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I did not know this about Larry Levan

white_teawhite_tea 3,262 Posts
edited December 2011 in Strut Central
From Ministry of Sound founder Justin Berkmann:
"Well, there was never a quiet moment when he was around, let's face it. He was quite a character. There's no question that when he arrived in the airport with no records, it was a rather interesting to figure out what he was going to play. No, he didn't have any. He just didn't have any. He didn't own any records. He would sell them on a regular basis. Apparently friends of his would be going to car-boot [rummage] sales and find records that were his and go around and give them back to him and he would sell them again. He didn't have any particular connection or any emotional attachment to his vinyl, and to be honest, having gone through that 24 hours with him, it's understandable. He didn't really need it. He had maybe gone beyond that point where he didn't need any connection to the music, he could just create it through being Larry, I guess."

From this NPR story.

  Comments

  • GrandfatherGrandfather 2,303 Posts
    I heard this on my drive home yesterday. So crazy if its true.
  • TheKindCromangTheKindCromang 1,463 Posts
    From Ministry of Sound founder Justin Berkmann:

    He didn't have any particular connection or any emotional attachment to his vinyl, and to be honest, having gone through that 24 hours with him, it's understandable. He didn't really need it. He had maybe gone beyond that point where he didn't need any connection to the music, he could just create it through being [del]Larry[/del]The Kind Cromang, I guess."

    :get_on_my_level:
  • neil_somethingneil_something 993 Posts
    I've heard a version of that story before - that he regularly sold his records to pay for drugs leaving his friends to scour the second-hand stalls and markets to try and track them down again.

    I can't vouch for the accuracy, however.
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    Heard the story on the radio.
    I think the story was on because there is a new book.
  • Bon VivantBon Vivant The Eye of the Storm 2,018 Posts
    neil_something said:
    I've heard a version of that story before - that he regularly sold his records to pay for drugs leaving his friends to scour the second-hand stalls and markets to try and track them down again.

    I can't vouch for the accuracy, however.

    That's some hardcore enabling.
  • DuderonomyDuderonomy Haut de la Garenne 7,794 Posts
    Didn't Hendrix do the same thing selling his guitar for money just before a gig so his mates would have to go and buy it back for him to play?
  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,960 Posts
    Duderonomy said:
    Didn't Hendrix do the same thing selling his guitar for money just before a gig so his mates would have to go and buy it back for him to play?

    He was copying Charlie Parker.

    My old Religion teacher at school (it was a Catholic school) once said she idolised Jimi until she met him and he stunk of vomit.

    In every aspect of her life, her grasp of reality proved very fragile.
  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,960 Posts
    Serious doe, surely no-one is better-placed to pull off the musical equivalent of The Emperor's New Clothes than the Big Name DJ in this day and age? I mean, man could play the entire hastily-gripped 50p section and headz would not dare to question.
  • DuderonomyDuderonomy Haut de la Garenne 7,794 Posts
    J i m s t e r said:


    My old Religion teacher at school (it was a Catholic school) once said she idolised Jimi until she met him and he stunk of vomit.

    Uhmm, was this after he was found dead?
  • FlomotionFlomotion 2,391 Posts
    From Ministry of Sound founder Justin Berkmann:

    "Well, there was never a quiet moment when he was around, let's face it. He was quite a character. There's no question that when he arrived in the airport with no records, it was a rather interesting to figure out what he was going to play. No, he didn't have any. He just didn't have any. He didn't own any records. He would sell them on a regular basis. Apparently friends of his would be going to car-boot [rummage] sales and find records that were his and go around and give them back to him and he would sell them again. He didn't have any particular connection or any emotional attachment to his vinyl, and to be honest, having gone through that 24 hours with him, it's understandable. He didn't really need it. He had maybe gone beyond that point where he didn't need any connection to the music, he could just create it through being Larry, I guess."

    From this NPR story.

    That rings true - a friend brought him over to London for a party and not only did he borrow all the vinyl he played that night he did the whole thing with just a handful of records, including a couple of copies of the Salsoul Orchestra S/T album. And he still sounded like you'd always hoped Larry Levan would do.
  • RAW_HAMBURGERRAW_HAMBURGER 1,438 Posts
    also, some of the mixes he got credit for.......were not his.
  • MurdockMurdock 542 Posts
    RAW_HAMBURGER said:
    also, some of the mixes he got credit for.......were not his.


    Which ones?
  • PATXPATX 2,820 Posts
    Duderonomy said:
    J i m s t e r said:


    My old Religion teacher at school (it was a Catholic school) once said she idolised Jimi until she met him and he stunk of vomit.

    Uhmm, was this after he was found dead?

