Hot Wax: Swing Out Sister – Notgonnachange

I was there the night he played at Hamburg’s Front Club in the early 90’s, the first time you could ever see the DJ in the booth there, which was usually entirely closed except for some really small peep through holes. He entered the booth, set up a small fan, a bottle of cognac, hung a towel around his neck, and proceeded to play. He played very gracefully, letting each record play from beginning to end, at a moderate pace, but perfectly sequenced and mixed. I remember the crowd taking a while to get used to this DJing style, as the sets by the Front residents where usually comparably more dynamic and going back and forth, but it really told me a lesson how to let the music shine when it needs to shine and I was deeply impressed. And I remember that I felt very happy to be able to hear and also see him doing it. Still am. R.I.P.”

Now a year has passed, and a lot of things have happened since his passing. I was sure that I would never forget how much he mattered to me with everything he did, but I was also accepting that it would occupy my mind less and less with time passing by. Except it didn’t. I kept pulling old records with his “Classic Club Mix” credentials from the shelf, humming TUNES, and not tracks, taking a bow at the elegance and SOUL of the Def Mix arrangements and constantly wondering why there is so little left in my environment of what he established. So I decided to do pay my dues and start an irregular series of Hot Wax shows that simply ask: “What would have Frankie done?” I could only guess, so forgive any inadequacies.

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