‘Disco Solo’
With office party season is nearly upon us it is a good time to remember that you don’t have to take your clothes off to have a good time. But it can save on washing.
The title of this picture comes from a friend of mine. When she found herself with nothing to do on a Saturday night, she would still put on her make up and visit ‘Disco Solo’. This was a euphemism for drinking like a thirsty fish, playing her favourite floor fillers and bopping round the living room, usually naked. She said there were big advantages to Disco Solo over the real thing. The drinks were cheap, the music was absolutely brilliant, it was easy to get home and she never did anything she regretted the next morning.
Speaking of discos… Among other evils like TV, intercontinental missiles and The Sound of Music, we can thank the Nazis for unwittingly creating the discothéque. Live jazz music was not allowed in Vichy France so young Parisians gathered to play records in cellars. After the war, the first official disco opened in Paris in 1953. The legendary Whiskey A Go Go was run by Régina Zylberberg. A Polish Jew who, as a young girl, had spent the war hiding from the Gestapo and brutal nuns. No wonder she had the urge to dance. Régina was the first to spin discs from two linked turntables so there was no gap between songs. Say thank you, Grandmaster Flash.