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Jay-Creator of Hollywood 1

One of the first medley's which was bootlegged a lot after the Deadly Medley was the Hollywood 1.
It was the start for many DJ's to copy that style and made others.
Here is a interview with the creator "Jay".

Interview with DJ: Juan Jay Negron

-Before making the Mix, did you hear other mixes which brought you to the idea ?:
I used to listen intently to DJ Walter Gibbons at the "Galaxy 21" disco (downtown NYC). He used to edit almost every song. The edits were tight and he repeated certain short bits of each song; for example the horn during the middle of the instrumental part of Double Exposure's "Ten Percent"---He had many self-made edits of many top songs during 1976.

-How did you made the mix and did you had any help ?:
First of all "The Hollywood Dub" just started out as a part of a mixed tape. I was just gonna make the break in "S.F./Hollywood" by The Village People a bit longer. I had planned to make the edit that weekend but the time kind of got away from me.

Friday I played my regular shift at "The Tropicalia" Disco from 10pm-4am. Then me & the doorman from Tropicalia (Louis Pegno) went to "The Roof Top" after-hrs club and heard the DJ play a brand new test pressing of Crown Heights Affair's "DANCIN'-REMIX". It's the one with the long remixed beginning. He had 2 copies and he kept repeating the intro. Everyone was going wild. We stayed there until 10am---when someone invited us to go to The Pines (Fire Island). We said yes and went to the beach & chilled for awhile.

At 4pm 'The Tea Dance' started full swing.Richie Rivera (Mr. Midnight Mix himself) was spinning all new height of the night jams. One song I remember that day was "UP JUMPED THE DEVIL" by The John Davis Orch. He had a test pressing. It was new & blew everyone away. We stayed until 9pm and had to leave because our shift at Tropicalia started in one hour (no sleep-plenty of hooch).

The shift went well. After work we went to 'Galaxy 21' to hear Walter Gibbons. He was workin his tri-amp system to the bone, remixing his personal edits of: "MAGIC BIRD OF FIRE"(Salsoul Orch), "TEN PERCENT" & "EVERYMAN" (Double Exposure), "DISCO PARTY"(The Trammps), and "HIT & RUN"(Loleatta)---all edited, all breaks repeated, tri-amp (bass only---tweeters only etc) working and such. We stayed there mesmerized until 11am.

Then Me & Louis went to my house (my mom's house) to crash. Us being unable to sleep and still be-bopping and totally inspired from everything we heard over the weekend we started to make a mixed tape on an old cassette deck. By the time we got to "HOLLYWOOD", I extended the break. Louie says keep going. I add "MAGIC BIRD"'s break. Louie says keep going. Then I started adding every HOT break (only 4 beats a piece) and editing them together. I even added the break from Sunshine Sound Dub->THE TRAMMPS MEDLEY. I ended it off with "BLOCK PARTY" for easy mixing out.

We never ever thought it would be as big as it got.. I played it on cassette at 'Tropicalia' the following Wed. night and the dancers were screaming! They loved it. I started using it at the peak of the night--always at the end of the Village People song.

-You went to Sunshine Sound to make a acetate of it, how did you find out it was bootlegged:
After 2 weeks of playing the tape, I decided to make things easier I would get it pressed on acetate. I knew about Sunshine Sound already from other DJs who went there to get songs pressed that they didn't have done. Some songs were 'cut outs' and were unavailable. One example at the time was "ERUCU" by Jermaine Jackson. You could not find that record, but it was at Sunshine Sound!!!

The quality was terrible, compared to a 12" pressing, it sounded like AM radio quality.

It was a 'word-of-mouth' thing. No advertisement. Sunshine Sound's business was mainly for record companies & independent rock 'n' roll groups to make tape copies or acetates of their demos. He didn't start his business for DJs. It just rolled around to him. He looked uncomfortable doing the plates. He was not used to using any antiquated quality tapes that the DJs were bringing in to him to press. There was not any crowds there. It was almost always a one-on-one deal. Nobody else around.

After about a year later, i was in a record store in the Bronx (maybe Crazy Eddies) I saw that they were selling VINYL copies of the Hollywood Dub. I was shocked! I couldn't believe it. I bought one. (I knew my acetate wouldn't last)

I knew there was a lot of talk about it after I got the acetate. I cut 5 copies at Sunshine to give my DJ friends.
Frank the owner of the Sunshine Sound Studio bootlegged it and sold a lot of copies (more than 50 pcs. on 10 inch acetate).
The Hollywood became one of the best selling acetates.

