Contents:
- GAY BLACK MEN HELPED CREATE EDM. WHY DO STRAIGHT WHE MEN DOMATE IT?
- DANCE PRI: THE GAY ORIGS OF DANCE MIC
GAY BLACK MEN HELPED CREATE EDM. WHY DO STRAIGHT WHE MEN DOMATE IT?
Boiler Room teams up wh IsBurng, an famo gay party thrown by Charl Vals which draws om throwback LGBTQ culture om the dis era. The nearly six-hour Friday night event spotlights queer artists and alli like Octo Octa, Tia and many more whose nam have bee synonymo wh legendary “gay” club nights worldwi (you n relive the magic of ADE: Boiler Room x IsBurng s entirety at). Already a distguished producer, DJ, saxophonist, songwrer, sger and Camp Kulabunga Counselor, GRiZ add a new moniker to his list when he me out as gay a sweet and very ndid letter to The Huffgton Post the summer of 2016 (he now nsirs the disclosure “jt a dope si-note”).
The men playg were, like Dunson and many other atten that night, young, black and gay. Wh a thrillg soundtrack, the gay men populatg the dancefloor uld eely exprs themselv. “Beg ostracized as black, gay kids, ” says Dunson, founr/print of the Frankie Knuckl Foundatn, which works to prerve Knuckl’ legacy and support his , “this felt like a place where we uld be who we were while beg protected om the judgments of society.
The Warehoe “was a haven for the gay muny, which also turned to the heterosexual muny, bee the gay kids were vg their heterosexual iends who were dyg to e .
DANCE PRI: THE GAY ORIGS OF DANCE MIC
From Knuckl and pany Chigo to fellow hoe novators David Manco and Larry Levan New York, dance mic’s roots the gay club scen of the late ’70s and early ’80s are well documented. Gay men, and particularly gay men of lor, are wily creded wh creatg hoe mic and plantg the seeds of the many genr that have evolved om . While unrground LGBTQ-oriented clubs ntue trendsettg major ci, the most visible and lucrative rnatns of the scene they created, gay and black artists are the mory.
At the same time, the AIDS crisis was alg a blow to the worldwi gay dance scene, curbg s unbridled celebratn and sexual adventurons. Meanwhile, gay club culture ntu evolvg (and out of) the unrground. “I don’t feel the mastreamg of dance mic has had a signifint effect on gay dance clubs, ” says veteran journalist Michael Mto, who has been verg club culture sce the ’90s.