Hey,
I grew up on the Seattle scene, and Donald Glaude was a name before I knew what a name was. A local hero who was barely ever local, always gone, always on the road. This week I finally got him in a chair.
If you heard Episode 1, you know half of this already. DJ Dan told us about a shaking-nervous first set at The Underground, the record skipping, and Donald grabbing the mic: “he’s a star now.” This is the other half, from Donald’s side, recorded not long after Dan passed. The favor ran both ways: Donald gave Dan the crowd, and Dan cracked open LA and the Funky Tekno Tribe right back. Two guys who built two scenes at once.
But the moment that got me came near the end. A cold-start, three-hour set at Joshua Tree, no opener, just him, and he finished it in tears. “One of the best sets I’ve played in ten years. I took them to church.” Then, quietly, why: “trying to keep the dream alive and believing in myself.” One of the loudest showmen in this music, at his most human.
Coming next: Marques Wyatt, LA’s deep-house institution, and the dancefloor as sacred space.
Keep digging,
Deckard
The oral history of dance music, told by those who created it.