Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

Originally published May 26, 2012

There’s a small crowd of people standing outside near The Rosebud Diner in Davis Square. It’s not a line to get into the Surrey Room for a night of dancing. It was a line of folks waiting to buy donuts. Somehow, we went from shiny to crunchy, but it was sure a lot of fun.

As I drove by, I glanced at the path on the right of the door that led to the entrance of The Surrey Room. It was the back room of The Rosebud complete with a disco ball. For a lot of us it’s where Somerville met disco.

Did you wear a three-piece white suit, wide collared shirts, and platform shoes? Were some of you ladies the proud owners of hot pants, mini dresses, and shoulder pads? my thoughts are directed back to that golden age of disco.

What was Somerville people’s reaction to disco? I asked some of my friends who were there to share some of their disco experiences. I can also speak first hand because I played in a disco band briefly.

Disco arrived in the Rosebud’s back room around 1977. It traveled down route 16 via Sammy’s Patio at Revere Beach. A talented singer named Marie Michaels was featured in her own band, backed up by local, seasoned musicians.

They had been making the Revere scene and found their way to the Surrey Room. In one of their configurations, I was the keyboard player. Eddy Mann was on lead guitar Butchie D played drums, and Bryan Bishop supplied that thumping disco bass line. Eddy and Brian were great singers also. They, along with Paul C, were in the legendary The Dream Machine, the house band at the infamous Sammy’s Patio at Revere Beach.

The Dream Machine.

With Marie Michaels, Steve Tello was the featured male singer and pretty much Marie’s partner. Rick Carvahlo, Randy Jacobs, Rich Dorato, and Richard White were also in Marie’s band at various times. Some of the songs we played when I was in the band were I’ll Always Love My Mama, Don’t Take Away The Music and Love Is In The Air.

I can still see the disco ball’s shimmering, rotating light casting bright hypnotizing globs on every surface. The “chase” lights were the frosting on the cake. Speaking of cake reminds me of that great hit song Cut the Cake by Average White Band in 1975.

Many Somerville folks frequented Faces Disco on Route 2 and Jacob’s Ladder in Revere, and 9 Lansdowne St. in Boston, along with too many others to mention.

Early on, I was a huge fan of the show band, Mason Dixon and The Line. Those horns went right through you! If you were there you know it was a short, shiny time in the history of music and shorter in Somerville.

Saturday Night Fever hit movie theatres in 1977 with a soundtrack that really left its impression on our society. Listening to Disco Inferno, Night Fever, and Stayin’Alive will no doubt stir up many visions and memories. Donna Summer and The Bee Gees were integral parts of the disco era. If you listen to Last Dance, Hot Stuff, Bad Girls or any other Donna Summer hit from the 70’s the memories will start to fill your head.

Where were you when these songs were hits? Who were you hanging around with? Who were you dating? And what the hell were you wearing?

There was no in between with the disco scene. You either loved it or hated it. Many hardcore rockers used that phrase “Disco (fill in expletive)!” They just continued listening to Zeppelin, Skynard, and whatever new punk bands that popped up. They went clubbing in Boston but it was not at The Kenmore Club, K-K-Kathy’s, or Lucifer’s where disco was featured, it was at The Rat (The Rathskeller). The Rat was where nuts and bolts rock and roll thrived. I’m pretty sure mold, spider webs, stale spilled beer and diseases also thrived it the dank, dingy hole of a club.

Some of my friends remember calling into radio station Kiss 108 and requesting Bad Girls and other songs by Donna Summer. They would sit around the radio learning the Hustle, and The Bus Stop. I am proud to say that I worked with and became friends with late DJs Sunny Joe White and Disco Vinnie Peruzzi.

We remember the early Bee Gees hits that we grew up with before they started doing disco. Great tunes like Massachusetts, I Started A Joke, Words and How Can You Mend a Broken Heart? Who among us didn’t use their best falsetto to imitate the Bee Gees? When they put out Jive Talkin’ it had such a kicking beat and bass line that it couldn’t be ignored. You liked it didn’t you? Come on admit it! Even if you say you hate disco, your foot has to tap a little when any of the Saturday Night Fever songs come on.

The Bee Gees will always remind me of the sensational 60’s growing up in Somerville. When they resurfaced with the soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever, it really gave disco a shot in the arm. When I hear those songs, I fondly revisit my (short-lived) disco days with my gold chain and satin shirt. Disco peaked in the late 70’s and was all but dead by the beginning of the 80’s. It was time to hang up the white suit and grab the Members Only jacket as the members dwindled.

When we are driving down Highland Avenue and hear Donna Summer’s On the Radio we will smile. When we hear the Bee Gees come on, we will “…think of younger days, when living for our lives was everything a man could want to do.” A simple drive through Davis Square past the Rosebud and a line for donuts sparked all these the musical memories.