I Survived Disco - Again

Saturday morning rolled inexorably toward me, and it was time for another Breakfast in Babbage, with His DJness, the Duke of Argyll, Edward Pearse. Or at least that's what I thought. But he looked...different:

The white suit, wide lapels, shirt open to the waist, large pendant, and all that chest hair could mean only one thing: yes, disco.

My typist was in junior high school during disco's heyday, so I dodged the tsunami of dance-friendly bass lines, cheezy synthesizers, and feel-good lyrics, though I was hit with a few smaller waves. As I commented on Saturday, I owned Rick Dees' "Disco Duck" on cassette tape (and no, not 8-track, as some whippersnapper suggested), along with "A Fifth of Beethoven," by Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band. To this day, I can't hear "dah-dah-dah-daaaaa" without hearing the disco beat kick in afterward. Medication has helped, though.

Below, Miss Bookworm Hienrichs and Miss Grace Toussaint.


Speaking of whippersnappers, Miss Toussaint commented that disco was something else to hold against her parents' generation. Ouch! I certainly felt old!

Mr. Pearse dug deep in his closet to find the musical equivalent of platform shoes and glitter balls to find such classics as the disco Star Wars theme, "Stayin' Alive," "Can't Stop the Music," "Play that Funky Music White Boy," "Dancing Queen," and Hot Butter's "Popcorn."

Below, Mr. Elilka Sieyes and Miss Breezy Carver, looking very Studio 54:


Beyond the, er, classics, Mr. Pearse found some more obscure cuts, including the Hee Bee Gee Bees with "Meaningless Songs (in Very High Voices)," a priceless Bee Gees parody (and apparently big in Australia). And what Breakfast in Babbage would be complete without a Weird Al song; this time the Master graced us with "I Lost on Jeopardy."


I do my best Travolta move:


The 'Fro Twins, Mr. Blackberry Harvey and Mr. Jimmy Branagh, the latter looking like Huey from "The Boondocks," had Huey been born about thirty years earlier.


The era certainly gave us a lot of catchy tunes!


See the entire set of twenty-odd photos from the event here . Miss Hienrichs' photos can be seen here.