The Dance Machine

I'm making a photo album for my Dad for Christmas and combing through old photo albums.

I was a DJ in Kingston at CKLC from 1978 til 1985. Mostly really good years. The most fun came from the “Dance Machine”.

(L-R - Joe, Charlie Watts, Jim Elyot, me and Bruce Anfossie)

The CKLC jocks hosted the show. Sometimes Charlie Watts hosted. (Charlie did the overnight show and was a full-time Queens U student during the day.) Other dances were hosted by Jim Elyot, or Chris Ryan, or Steev Jordan, or “the Dude” Bob Keys, or me. It was common that one of the DJs would make a guest appearance at another jock's dance just for fun. Jim and I would air-guitar to AC/DC songs and dance around like goons, sometimes cracking open the mic to singing along.

What began as a couple of turntables and a DJ turned into a silly, egotistical, possibly outstanding roadshow with lighting, fog and free pop.

(L-R Jim Elyot and me, rockin' out to the Knack or the Stones)

When we peaked around 1983/84 we had four guys as roadies. Bruce our sound guy would oversee the logistics of the show. John our bodyguard wore a beat up leather jacket and sported a long Motley Crue haircut to look tough. There was Joe our lighting tech and a couple of other guys who came and went. Plus the CKLC groupies.

Being a the big Rolling Stones fan that I was, I tried to use any 1981 Stones tour idea I could, mostly in the wardrobe department. (The football pants were my favourite I think although the Platinum Blonde black and white spandex were kinda cool, too!) If CKLC management had provided a budget for set design I would have really gone nuts!

One of the contests I ran on stage was awarding a disco album - to a guy, who absolutely hated disco. (It would be the equivalent of giving a teen guy a Justin Bieber record now.) Once he got the album in his hands I would taunt him until he tore the album jacket in half, for which the crowd would go nuts!

(I bought this jacket from a kid for $10. It was ready to be given to good-will but I thought it had some life left in it!)

We’d take two or three vehicles in a convoy to the schools, most of which were in K-town, but other times we’d visit “Gan”, Sharbot Lake, Sydenham, and Snap-a-nachee! As I recall, Regi (the Catholic school) was the most enthusiastic. Frontenac was the school that other schools hated cuz they won all the football games - and Frontenac gigs made me nervous. I guess I thought Frontenac was the pinnacle of doing dances.

Good times.

This is the best I can recall it. It’s been nearly 25 years. Some of the facts may be somewhat embellished.