Prologue
“How long does it take to get a damn bottled water?” The bartenders dressed in shoulder less black halters are wearing black masks. By 2 pm, people are tripping over, slightly inebriated, or buzzed from Moscow Mules or whatever trendy libations are du jour. You’ve waited so long at the bar that you start a conversation with a lady wearing micro braids.
“What’s the wait about?” She asks over Akabu featuring Ovasoul7’s “Raw Love” (Joey Negro Club Mix). Pockets of prime real estate appear. As the crowd thins. That allows you to spin around and two-step adjacent the libation station as you wait and wait and wait. Eyeing the servers inching away, further south the rectangle bar. All you want is a bottled water.
The Last Dance
I died and saw the lovely archangel welcoming me at the pearly gates to MJQ Concourse. I got my wings tonight.
Inhale. Breathe deeply the cool crisp air into the lungs. Exhaling slowly. Beneath a clear and starry dark sky, your sneakers kick rocks. Upward the sloping pavement where Beamers and Benzes cruise by. The wooden flanked smoke shop and Tattoo Ink parlor are in view. The shack. Parked vehicles. Across the street from that green liquor store. All urban landmarks. The thought of this parking lot being much else is hokum.
“What’s that there?”
“That’s MJQ.”
“Oh, they playing disco.”
Three young bruthas wearing flattops are chattering aloof. Their retro footwear crisscrossing through eleven souls deep waiting in a snaking queue to be hand-searched, bag checked and ID approved.
“Electronic ticket?” The first ever in Adult Skate’s fourteen year history. “Or if paying in cash, have cash ready in hand,” announces the venue’s eternal gatekeeper.
2325
Enter the belly of the beast. Dark. Dank. And very red. Wait! The space is this packed? Already? Witness the scores of black bodies. Feel the heat escaping from their being. The speaking of their love language through movement to lyrics singing “I Want to Rock With You.” Yep, it’s going to be one of those nights. Let’s go!
Welcome to Adult Skate. Where roller skates are not required. The annual tradition begins the Sunday night and dances into the early morning hours of The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior’s holiday. A time when the city is too busy partying at MJQ Concourse.
Where onstage, is the action. Where the painted mural of dancers and roller skater backdrops the music’s epicenter. There, Kai Alcé drips. White oversized eye frames. An ash “ATL” sweatshirt. A red trapper hat stamped with the letter “D.” Marvel the many logo tees dotting the room. #icameheretodancewithyou. WuTang. And MJQ Concourse. Smile for a selfie alongside Alcé the music selector/fashionisto playing Nina Simone’s “I Put A Spell On You” (E.O.L Soulfrito Remix). HD cameras record the kinetic energy bursting from triple spins and feet shuffling in a cropped circle to Atlanta’s own The Dangerfeel Newbies’ “What Am I Here For?” (NDATL Distinctive Vocal Remix). Next, Swedish sensation Snoh Aalegra’s GRAMMY nominated “Do 4 Love,” her Bobby Caldwell cover, commands a sea of chorus. “You tried everything, but you don’t give up.” That has Mr. NDATL waving his hands and Sunday shoutin’ in the DJ booth. The view is priceless. Laughter is heard. Hearty hugs are exchanged. Dabs and handshakes abound. All to the soundtrack of Jill Scott’s “He Loves Me (Lyzell in E Flat)” a white label version that has people singing and dancing with each other. The scene now resembling more a family reunion than bidding a bittersweet adieu.
2400
“Synthesizer Sequencer Psychedelic Acid House” reads the Nike shirt stuck to his svelte frame. DJ Kemit takes rein of the musical journey. The former Arrested Development deejay stands, surrounded by a dozen or so greying heads, receded hairlines, braided locs and snapbacks having their own separate VIP party in the DJ booth. Where the pulse of the drums clocks at 123 beats per minute. When Chic’s “Dance, Dance, Dance, (Yowsah, Yosah, Yosah) ” fades into disco delight of orchestra strings and lowly bass, into the fore comes Carl Bean’s “I Was Born This Way” (Moplen Dub 2). Onstage, out come the merengue giro, cowbell and cabasa! Two Soul Sisters and Mr. Tambourine are shaking, and striking in eurythmic. The collective provides the most impressive visual to Kerri Chandler’s “The Calling” [Club Qui].