After 6 months of me & my friends playing it, Casablanca Records called my mom's house and left me a message to call them (in California). I thought it was my BIG BREAK, I thought they wanted me to remix a new release. I finally made the big time. I would get my name on a released 12". I called them, all my hopes were dashed. The rep that called me was from their legal department who informed me that they were going to take me to court if I do not 'cease & detist' distributing their copyrighted material. He was informed that I had pressed a remix version of The Village People's song and was selling it and making big money. I explained all about the cassette deck edits and he repeated his warning.

-Were you a DJ ?:
I DJ' ed from 1974-1982. Always the house DJ and at least 4-5 nights per week. The last 2 years was 3x a week. My DJ BIO is on Disco-Disco.com.

-Were did you buy your records, and were you member of a DJ record pool ?:
In 1974 we were getting records from the record companies by appointment, or by mail. There was a list of DJs that was circulated by the promo guy of 20th Century Records, Billy Smith. If you was on the 'Billy Smith' list, you were serviced. If not, you had to work for a real big club. If you didn't get service the best record shop to get club music was Downstairs Records on 43 St. in Manhattan. That was one of the first shops that catered to DJs. (1973-1974). In 1976 "The Record Pool" opened. It was known as the first of it's kind, where DJs would get the music in one central place. I was one of the original members. Pools cropped up all over the USA after that. (2 years later, I switched to the "L.I.Disco DJs" Record Pool).

-In the past i had several copies of the Acetate :Hollywood Mixed By Jay
:
I never saw the name Hollywood Dub on it.
You told me that you made 5 copies, what text was on the label ? (hollywood Dub ?):
Frank made the label--he just wrote HOLLYWOOD Mix by Jay

-The vinyl copy is 6 minutes, did someone made it longer when pressing it on vinyl ?
When it was pressed on vinyl 'they' made it longer.

-On the vinyl copy's only Hollywood 1 was mentioned, how did casablanca came to your mom's address (did they know someone who had the acetate ?):
You gotta understand how DJs were at the time. It was worse than 'addicts'---backstabbing, lying, cut-throat attitudes were the norm at the highest level of DJ'ing. The only people, besides my closest friends that had my phone # (my mom's #) was at the Record Pool. (99 Prince St)  Not that I'm accusing anybody there of directing Casablanca Records to me; But there was not a lot of truthful people that were DJs at the time.

Example: In the early days of The Record Pool, we had an emergency meeting called. It seems that ABC Records was gonna stop servicing the DJs. They cited cost-effectiveness, the prevelence of just 'anyone' saying they were a DJ, and The Pool's not giving accurate feedback as to why they were just gonna shut off any more promo copies to us. (in addition to servicing us, they would service anyone that had a letter-head from a club <forgeries were predominant> stating they were working there.)
We had all agreed that the only way to prove that we made a huge impact on their record sales was to NOT play any more ABC/Dunhill releases. NONE. None until they started to service us again. We all took a vow that evening---we were solid on it---no purchasing ABC---no playing ABC---no matter what!
The next week the new Mighty Clouds Of Joy album was released---featuring "MIGHTY HIGH"------not serviced to us---this was a perfect opportunity to show ABC that we were 'together' as a unit; and that we meant what we said.
When I did my usual rounds at the clubs of The Bronx and some in Manhattan, "MIGHTY HIGH" was played at each club (twice a night at some)---I asked each DJ why he had broken the plan. Each one had his own excuse but the story was the same--->the song was 'dynomite and I had to have it!'
Many lied about playing it but there was no fooling the record shops---it was their top selling LP (not a single available yet)---Club patrons were buying it because the DJs were running it like crazy at the clubs!!!

No solidarity---no unity---every man for himself--looking for that 15 mins of glory and fame.

If Casablanca was looking for me, I was very easy to find. Many DJs hated The Hollywood Dub. It was tasteless they said, It was unproffessional they said. Lots of DJs were amazed by it. They saw what it did for the crowd (Played at the right time--that is)
I didn't love it---I just thought it was alot of fun.

