"Blue light of dawn"
the blue light
of dawn
will always remind me of Chicago.
sitting on the fire escape
of Mel Hammond's 4 story walk
up apartment
off lake street,
looking towards the loop,
and into the blue light
of the pre dawn of the
east,
building drum beats on the mpc,
all night long
after a night in the clubs
where we danced
and
left wet with sweat and inspiration,
Getting cornered in the dawn of
an afterhours party
by Jevon Jackson
- us both high
('extactic' actually) on house music
and music passion,
he saying to me;
"I
don't make music, I play music.
I need you musicians to make deep music,
good music - so that I can have
deep and good music to play,
so go deeper."
Lady D pregnant with Mason,
D.j. ing at 3:30 am,
her round belly brushing the mixer,
me thinking of something my mother said,
"I used to pat your butt in
time with the music
when you were young, I read that mothers
in Africa would do that to their children
to
teach them the rhythms."
Mason, now born, is already dancing.
Mel, Lady D and Jevon
introduced me
to chicago house music,
it changed me.
Music became something more
than just songs,
it became feeling
and emotion.
Aberdeen basement,
with condensation on the ceiling,
the rattle of lose screws in the bass
bins,
the crackle of phonograph needles
on favorite records,
speakers pulsing and fluttering in the sound waves,
bodies jumping and yelling,
heads bouncing and concentrated faces.
hands held up into the air,
or one hand
over your face,
the other on a friend's shoulder
when things got good and subconcious.
every friend greeted
with a hug.
you could be free to lose your mind,
for a night - release the day,
get down deep inside your self,
freaky as you wanna be,
if you got too high -
someone would look out after you,
we were all there for the
same reason,
to get deeper,
to see eachother,
a congregation of a culture
free to be,
encouraged
to set it free,
gay,
straight,
black,
white,
brown,
drugs,
no drugs,
no judgement.
sleeping all day,
out all night,
coming home,
body tired,
heart happy,
in the blue light
of dawn.