Anyone for Sunkids featuring Chance’s “Rescue Me” (MAW Magic Session Mix)? Suddenly the vibeologist is grabbed from behind. A woman adorned in white knit bows her head into the small of the deejay’s back and dances from behind. Kemit’s wife is lost in the groove. Sunday church arrives! Courtesy “Jesus Is A House Song.” Atlanta’s Kemit and Luke Austin AKA The Lounge Lizard’s bootlegs continue with the Yolanda Adams vocal stellar “We Still Rise” and their stunning edit of The Jackson 5’s “I Wanna Be Where You Are.” “Ooohh.” “You Better Werk!” it to Norma Jean Bell’s “I’m the Baddest Bitch” (Moodymann Mix), shuffle and side-step to Blaze’s “Lovelee Dae,” farmer to Dajae’s “U Got Me Up” (Danny Tenaglia’s Club Version) but when you hear the refrain “I Need Relief!” falling from the heavens. Dancers pull out their Sunday best for The Sounds of Blackness’ “The Pressure” (U.B.P. Classic Club Mix). Quickly, the millennials take over the dance circle. Their finger waves. Their arm rolls. Their torso pouncing in quick jabs. Their pearly whites beaming bright. And yo, when that trumpet solo drops, a near baby mosh pit forms.
Whew. Catch a quick breather on Louie Vega featuring Nico Vega’s “How He Works” (Nico Funk Dub 2) before returning to the dance circle with pole in center. When the beast is unleashed. Fists chop the air. Feet stomp the concrete. Fangs out. Mouths scream. “I. Got. Loyalty.” Kendrick Lamar’s “DNA” (Karizma Dub) brings the rowdiest ruckus of the party thus far.
Voque arms. Duck walk. And a death drop to the concrete on the Saint Louis soulster Osunlade’s “Idiosyncracy,” an Adult Skate-MLK anthem. Missing thus far is any soundbite from Dr. King himself. Instead, the crowd is treated to the lyrical stylings from Brooklyn’s Tony Touch’s “Apaga La Luz.” The Pablo Fierro Raw Mix ignites before the cool down from Louie Vega and Josh Milan AKA Two Soul Fusion’s “Joy Universal” (Extended).
More Than A Party
Gather for perhaps the final time, reads the digital post on all socials from Adult Skate’s founder DJ Cullen Cole. The time has arrived to say goodbye to The Modern Jazz Quartet Concourse at 723 Ponce De Leon. MJQ brought the party down the street and underground to its second location on Ponce twenty-six years earlier. The year 1997 looked much different. Atlanta’s Beltline was not a thing. Ponce City Market, a retail afterthought. And forget about Chipotle. The late 90’s famed Atlanta’s peak party era. When night clubs ruled. From Buckhead to Midtown, Atlantans knew how to party. And people partied hard. A summit of debauchery. That MJQ led over other establishments. When Deep (Cullen Cole, Kai Alcé, DJ Kemit*) showed up at MJQ as a weekly Saturday night throwdown from 1997 to 2006.* The deep house/deep disco gathering became legend. MJQ became Atlanta’s Warehouse (Chicago), Atlanta’s Paradise Garage (NYC), and Atlanta’s Studio 54 (NYC). Everyone who is anyone entered the mouth of the cave. Dallas Austin. Janet Jackson. Outkast. Madonna. Techno titans graced the ones and twos within its bowel. Kerri Chandler. Kelly K-Hand. Ron Trent. “You should go to where the dancers are-MJQ.” A woman, aged twenty-something living in suburbia told me when I first moved to the city in 2003. MJQ was name dropped like a former President’s social media accounts. Over two decades later, there you spot the movements of capoeira around the “pole” in the room. While reading online rumors predicting, “The venue’s demise.” Half-truths of untruths. MJQ will move onward. Forward to new digs, addressed owners Rayan Murphy and Ryan Purcell. With the former space bulldozed to make way for more, you guessed it-gentriFUCKation.
