DISCO INFERNO
Staying Alive - 50 Years of Disco
The wonderful exhibit at the Morrison Hotel Gallery is made up of iconic images of that cultural storm that was Disco. Disco is celebrating its 50th anniversary and the Morrison Hotel Exhibit has curated and captured the decadence and exuberat vibes of those long nights and the denizens that glowed.
Included in the exhibit are the photographs of Bill Bernstein, Ron Galella, Lynn Goldsmith, Rose Hartman, Catherine McGann, Allan Tannenbaum, and the notorious Chris von Wangenheim.
We are led through the exhibit from Studio 54 to the Paradise Garage to the Empire Roller Disco and on and on through the night. That was the way it was as most survivors of the opulence of sex and drugs of the era will tell you. Steve Rubell let you into Studio 54 if you had quaaludes, he knew your star power, he wanted to know you or he was decorating with you. He was a marvelous MC mixing just the right ingredients together night after night. Think about a giant moon and coke spoon lowered during the most frenzied part of the night on to the dance floor, the gorgeous bar boys in satin short boxers, the pure pounding sound system, dazzling mirror balls, raining glitter, stars everywhere and sex and drugs everywhere. It is a wonder anyone remembered to take a photograph. Yet, the photographs are great. So many other clubs had their own unique energy and magic too, as well represented in the exhibit.
The Beat Goes On as the Morrison Hotel Gallery’s exhibit will overlap with the opening of Studio 54: Night Magic at the Brooklyn Museum, which opens March 13. So get on your dancing shoes and dress for a celebration of the craziest, decadent playlands for adults ever.
