to be organized by Ohio's favorite son...Michael Toth
My friends and I are making plans for a follow-up to last summer's "Enoch
Light Birthday-a-Go-Go Discotheque Dance Party," which we held at a small
bar in Enoch's birthplace of Canton, Ohio. We're aiming to do the
"memorial birthday happening" again on the Saturday (8/16/97) closest to
the late EL's birthday (8/18), with the following new angle:
Enoch was born in Canton, and then moved out to traverse the continents,
spreading his music wherever he went. Just like Enoch the man, Enoch the
party, born in Canton, leaves his birthplace to travel the world with his
music! Presenting...the first Enoch Light INTERNATIONAL Birthday-a-Go-Go
Discotheque Dance Party, happening simultaneously (give or take time
zones) on one night in cities across the globe!
Here's the scoop: so far we've got Cleveland, Ohio and Edinburgh,
Scotland (home of Robbie Baldock of the EL Spaced Out Web site), so,
technically, we've already met the qualifications for an international
event. But to make it REALLY cool, we'd love to get as many of these
going on in as many cities as possible. If you (or someone without Net
access you know that you can tell about this) DJ the sort of music on
this list in your locale, and you've got the records (the Enoch Light
Discotheque LPs plus other upbeat EL and/or other Discotheque/Go-Go LPs
to fill up an evening), we encourage you to join in the fun. The theme
we're shooting for is more toward the mod, danceable stuff than
EZ/Lounge. (It's scary how increasingly *trendy* this mid-60s mod thing
has gotten since last August, with everything from Austin Powers to those
Hullaballoo/Shindig-esque Beck videos, etc.)
We will help with promotion in the following ways, but all other
promotion and logistics of pulling off the event are totally up to you:
- A central event Web site, with a listing of your city/venue
- A cool 11"x17" poster and 8.5"x11" event flier with your city/venue information featured prominently and all the other cities/venues and the Web URL listed at the bottom; I'll send you master copies from which you can print/photocopy as many as you need
- If you have the budget for it, I've also got a set of 100 incredible-looking slides (done right with a copy stand) of Enoch and related Command/Project3/etc. covers to fill a slide carousel and run continuously all night on auto-advance. They add fabulously to the mod ambience when projected on walls, screens, go-go dancers, etc. If you're interested in a set for yourself, I can provide one for essentially the cost of slide duplication and shipping. (Last I checked, slide duplication around here averages a dollar per slide)
A self-proclaimed "technogeek" friend of mine has volunteered to set up a
live Partycam at the Cleveland event, which will update every few seconds
and post to the Web. If anyone else is interested in doing other live Web
stuff (Real Audio, etc.) and you have the capabilities, let me know.
For more biographical info on Light (and a scrapbook from last year's
party), check out Spaced Out - the Enoch Light WWW Site.
For more on Enoch, the Discotheque genre and my particular fascination
with it, also be sure to check out my article in the new issue of Dana
Countryman's COOL & STRANGE MUSIC! MAGAZINE.
E-mail me if you want in on the international synergistic fun or have any
other questions,
-- Michael David Toth