Club O – Vashon’s Dance Club

You don’t have to spend a weekend night running in to Seattle just to find a cool place to dance. Now you’ve got your own place to go, club O: Vashon’s own dance club.
 
club O will be a regular monthly event, a chance for people to bust through the Friday blues and bust a move instead. The lights will be low, the disco ball will spin, and Vashonites can dance their hearts out.
 
Some nights will be theme nights, some will be fresh club music, some will be old school. And each night will feature a wide range of music.
 
club O opens on Friday, May 31, at 8pm, and features island favorite DJ Whitmore spinning real vinyl. DJ Whitmore is quickly becoming a Vashon legend, spinning at the Heron’s Nest on most First Friday Art Walks and for events all over the island. Michael brings a long, strange, wonderful story of how he became the guy on Vashon who owns 6000 45s and 3000 LPs. He used to own well over 8000 LPs, but sold or traded away many of them for more and better records. Michael’s been DJing off and on for over two decades, and says: "My first regular gig was at a place called Smalls in LA which use to be an auto body shop – and oddly enough my Dad worked there in the 1950’s." Michael’s collection ranges from 45s and eps from the late 1940’s. His best early record is a single from 1951 of Jackie Brenston’s Rocket 88 - which is actually Ike Turner’s band. Historians call it the first rock and roll record. Michael says: "I once found a 78rpm of that record in a stack of nothing titles ... it’s the holy grail of R&R records. But I couldn’t keep it - I told the owner of the store what it was!"
 
We asked Michael what craves, as a DJ and collector. His answer? More records, of course. "More boogaloo records, more northern soul. Boogaloo was a genre that evolved in the mid to late 60’s; it’s a combination of soul, funk and mambo. Northern Soul was a genre of Motown type records from mostly obscure artists and labels played in the clubs in Northern England and Scotland from about 1965 to 1975. And for years I’ve been fruitlessly searching for copy of a rare single from the late fifties: Little Butchie Saunders and his Gang, ‘Rock and Roll indian Dance’. The want list is never ending!"
 
Vashon has some serious dancing to do to catch up with Michael’s past experiences. He used to run a speakeasy and had a turntable behind the bar. "I’d spin everything from the Bulgarian Women’s Choir to Sinatra to Public Enemy, depending on the hour or the overall mood of the place. Sinatra was great at 4 am. Brazilian music was perfect at 6 am. It’s hard to say what the wildest party I ever spun at… I remember naked people at one party - but then again that’s LA on a good night!"
 
Michael has worked at some of the best record stores on the west coast: "Atomic Records in Burbank, CA is world famous for its jazz collection. Amoeba Records in Hollywood is the largest independent record store in the country and I had the best job there pricing the used and collectable 45’s. I also worked at Top Shelf records in LA owned by Mike D of the Beastie Boys, that was a tiny store with only 2 or 3 employees, but very cool. And now I work at Easy Street in West Seattle, which was just voted one of the top 5 record stores in the country by Billboard magazine."
 
Vashon may be the luckiest island in the world to have DJ Whitmore kicking off club O. Don’t miss the magic: Friday, May 31st, starting at 8pm. Tickets are $5 and available at the door only. Open Space for Arts & Community is located at 18870 103rd Ave SW, Vashon.