The documentary by filmmaker Gene Graham has finally made it's way to Boston via the premiere at the 24th Annual Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. I've been anticipating this film for months now and to see it along with fellow Paradise Garage and West End Records enthusiasts was amazing. 

For those who aren't familiar with this film, it's about the life of Mel Cheren, based on his autobiography "My Life and the Paradise Garage: Keep On Dancing." The story follows in chronological order his rise through the music industry along with his discovery of dance music and his own sexuality.  The story tells some astonishing feats that Mel accomplished in his lifetime which were: the release of the first instrumental only B side on a 12"; the creation of West End Records leading to the release of some of the greatest dance tracks in history including Loose Joint "Is It All Over My Face", Sesso Mato's "Sesso Matto", and Taana Gardner's "Haertbeat" ; and financially backing and helping to create the Paradise Garage.

On a socially conscience level he also created the first AIDS music industry activist group, 24 Hours for Life whioh later became Lifebeat and gave the Gay Men's Health Crisis its first headquarters. One thing the film does not include is his passing on December 17th, 2007.

If you don't know much about Mel Cheren then this film is a must and if you own every record in the West End catalog the film is still great to hear the stories Mel tells and the accolades today's DJ superstars such as Louis Vega and Danny Krivit give to Mel's legacy.

If you haven't checked out this great lecture from the Theo Parrish at Red Bull Music Academy then check it out below.  Theo sends a strong message about the importance of DJs taking time to gain the knowledge and experience of music through digging for records rather than just downloading thousands of files of music.

Theo Parrish Lecture

I decided to start a new column I will feature regularly called "Recent Classics." These of course, are recent records that in my mind have become classics.

 Different Gear's remake of "When the World is Running Down (You Can't Go Wrong) was played by everyone at the Miami conference from DJ Sneak to Lil' Louie Vega before it was even cleared by The Police's record label, A&M.

Originally released on the 'Zenyatta Mondatta' album in 1980, the track first drove clubbers to the dance floor at the Paradise Garage. It wasn't until January of 1999 that Gino Scarletti realized the true brilliance of the Police track when DJ Mass played the tune at Home bar in East London. Gino immediately called up his studio engineer Quinn and they produced the track in two days. Soon after a 1,000 promo copies were shipped out to the A-list DJs with no labels on it but the words "You can't Go Wrong" and a picture of an english policeman.

The track makes it onto Mixmag's Big Tunes show and Pagen Records boss Richard Breeden was keen to release an official version of the track. Meanwhile bootleg copies are all over the place. It just so happens that Pagen is owned by Miles Copeland, Police drummer Stewart Copeland's brother. Finally after many conversations the track is cleared by A&M Records. The track goes on to chart in the U.K. and remix offers come to Different Gear from all corners of the dance world.

Different Gear v.s the Police - When the World is Running Down