House ain’t givin’ up.
Kevin Irving’s 1999 homage to house music remains the strain’s ultimate anthem for those dedicated to the sound that has kept them moving to 120BPM for decades.
The reason for the love of house is simple, one that supersedes pundits (Eminem, I am quite sure, will never again say “And Moby?… It’s over, nobody listen to techno”–particularly given Moby’s Play album will probably stand the test of time much longer than The Eminem Show). In fact, EDM has reached what seems like a pinnacle–and rightfully so: the electronic tracks made by the masters like Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte can now be made by inspiring talents via their laptop and following the grunge and bubblegum-pop of the 90s, people wanted to put their dancing shoes back on.
As disco god Nile Rogers said about the concept of dance music: “Your heart beats at about 60 beats a minute–you double that and you know you’re in a good place.”
And for Poseidon–the dance event to be held on the Queen Mary to celebrate Pride–Long Beach welcomes a house veteran of New Yawk City: Manny Lehman. This man has played with and stood by the likes of Victor Calderone and Junior Vasquez. He is a member of the famous Roxy family alongside the two previously mentioned in addition to Peter Rauhofer, Larry Tee, Abel, Hex Hector, and DJ Vibe.
And for Lehman, his history is just a natural part of the growth of dance music.
“EDM is the natural progression of the dance, trance and techno that we were listening to in the late 90’s,” explained Lehman. “Now they have added the elements of great [compositions] and more melody to the genre, [they’ve] refined the sounds and showcase star vocalists to enlist their talent to it. People ARE listening to EDM–just look at the pop charts.”
And for those not well-versed in the genre of house, the harkening to the progressive house days of the early 90s that Lehman, Rauhofer, and others so deeply engaged in is to be found in countless singles and records. From will.i.am’s “Scream & Shout” to Calvin Harris’ and Avicii’s entire discographies, these sounds were honed by the likes of Lehman during the second wave of progressive house.
“I think it all does call upon the progressive days you were referring to–it’s just so much easier to make these kind of tracks now. You can make a stellar sounding, number one, worldwide track right out of your very own bedroom. It’s also right time right place for this genre of music: people wanted some tempo in their lives, people were a little worn out of the low BPM.”
Spinning for hours at Poseidon, Lehman will join DJ Ryan Kenney in the hopes that, per usual the gay crowd, we’ll be dancing all night long to the circuit-style house that pervaded gay events during the late 90s and early 00s.
“It’s musical, it’s dramatic, it has emotion that you can latch on to–and we all know that gays love their drama.”
Amen.
Poseidon will take place on Saturday, May 18 abord the Queen Mary, located at 1126 Queens Highway. Ryan Kenney will perform from 9PM to 11:30PM; Manny Lehman will perform from 11:30PM to 2AM. Tickets are currently $29 if purchased online or $40 at the door (service fee applies). Parking is $5 with event validation.
For tickets, click here.
For more information, click here.
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