-In Which Disco's did you DJ:
1974 to 1975-The Playhouse-Bronx
1975 to 1976-Act III-Bronx
1976-1980-Tropicalia-NYC
1980-1982-Pegasus-NYC

-Did you had a special DJ name ?: Jay

-How did you find out about the existence of the disco acetates:
Word of mouth-from other DJs.

-Can you tell me your impression when you first was at Sunshine Sound, and how did you know of the existence:
When I first went there Frank (owner) tried to make it seem like he was doing you a favour. That he doesn't usually do this, but he will do it if it doesn't take too much of his time. That was my impression. That was the beginning. After a while when I was a regular, he would welcome the business. He was a little leery at the start. DJs were a different breed. (we still are)

-Did you know other places were you could press acetates ?:
Nope, never looked..

-Did you play the acetates at the disco ?:
All the time, even though they were inferior quality (mono) just to have an alternate different mix that the crowd never heard--or something that you could not do with 2 turntables.

-Did Sunshine Sound advertise in magazines, record stores, flyers in disco, or other way's ?.NO

-Did you know the Owner Frank Trimarco and other personnel:
only Frank & only business.

-Did you have friend DJ's who made a mix/edit ?:

Yes my friend Paul Solari, Paul was my mentor.
Paul taught me how to spin. He gave me my first job at a club. (The Last Laugh in the Bronx '74)

We used to live, breathe, and talk music & mixes all day long. He would take me to the other 'hot' clubs in the Bronx and Westchester to hear the other DJs spin.
Once we heard Walter Gibbons spin at Galaxy 21; and all the self made remixes he was doing--we knew we could do it also.
Paul had a small reel-to-reel, and we went to work.
We spliced out, what we thought was the 'weak' part of the songs, and repeated the great parts of the song.
We did the dubs together: such as "Forever Came Today"-Jackson 5, "It's Good For The Soul"-Salsoul Orch., "Dreaming A Dream"-Crown Heights, Savanah Band Medley, etc.
Paul is the one who found out about Sunshine Sound from another DJ.
We called ourselves "The P.J. Collection"
We both worked at The Playhouse & Act III (we alternated nights)-and at Tropicalia he only worked a couple of months more then we lost touch when he moved to Pensylvania with some girl.

-How many mixes did you made at Sunshine Sound ?
Let me see, Hollywood Dub, Savannah Band Medley, Star Wars, Dreaming A Dream, Forever Came Today, Santa Esmerelda, My Sweet Summer Suite, Moon Boots, Pegasis, King Of Clubs. I can't remember any others.

Here is a picture of Paul Solari (Jay's DJ Partner) and Jay in 2008, pointing to the (acetates)dubplates.

-Are you still DJ'ing today ?:
I still do private parties, picnics & Conventions for Narcotics Anonymous. They always are looking for someone who can play the classics!!!

A last question:
Can you make a track listing from all the tracks used in your original acetate mix:

Let's see in order, from the beginning:
Village people-Hollywood break looped 7 or 8x then:Salsoul orchestra-Magic Bird of Fire,
Village people-Hollywood break,Salsoul orchestra-Magic Bird of Fire,Trammps-Disco Party,Music- Montreal Sound,Trammps-Disco Party,Ten Percent-Double Exposure,
Trammps-Disco Party,Music-Montreal Sound,Trammps-Disco Party,I Feel Love-Donna,
Trammps-Disco Party,I Found Love-Love & Kisses,Trammps-Disco Party,Music-Montreal Sound,Trammps-Disco Party,Music-Montreal Sound,Trammps-Disco Party,Music-Monrteal Sound,Trammps-Disco Party,Trammps-Disco Party,whole break Music-M.S.,Trammps-Disco Party,Music-M.S.,Trammps-Disco Party,Donna,Trammps-Disco Party,Hold Tight-Vickie Sue,Trammps-Disco Party,Devil's Gun-C.J. & Company,Trammps-Disco Party
Erotic Drum Band (the song that sounded like "AFTER DARK" from Patti Brooks)
Trammps-Disco Party,Star Wars-Meco,Trammps-Disco Party,Musci-M.S.,Erotic Soul-Larry Page Orch.,Trammps-Disco Party,Block Party-Anthony White Then fade out..

35 or more edits. with a pause button.

Here are all of the acetate mixes from Jay:

Special thanks for Paul Solari for the scans of the labels.

 


    Juan Jay Negron

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