My Life and The Paradise Garage : Keep On Dancin' [Hardcover]

Mel Cheren (Author), Gabriel Rotello (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2000

Keep on Dancin' is the story of the rise and fall of the legendary Paradise Garage, the underground disco that was ruled by the greatest DJ of all time and rivaled only by Studio 54 in its soulful and decadent magnificence. Set against the passionate love affair of two men who would both eventually rate as two of New York City's greatest style and scene makers, the story traces the hypnotic birth of disco, the Garage inspired technical innovations that changed the music industry, the erotic life of gay New York and the devastating rise of AIDS. What started out as a whisper of an idea between lovers - Garage owner Michael Brody and financial backer Mel Cheren - eventually culminated into a dance palace that existed for more than a decade and is still spoken about with reverence. Keep on Dancin' gives hundreds of private recollections from the people who were there: Tom Moulton, Francois Kevorkian, Grace Jones, Thelma Houston, Frankie Knuckles, Junior Vasquez and others help recreate the moment when love was the message.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

"Nothing happens by accident," Cheren repeats like a mantra in unwitting tribute to his own survival. The "godfather of disco" is one of the few left who remembers the innocent yet repressed pre-Stonewall New York of the 1960s, the orgiastic heyday of disco of the Seventies, and the deluge of AIDS that swept it away in the Eighties. This is the stuff of two decades of gay history, but Cheren (with Rotello) redeems the familiar material with his unsparing candor and forthright energy. As a founder of the influential West End Records, Cheren was present at the creation of disco, and his glimpses into the recording industry are fascinating. Despite a tendency to telegraph future events too emphatically, he evokes the sleazy glamour of disco precisely, with its symbiotic relationships to drugs and gay sexuality, culminating in the brainchild of Cheren's ex-lover Michael Brody: the fabled Paradise Garage disco. Recommended for libraries with large gay studies and pop music collections.
Richard J. Violette, Special Libs. Cataloguing, Victoria, BC
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Stonewall. Gay Liberation. The early days of disco. The Paradise Garage. AIDS. House Music. Finally, a New York Story that is captivating, intriguing, and educational. The sights and sounds of Manhattan will never be the same." -- Michael Paoletta, Dance Music Editor, Billboard Magazine.

"This book is about the every night fever of disco in the 1970s, the splendors and miseries of the A-List-and the brilliant social and musical innovations of Mel Cheren, fantasy impresario of that delirious epoch." -- Edmund White, author of The Farewell Symphony

... details the makings of modern dance music ina tangle of friendships, aesthetic imperatives, business deals and sexual liasons. -- The New York Times

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 495 pages
• Publisher: 24 Hours for Life (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967899400
• ISBN-13: 978-0967899404
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,459,620 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Life & His Life and Garage:Yes I damned sure danced!, August 11, 2000

By 

Dawnie Echevez (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Life and The Paradise Garage : Keep On Dancin' (Hardcover)

Mr. Cheren's book brought back profoundly beautiful moments in my life. I remember the first time I tried to get in the Garage someone passed me a little wrench and I a female tried to get in with no luck.In retrospect I now realize there were many people vying to get in and even though it might've been difficult to get in this was not giving Studio 54... this was even bigger & better to those waiting. Keep On Dancin' relives a time when there was hope, fun, love and carefree living before the onslaught of AIDS and the Giuliani ad- ministration. It brought back times before the Village, Soho, Tribeca became polluted with intense gentrification (before the market rents were artificially manipulated for greedy landlords). Those of us who enjoyed dancing and listening to Larry could not wait for Saturday (or Friday for some). Also, where else could you see Patti LaBelle perform for over an hour and not be in a concert venue (or see Grace Jones, or Two Tons of Fun, or Jennifer Holliday, etc). Mr. Cheren's book made me both smile and feel sad at the same time. I smiled because it was factually correct and I am glad the time was documented & I felt sad when I realized that there will never ever be a place or time like that again! This was a great book, I enjoyed it from the beginning to the end!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mixed feelings. (Please read the *whole* review!), September 18, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: My Life and The Paradise Garage : Keep On Dancin' (Hardcover)

I must admit that I have very mixed feelings about this book.

While reading it, I never thought it was that great a read, and still now I feel the writing style is a bit simple, and also that there are a few anecdotes too many where the author pats his own back. No doubt has Mel Cheren had quite a bit of an impact on the disco/dance scene, but he should have left the praising of his persona to other people...

On the other hand, I feel there are some VERY IMPORTANT points and topics in this book, in some cases maybe requiring a bit of reading between the lines:

The rise and fall of Disco - the music, the clubs, etc. - I'm a DJ myself, and I can clearly see parallels happening in todays' (2001) Dance Music scene. "It's all just a little bit of history repeating..."

The other big thing that hit me like a hammer was all the tragedies described that happened because of AIDS. Apart from being about parties, clubbing, drugs and so on - this book to me was also an important contribution towards my awareness of AIDS. I don't think I've ever been as aware of the issue as after reading this book.

I think that in a way this publication also is a good description of the Yin/Yang principle: in every bad thing there is something good, and in every good thing there is something bad. For all the fantastic drug- and sex-parties the people in this book have experienced, they did pay a very high price. The ones who died and also the ones who survived.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing Happens By Accident!, August 24, 2000

By 

KJC (East Orange, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Life and The Paradise Garage : Keep On Dancin' (Hardcover)

This book was written with a lot of strength, courage and a lot of love. It was a touching tribute to friendship, loves lost and found. I laughed, cried got angry and was filled with so much emotion. Mel truly shared his experiences and life lessons and the lessons that one can and should learn about life. I truly loved this book. Thank you Mel.....For telling a story that needed to be told....You are so very right that "Nothing Happens By Accident" I intend to read it again!.......Big Fan!