Wanted: Memories Of The Pyramid Club, 1981-1985

Oh, I'll talk alright...
ABOUT THE TIME THAT YOU FIRED ME YOU MONSTER!!!!!!

Oh Hattie! What a choice project! I hope you get an amazing array of stories to choose from. The Pyramid has always fascinated me. Every time I've been there I'm completely overwhelmed with a thousand vibrations I can't begin to interpret and identify. I can't wait to read these stories!!!

Oh Oh Oh ... please, please, why did you fire Daddy??

I guess it would be mean to say "Tonya, ya have to buy the book!"

But there are (already) many more interesting stories. Let's just say I was the hatchet man and not the judge and jury (was there a jury?) And look at it this way: if I hadn't done it, "Anne Boleyn" Dynell might still be there, spinning at "1984"!

It's true.
Hattie was just the messenger (the only one still sober enough to dial a phone at 2 in the afternoon).
And it's also true, I would probably still be there playing the "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack if Hattie hadn't fired me.
(But not at "1984" thank you very much!)

You see, I was into this "Disco as Retro" thing, I LOVED Disco. The tackier the better. I used to wear these stretch Jordache jeans and blow my hair out like Denny Tario (He was the star of this TV show called "Dance Fever" and the man who taught John Travolta how to dance). I changed my name to "Johnny Dynell", this sort of plastic Las Vegas disco name. It was brilliant except that I was just a little bit too early. Disco wasn't even dead yet and I was trying to resurrect it. I just came off as some goofy guido from Staten Island.

And The Pyramid Club was VERY advanced. It was a brilliant group of people that would change the world. I just didn't really fit in at that time. New Wave was coming in and a young upstart DJ named "Sister Dimension" was playing it (to the joy of the East Village Saturday night crowd I must add).
Johnny Dynell had to go!

I HATED New Wave (and still do). It's just too wimpy. The Smiths, Joy Division, Morrisey all that crap made me puke. It just wasn't great art like K.C. And The Sunshine Band!

So that's the story Tonya.
Actually, it's not really that interesting as Hattie said. Just another day at The Pyramid Club. There were MANY MANY real scandals to come so you all should really buy the book.

Of course I got the Jordache thing. I had even seen Johnny around before the Pyramid opened in those things and thought, "Well, how brilliant!" The thing you have to realize Tonya is that the only retro thing going on at that point really was about the '50s! So Johnny, the hair, the jeans, the Danny Terrio-without-the-coke, really stood out in the crowd! The only people sporting that look then were the most clueless of the clueless, and the most petrified of porn stars-- which was exactly the send up, of course.

Nonetheless, Lizzie Borden Hathaway took an axe...

Or was it Elsie?

Yup, that's me on the couch.

I DJed at Pyramid too, in 1981. I have also always hated new wave music. I was playing funk, early hip hop, soca, 60's go go music and stuff like that. I was hired after I came with John Sex to DJ and set the mood for his show.

Bobby Bradley fired me, supposedly for not playing new wave. But I think the real reason was that I had just quit Pulsallama, so there was no way the band was going to play the Pyramid. (The whole time I was there, he kept asking me to get Pulsallama to play there. I kept explaining that the stage was too small, but he never remembered and asked again every week.)

Thank you Pops.
Yes, I think it was Bobby Bradley who was also behind MY DJ demise. He kept asking me to play New Wave. I just couldn't.

We've always had a very similar asthetic Pops.
But you are MUCH MUCH sicker!

I loved New Wave but I missed it! I got here in '87 just after everyone stopped playing it. In '96 0r '97 I would occasionally see these new kids showing up in giant club kid shoes looking for a scene that has dissolved after You-Know-Who went to jail. I knew how they felt.

As Francesca (the infamous sex-change beauty from Studio 54) told me...
"Disco is out, New Wave is in. We only listen to New Wave now".
Of course this was in like 1987 when, as Miss Understood pointed out, the New Wave scene was over.
What she was reacting to was the revolution caused single-handedly by The Pyramid Queens. "Uptown" was out and "Downtown" was definitely in. It really was a revolution.

It was the end of the eighties. One depressing Sunday night in Edelweis Hattie was tending bar, and I was complaining about the poor quality of the trannie chasers. When it was so close to the old 42nd St. they were particularly scuzzie. Hattie said "I think you might like a club I know about," or something to that effect. One night I went down to Pyramid and saw Blacklips, and realized I wasn't crazy after all. I was awed. Wendy wouldn't let me pay for drinks, and no one-absolutely no one- made fun of my half-assed suburban matron drag outfits.

No Morgan, we DID make fun of your half-assed suburban matron outfits!
Behind your back.


just kidding.
You were genius right out of the box.

And thank you Morgan...
I forgot that Hattie used to bartend at Edelweis!

