A Night In Paradise Announce Rochelle Fleming
Official Paradise Garage HIV fundraiser for The Terrence Higgins Trust and Gay Men’s Health Crisis
Rochelle Fleming – The Voice Of First Choice – will perform her first live show in London for almost two decades when she takes to the stage at A Night In Paradise later this month, when the Paradise Garage inspired event returns to Ministry of Sound on Sunday 27th November. She’ll be performing the legendary Philly/Disco bands classics including Let No Man Put Asunder, Doctor Love, Double Cross, and more.
Fleming joins a unique line-up featuring DJs who were a key part of the legendary New York club between 1977-1987, Ministry’s original house missionaries, and contemporary DJs who embody the club’s musical spirit: Jellybean Benitez, David Depino, Joey Llanos, Victor Rosado, and Severino in the Box; Paul Trouble Anderson, Fat Tony, CJ Mackintosh, Jazzy M, Ricky Morrison, Justin Berkmann, and Jeremy B in 103 (bringing the spirit of the venue’s first decade); and Handsome in the Baby Box with Terry Farley, DJ Paulette, HiFi Sean, Dave Kendrick, and Jamie Bull with Alison Limerick performing a live P.A. of the classic Frankie Knuckles & David Morales remix of ‘Where Love Lives’.
This event is an official fundraiser for two of the world’s first and leading HIV charities; New York’s Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) and the UK’s Terrence Higgins Trust, with all profits from the event being split equally between the two organisations.
Official Paradise Garage merchandise and membership cards will be available at the party.
The debut of A Night In Paradise in 2015 saw a sold-out show with over 2000 people paying homage to the legendary New York institution, dancing from day into night to the likes of Danny Krivit, Joey Llanos, David DePino, Victor Rosado, Jocelyn Brown, Justin Berkmann, Kenny Carpenter, and many more.
As Homer’s Odyssey is to western literature, the Paradise Garage is at the cornerstone of modern dance music and its culture. Having attained almost mythical status, this groundbreaking club and the man at its musical helm, the legendary Larry Levan, have had a profound and lasting effect on all forms of electronic music. The reception to this year’s definitive Levan ‘best of’ collection, ‘Genius Of Time’, proved that a whole new audience is discovering what Pitchfork described as his “slippery, pliant, ecstatic sound”.
From its inception in late 77' this “Paradise” in a former parking garage for trucks offered gay men, and indeed all its members, including post 70’s liberated women some relief from the mundane nature of everyday life, and the dog-eat-dog reality of an almost bankrupt and wholly unforgiving New York City. The dance floor at Levan’s ‘Saturday Mass’ was a place given over entirely to the enjoyment of music. There was no pretence and no attitude; there weren’t even any mirrors to distract you. There was only you, Larry and the music. Disco, Philadelphia soul, funk, r’n’b and a new emerging genre which we now know as ‘house music’ were all staples, but boundaries in music fell down too here; There was only one real rule – if you could dance to it, you could play it.
During the AIDS crisis at it’s epicentre in the early 80s, aside from hosting the world’s first ever HIV benefit ‘Showers’ in 1982, The Paradise Garage was invaluable in providing a support network for those affected by this not yet fully understood disease. The dark lesions that Kaposi’s Sarcoma left on its victims’ skin meant doors all over the city were closing to them; clubs, restaurants, bars, even their family homes and churches. Not here though, the door was always open, this was their home, their family and their church.
Paradise may have been lost, when over two weekends in the Autumn of 1987 over 14,000 people made their pilgrimage to say goodbye to the dance floor at No. 84 King Street, but we can hold up the Garage as a reminder of all it stands for, and the message of unity, love and respect in its music. An opportunity to support the fight against AIDS, to love life and uplift the music, the memory and people from what was perhaps the greatest party that ever was; the Paradise Garage, yesterday, today, tomorrow and forever.
Sunday 27th November 2016
2pm – Midnight
Ministry of Sound
103 Gaunt Street, London, SE1 6DP
Tube: Elephant & Castle
Tickets: £20/£25 advance. £30 on the door.
Ticket link: https://anightinparadise.eventcube.io/events/5059/a-night-in-paradise/
http://www.anightinparadise.org
The Box
Paradise Garage 1977 – 1987
Jellybean Benitez, David Depino & Joey Llanos, Victor Rosado, Severino
PA – ROCHELLE FLEMING – THE VOICE OF FIRST CHOICE
103
Ministry of Sound – The First Ten Years
Paul Trouble Anderson, Fat Tony, CJ Mackintosh, Jazzy M, Ricky Morrison, Justin Berkmann, Jeremy B
PA – Alison Limerick
The Baby Box
Handsome Dance Party
Terry Farley, DJ Paulette, HiFi Sean, Dave Kendrick, Jamie Bull
