Tomorrow, June 13th, Chicago White Sox will “commemorate” the 40th anniversary of Disco Demolition Night with a free T-shirt promotion. The announcement – during Pride month no less – has re-opened the discussion around the destruction of a Gay, Black, and Latinx art form at the hands of a primarily white mob led by white male rock DJ mad about losing his job (his radio station had changed format from rock to disco) is as relevant to today’s dialogue as ever.
Holy Ghost! Posted a response to the promotion on Instagram today.
Read it in full here, with an excerpt below.
“It’s widely understood that the original Disco Demolition felt, to many, like a direct attack on the Gay, Black, and Latino communities who pioneered Disco… To me [Alex] personally, the pictures from that day in 1979 don’t lie: Thousands of white men, led by a white man, running illegally onto a field to burn the the music of largely marginalized gay and brown people. But that’s almost besides the point here…The real issue is that it FELT that way to so many people and that in 2019 The White Sox want to celebrate that moment – and in doing so, trigger pain instead of healing it.”
—Holy Ghost! (06.12.19)
(More @ Chicago Tribune, Pitchfork, Vice)
Holy Ghost! will release the new LP Work on seminal NYC disco label West End Records June 21st. It will be the first LP of new music released on West End in more than three decades. The duo will DJ LIFEbeat’s Pride Week Benefit at NYC’s Ace Hotel June 27th.
Source: Chicago Tribune (Photo Gallery)