Please don't leave me out ! I've been lost but i found myself in Beijing 8 yrs. ago. I've cronc. the club scene here and have been dj-ing beijings biggest hio hop club bla bla bla... Don't forget about me !
The Pyramid .... as a whole scene in itself ...saved my sanity. I was hired by ( forgot his name) as stage and tech. person. but 2 days later he wanted me to be a bar dancer. it was then as i told him "that's not for me" ..that "hattie" after hearing the news...came to me and said... "don't worry..you're NOT going anywhere!" a week later,, they bought out the rights to the club or name and the rest is fuckin history ! If Hattie and Sista D. did not take over the CLUB's FUTURE.... That whole scene would have swirled into a Crack TOOT and SpeedBall haven. I came in the winter of 82 (from 8bc) which was of course a whole nother story for some other time. The PYRAMID was and still is (in my heart) The Greatest club microcosom scene of it's time. The later yrs. just as interesting ! Sorry for "the yawning" during some of the 1000's of shows i tech.'ed thoughout my 7 yrs. but .... Had i not SEEN it with my own eyes.... I could not have known the influence it would have on so many sucessful artists from That time. I loved ALL the STAFF i worked with (except maybe..??) WIGSTOCK .... oh my god ! look what that did for Tasteful / Tasteless ART (with or without Hair) !

Please.... don't forgot me ... i had 2 weeks to live when i got taken off the streets by the cops and put into a drug program in 94 ... i survived to spread the word to CHINA ... ART/MUSIC saved my life ! The Pyramid was my TEMPLE of LOVE, My saving grace , my downfall (when nothing compared) and my re-birth when i realized ..... IT will Never Happen again.
The last thing is ...please contact me (any staff member or performer) ... If you'd like to do shows in China .... Say hi. I have massive documention on The Club scene here in Beijing + some things that wern't stolen during my street yrs. of that time. This is in Memory of my Brother DAVID CROCKER (stage/mc/lighting) whom i loved more dearly than anyone in this world. We had countless hours on the couch (in the tech.room) backstage ...goofing on all the silly shows ... funky attitudes and overall gayness of the scene that "MELTED TOGETHER" DISCO,HOUSE,PUNK,HARDCORE,PERFORMANCE ART,ATL.,fILMS,MEDIA & all the rest.... i've never seen since and it's my model for my future club here ! Dana Southern (Sound/lights/mc/dj/stage/performance artist..pyramid 1982 - 89

Bobby Bradley... that's who hired me. That fuck almost got me BOOTED. I'll always owe you for hat hattie.

David Tritt... What was the main topic of our "tech room chats" i'll remind you ....PUSSY..(who,what,when,where,why & how) next...it was "do u have any drugs"...i really need a dooooobie ! Except for 1 or 2 other tech staff (we were all stright ... no matter HOW much pressure from countless offerings of free sex by the same sex) am i an asshole to say such things ?) We had a great tech crew ...ie josh ,ralph(wolf), chris clem.,craig O., Crocker, mr Ratt(at rat r) ! we had our own LOCKED room (which impressed the ladied greatly) Bernard n Lewis would even check in on us. They got most of the pussy(fact) ... ray-be's (rest in peace) ... Murphy's law ... gwar (1st nyc show at the pyramid) .... There wasn't any other club that had so many staff from so many different lifestyles. Anyone hear from Craig or chris clem ? german Wolf(ralph)... i did some shows at limelight and he was doing lights. we blew a splief and i never saw him again. ????

well.... if no one is saying hi ..... i'll go back.

quote:

we were all straight ... no matter HOW much pressure from countless offerings of free sex by the same sex

Well you all were the best looking tech staff on the planet-- what did you expect?

But seriously, everyone really loved you guys because you could take a piece of gaffers tape, a bit of mylar, a clip light, and a bent bobby pin from Bunny's wig and run a show that was technically flawless!

BTW I emailed you privately, Dana, I hope you check your Yahoo! account.

Excuse the gift for gabbing (i'll be good)

It's nice to know.....that however small our "tech budget" was ..we were able to present a "multi media event" nightly using 'cardboard,broken 8mm & slide projectors, "a sealed beam pin spot" as a followspot and 3 mirror balls. I was shocked to see that here in China ... they are clueless to "inventive ideas" The clubs i've worked at here don't have professional staff. They press one button and the lights never stop. Nothing gets CLEANED (we were always cleaning equipment ) That's why "the tech budget could stay so low end) Look what Creig did for the sound system ! He was great to work with. last thing .... Rat at rat r ... at the cat club .... gigi alen opens the show .... Lights himself on fire ... club is cleared ... boss is raving mad .... 1 hour later rat at rat r hits the stage .... as their soundman (many times) i thought that was their Greatest show ! You guys rocked. d

Hey Dana, sorry I haven't been on to say hi.

The tech at Pyramid was amazing. You and David Crocker worked Miracles with NOTHING! I learned a lot from you guys. (I'm totally serious!) When we built JACKIE 60 and MOTHER, The Pyramid Club was our template. Especially in terms of staging, lights and sound. JACKIE 60 was always about performance (in a bathroom or on stage). Sometimes there were no working toilets but there were ALWAYS lights on stage.

I remember doing sound checks with you guys at The Pyramid. You were as professional as The Paradise Garage, and that's saying a lot. The sound and lights were always flawless.
(well, usually pretty good if it was early enough in the night before you all got too high).
I know that you went on to work at The Palladium, the complete opposite of Pyramid. Great tech because of lots of money.
But you should be very proud (and I know that you are) of your days at The Pryamid. She will go down as a groundbreaking moment in New York City herstory. And it's because of the performances that happened there.

Oh, and I want to go to China.