House Opens the Door...Come On In

I like meeting new people. I recently and unexpectedly moved beyond the "greetings only" stage with a couple of people at work. You know how it goes, you see people everyday and exchange a polite smile or a "hey, how 'ya doin?'" and you keep it moving. Often, things never go beyond the exchange of pleasantries, but there are times when there's a catalyst that invites you to move to the next stage. The catalyst is the discovery of a mutual interest. It's pleasantly surprising when you find out that the person you've been sitting across from for the past year, or riding the elevator with or catching the same bus with has a common interest with you.

A couple of days ago, a song that I was listening to became the catalyst for discovering that I shared a passion for music with a guy, that until recently, I didn't even know. Carlos was walking by and heard the music that I was quietly listening to.  He asked if I was listening to a particular song, to which I
replied, "no, I'm listening to Boston.  This led to us talking about the group Boston and how I thought they had been a big influence on Nirvana.  We engaged in energetic conversation about music--one of my great passions--and it felt good.

Yesterday, I was immersed in my work, listening to music in my headphones. I saw Carlos having what appeared to be a robust discussion with another co-worker, Tanya. Despite wearing headphones, I could faintly hear what they were saying, and caught the words "House Music". That was my cue to remove my headphones from my phone, making the song that I was listening to audible to anyone standing nearby. Carlos, looked at me in amazement and asked, "Are you listening to House?"  Ironically, I was. Sure, lots of people like House Music, but to talk so energetically with people that are well beyond the club-hopping years about any kind of music was refreshing.  It reminded me of being in college, when a discussion about music could go on for hours, and it would be interesting.

By the end of the conversation, lists of recommended songs had been exchanged and text messages of "must-hear" songs and "must-see" videos had been sent. Something tells me there will be more conversations about music, of all kinds.

The song that Carlos overheard was the House classic, Let No Man Put Asunder by First Choice (the terribly underrated divas of dance, disco and House). Unbelievably, this song was only a modest, post-disco hit when it was released in 1983.  It soon became a staple of House and techno music, as one of the most re-mixed and sampled songs in both genres. Let No Man Put Asunder has been re-mixed thousands of times, with the most popular versions being done by Larry Levan and Frankie Knuckles (both were masters).  BUT, there's a version that rivals, if not surpasses Levan's and Knuckles', and that's the Moplen re-mix. It is smokin' hot...ouch!

I put up a SoundCloud link instead of the YouTube video because some people might find the cover image offensive (I know I didn't care for it).

https://soundcloud.com/moplen/first-choice-let-no-man-put

Here's one of the songs Carlos shared with me, Bjork's Violently Happy, re-mixed by my favorites, Masters At Work. I really like this one.

Speaking of Masters At Work (MAW), they deserve a post unto themselves. And they'll get one.