Don't judge a book by its...

There's a really good article in the February edition of Vanity Fair (with Tiger Woods on the cover - no comment) about the rise of disco. It's got interviews with lots of the major players, from Donna Summer to Robert 'Kool & the Gang' Bell to Gloria Gaynor . . . to 'the Indian' from the Village People! Lots of very interesting insights, covering the conception of what we consider disco in the gay clubs of New York through what the experts call 'the beginning of the end', when 'Saturday Night Fever' became a phenomenon and disco went mainstream.

Some of the best anecdotes include:

- Nile Rodgers (pictured below) wrote 'Le Freak' after not being allowed in to Studio 54 on New Years Eve 1977, except the song started out as 'f--k off . . . ahhh, f--k off!'

- Donna Summer only reluctantly sang 'Love To Love You Baby' after a dare that she couldn't be sexy. She says she channeled Marilyn Monroe for the recording.

- The genesis for 'Saturday Night Fever' was a New York magazine article about the passionate patrons of discos in the boroughs of NY. The article was called 'Tribal Rights of the New Saturday Night'.

The Vanity Fair article also has some great pics, including trippy photos of Grace Jones and Donna Summer and a really awesome shot of Diana Ross belting out a song from the DJ booth of Studio 54. Definitely check it out.

We're gonna make it!

Not long ago I finished watching season 1 of ‘Laverne & Shirley’ on DVD. This show was a popular spin-off from ‘Happy Days’ during the Disco Years. I watched both shows as a kid. It was fun that Laverne and Shirley were regular girls just trying to get by in life with some dignity and success. Who couldn't relate to that?!

In watching the series now, I found the characters warm and still funny after all these years. Pretty refreshing that they were best friends and genuinely liked each other even though, of course, they'd argue and get into misunderstandings. Their relationship seemed real, while at the same time I had the comfort of knowing they’d always make up in the end.

Laverne was a tough and no-nonsense gal who constantly had boy troubles. Shirley was the sweet one. You just totally wanted to hang out with them.

I found I liked Lenny and Squiggy more in re-watching the episodes than I did originally. I’d always thought they were silly and obnoxious, which they still were, but I seemed to be able to go with it a little better now that I’m older.

Some favorite episodes from the first season:
- The Bachelor Party: Aaayyyy! The Fonz is in it! Shirley coming out of the cake is a riot.
- Bowling for Razzberries: I like it when the girls have a wacky nemesis. This time it’s the head of their bowling rivals.
- It’s in the Water: The one where Shirley gets the beer tasting job over Laverne, but then Laverne saves Shirley from her lecherous new boss. It really gives you a good insight into their friendship.

Supastar!

Some of the most influential sports stars of the Disco Years . . .

Dorothy Hamill – 1976 Olympic gold medalist, creator of the ‘Hamill Camel’ skating move…and owner of the second most famous hairstyle in the Disco Years.

Jack Nicklaus – My grandaddy’s favorite golfer. Ranked number 1 from 1968 – 77.

Chris Evert – The number 1 women’s singles player through most of the Disco Years. Part of one of the greatest on court rivalries of all time with Martina Navratilova.


Reggie Jackson – Played for the Yankees during the Disco Years. Though engaged in a tumultuos relationship with manager Billy Martin, Jackson led the Yankee’s to a 1977 World Series win.

Sugar Ray Leonard - Won the light welterweight gold medal at the 1976 Olympics. The cocky fighter , who got his ‘Sugar’ nickname from his wife, later went on to become a world champion.

Hot, hot, hot!

How about a little sexy time? These are some of the biggest sex symbols of the Disco Years:

Farrah Fawcett. Hands down, the biggest sex symbol. She became a huge sensation when she starred in ‘Charlie’s Angels’ in 1976, the same year her iconic red swimsuit poster, which is still the best selling poster of all time, went on the market.
Trivia: Check out the first season of ‘The Partridge Family’ on DVD to see Farrah in a bit part…she’s the bait in one of Danny and Mr. Kincaid’s schemes!


Burt Reynolds. The definition of a macho man. His biggest movies during the Disco Years were ‘Hooper’, ‘Semi-Tough’ and ‘Smokey and the Bandit’. ‘Smokey’ was the first rated R movie I saw (rated R mostly ‘cause of all the cussin’)…believe it or not, my grandparents took me. Mom was not pleased!


Suzanne Somers. Suzanne Somers earned her sex symbol cred as Christmas (Chissy) Snow on ‘Three’s Company’. Her big break had come a few years earlier in ‘American Graffiti’.


David Bowie. Okay, okay…I don’t get it either, but here we are! His albums during the Disco Years included Low, Heroes, Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, Stage (a live album), Lodger and Scary Monsters.


Jacqueline Bisset. Most teenage boys during the time still recall the advertisements of Jacqueline Bisset for ‘The Deep’. Remember the wet t-shirt? Yeah, I thought so . . .


Donna Summer. The queen of disco was definitely ‘hot stuff’ (song reference…get it?). Her albums during the Disco Years included A Love Trilogy, Four Seasons of Love, I Remember Yesterday, Once Upon a Time, Bad Girls (oh yeah, the biggie) and The Wanderer.


John Travolta. ‘Ole Vinnie Barbarino took it to the next level...and sealed his fate as a 70s icon…with a little movie called ‘Saturday Night Fever’.


Linda Carter. Wonder Woman. Need I say more?

Books!

These are some of the best-selling fiction books from the Disco Years . . .

'Sleeping Murder' by Agatha Christie. Yes, believe it or not, Ms. Christie was still publishing new material in 1976. Interestingly, she'd actually written this book, the last in the Miss Marple series, in the 1940s, but delayed publication until she knew she wouldn't be writing another. Unfortunately, she passed away before this book was published.

'Dolores' by Jacqueline Susann. Everybody knows Ms. Susann from her scandalous 'Valley of the Dolls'...love that crazy, druggie Neely! This was her last novel and was inspired by the life of Jackie Kennedy. Susann was too ill to complete the book, so Rex Reed (yeah, the critic guy) finished it. I don't believe reviews were too great, but obviously a lot of folks read it nonetheless.

'The Deep' by Peter Benchley. Benchley's follow up to 'Jaws' was this sunken treasure/drugs action novel set in Bermuda. The movie, for which he wrote the screenplay, was a pretty big success as well.

'The Thorn Birds' by Colleen McCullough. An epic romance that most women couldn't resist. All about forbidden love and betrayal . . . juicy stuff. Also one of the biggest mini-series of the Disco Years.

'War and Remembrance' by Herman Wouk. Another epic, this was Wouk's follow up to 'The Winds of War'. It's a World War II-era drama focused on a pair of high-drama families.

'The Dead Zone' by Stephen King. Of course I couldn't not include Stephen King in this list! He's one of my favorites. Though this isn't my top pick of all his work, this novel about a psychic was a big success. Did you catch the TV series based on this book with Anthony Michael Hall? It was pretty cool...ended a few years ago.