How impressive for a DJ to possess the energy of yesteryear. Cullen Cole dressed in red, with greying beard, does so. He throws back time to the year 1999. The energy. His vibe. Is giving.
“No Requests Ya’ll” reads the red neon sign where underneath Cullen declares a “Love Revolution.” The Mysterious People classic is timely. The Mood II Swing Remix 2 is a choppy if unsteady affair. Where Yogi, @granolagirl with sweat rag in hand, spins around in a corner before bolting for the exit. The crowd thins. That leaves vacant real estate to dance between the bar and bathroom. Where the air feels degrees cooler and smells fresher. Grab your dance partner @deeeebo_x. When Cullen surprises with Leee John’s “Mighty Power of Love.” Listen to the audio, crisp and clear that eschews from overhead hanging sound ware. Feel the swing, when the eight notes are played in threes. When the drums gallop and the snares hiss. Witness the brilliance. The Mood II Swing Vox Mix has Generation Z dancing alongside Generation X, blacks, whites and every hue in between rejoicing. Proves the mighty power of music.
And dance! People come from all over to get down at MJQ. Big shout outs to Christy traveling from Seattle and Marcia traveling from Charlotte. There is @djdocramadhan providing entertainment for dilated pupils and cheering spectators. Fitness influencer, @sistasoukey popping her shoulders and locking her knees as her torso dips low. @aj.dance gliding into the men’s room of all urinals. Don’t judge, a dancer needs space to twirl, two-step and high-kick to Lil Louis’ “Fable” (The Director’s Cut Classic Club).
Detroit’s Terrence Parker’s “Love’s Got Me High” has the baddies and zaddies grooving. Mother Ward with Andrew Jacksons pinned to her blouse, poses for “Everyone’s Favorite Photographer.” Mother Gaines is seated on leather plush for one last time. As @ChefNoah passes out business cards for his restaurant as you wait for a bottled water at the bar.
“Yaasssss!” Your dance partner screams, abandoning you, running ever closer to the sound booth to praise Kentphonik’s “Sunday Showers.” That is a whole vibe. All before the house lights slowly shine brighter, Cullen the self-proclaimed @vinylsnobberry ends his all vinyl excursion, the last dance, playing one final question in song. “Do U Luv Me?”
The thirty or so heads left standing on the floor, bow, cheer, clap and plie to the Lil Louis & The World’s anthem.
“Yassss! We ❤️ you Cullen and MJQ. You owe us nothing.”
Epilogue
“They play music in New York, but not music like this.” Proclaims @deeeebo_x draped in a white bulky puffer, walking back into the cool crisp air. Beneath a clear and starry dark sky, your sneakers kick rocks. Downward, the sloping pavement where Beamers and Benzes used to cruise by. The wooden flanked smoke shop and Tattoo Ink parlor now closed. The shack. Parked vehicles. Across the street from that green liquor store. All urban landmarks. The thought of this parking lot being much else is hokum.
*https://creativeloafing.com/content-168333-late-night-magic-at-mjq-an-oral-history-part
wrds: aj dance,
not A.I.
graphc: aj art
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Tags: #dancefloormagic #housemusicexcellence, Adult Skate, Atlanta Georgia, Cullen Cole, dancing, deep house music, DJ Kemit, garage music, house music, house music dancing, Kai Alce, MJQ Concourse, MJQ Deep, MLK Holiday, Modern Jazz Quartet Concourse, soulful house music, vocal house music