    Not so fast... he was getting whiteys for a bit before the big one. Quite a few years ago I was sat on a chair in a flat in EC1 and the dude who lived there said "Jimmy Hendrix puked up in the basement and then passed out in that chair". And it happened in 69. True story.
  • The_NonThe_Non 5,691 Posts
    From Ministry of Sound founder Justin Berkmann:

    "Well, there was never a quiet moment when he was around, let's face it. He was quite a character. There's no question that when he arrived in the airport with no records, it was a rather interesting to figure out what he was going to play. No, he didn't have any. He just didn't have any. He didn't own any records. He would sell them on a regular basis. Apparently friends of his would be going to car-boot [rummage] sales and find records that were his and go around and give them back to him and he would sell them again. He didn't have any particular connection or any emotional attachment to his vinyl, and to be honest, having gone through that 24 hours with him, it's understandable. He didn't really need it. He had maybe gone beyond that point where he didn't need any connection to the music, he could just create it through being Larry, I guess."

    From this NPR story.

    That rings true - a friend brought him over to London for a party and not only did he borrow all the vinyl he played that night he did the whole thing with just a handful of records, including a couple of copies of the Salsoul Orchestra S/T album. And he still sounded like you'd always hoped Larry Levan would do.
    Just give me dubs of Salsoul Orchestra, a line of coke, a vocoder, vocal tracks from Pat Lundy, a rubber band, and two thumbtacks and watch me KILL THIS SHIT!
  • FlomotionFlomotion 2,391 Posts
    From Ministry of Sound founder Justin Berkmann:

    "Well, there was never a quiet moment when he was around, let's face it. He was quite a character. There's no question that when he arrived in the airport with no records, it was a rather interesting to figure out what he was going to play. No, he didn't have any. He just didn't have any. He didn't own any records. He would sell them on a regular basis. Apparently friends of his would be going to car-boot [rummage] sales and find records that were his and go around and give them back to him and he would sell them again. He didn't have any particular connection or any emotional attachment to his vinyl, and to be honest, having gone through that 24 hours with him, it's understandable. He didn't really need it. He had maybe gone beyond that point where he didn't need any connection to the music, he could just create it through being Larry, I guess."

    From this NPR story.

    That rings true - a friend brought him over to London for a party and not only did he borrow all the vinyl he played that night he did the whole thing with just a handful of records, including a couple of copies of the Salsoul Orchestra S/T album. And he still sounded like you'd always hoped Larry Levan would do.
    Just give me dubs of Salsoul Orchestra, a line of coke, a vocoder, vocal tracks from Pat Lundy, a rubber band, and two thumbtacks and watch me KILL THIS SHIT!

    Ha! Larry Levan > The A Team
  • Sweet_PremiumSweet_Premium 368 Posts
    Murdock said:
    RAW_HAMBURGER said:
    also, some of the mixes he got credit for.......were not his.


    Which ones?

    Instant funk - I got my mind made up

    From Tim Lawrence article on Walter Gibbons:

    As his twelve-inch work unfolded, Gibbons also blended the Salsoul Orchestra's Greatest Disco Hits: Music for Non-Stop Dancing (Salsoul, 1978), and was co-credited (along with Tom Moulton and Jim Burgess) for compiling Salsoul's Saturday Night Disco Party (Salsoul, 1978) ??? a significant level of album work within a market that had yet to come up with the CD-friendly idea of having DJs record album-length mixes of their own selections. But at the end of the year Gibbons began to distance himself explicitly from the disco scene when, having come close to completing a remix of Instant Funk "I Got My Mind Made Up" for Ken Cayre, he decided he did not want to be associated with the song's flagrantly sexual lyrics and asked the Salsoul head for the song to be rewritten. When Cayre refused the request, Gibbons agreed that Levan (who had remixed just one record, the unremarkable Cookie Monster & the Girls "C Is For Cookie") should finish off the job as well as receive credit for the entire mix.

    "I worked for weeks on the record," remembers Bob Blank, who engineered the sessions. "Walter started on the mix but then refused to carry on because he became very religious. I remember him saying very specifically, 'I really don't think I'm going to be working on this record anymore.'" With Gibbons out of the studio, Blank continued to develop the remix with the assistance of Levan. "Larry was brought in after we had worked on this record forever," notes the engineer. "Larry basically had very little input on 'I Got My Mind Made Up'. All the groundwork had been done and he only came in for a few hours. But it was Larry who made the nine-minute version. It was never nine minutes before he came in." Denise Chatman confirms Gibbons had a change of heart during the recording process. "Walter's whole being was taken over by something else during the remix of 'I Got My Mind Made Up' and that made Kenny very, very nervous," she says. "Walter became very judgemental of everybody around him ??? he was against any kind of cursing ??? and he became very uncomfortable with the material." Having stretched the boundaries of remix culture to breaking point, Gibbons went a step too far. "Walter asked Kenny to change the lyrics and there was no way that was going to happen," adds Chatman. "I told Walter he was being totally unrealistic. Kenny then went with Larry."

    Read the whole article here: http://www.timlawrence.info/articles/2008/WalterGibbonsJPMS.php
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