happened was they followed us back to Chicago. They got in town and I would take them out and show them around, show them everywhere and what was happening and who was doing what. Whereas everybody else wasnt that readily interested or available. And that was Rockys game plan, to try and keep some kind of mystique, or some type of mystery. Oh please!!
When they came up to Chicago I would take them round, show them where the Warehouse was, and theyd come to the Powerplant and hang out. I took them to the Music Box. I took them everywhere. But there was always a lot of conflict going on. You had people like Rocky Jones and Larry Sherman, who was capitalizing on the music of all these young kids, and not giving them a cent.
When I was working with Jamie, his whole thing was to have something out there quick, but I wanted to have something out there quick. I knew producing would do the right thing for me, but I also knew we had to take our time if we wanted to do this. because see Im not in this for the moment, Im in this for the long haul, and if you dont have the patience to sit there and wait well you should just go ahead and do what you gotta do. And then what eventually happened was, with all the stuff that I worked on with him, he eventually just kind of jumped ship with me and ran and got together with this management company Freddie Rodriguo (?) and those people, and they filled his head with all kinds of foolishness that I was out to use him, and take advantage of him,
and not do anything to help him. And he believed all that. Him and Stevie Hurley, and all the rest of them. Which is how he managed to suck all of them in.
But I happened to see how they were dealing with all the artists. I saw how they used Marshall Jefferson and On The House, after those guys had been on tour for like three months, and gave them not a dime. They were out there working every night and he gave them not a dime.
Now thats not gonna happen to me. So they caught themselves trying to blacklist me in Chicago, and tell me that I will never play in Chicago again. This is the end of 86, beginning of 87. I was like you people dont have the power to do that. You can believe it if you want but you dont have the power to do that. You can tell people what the hell you want to tell them. I know who my crowd is.
What was your best night in Chicago?
I had a lot of them.
