80's Flashback

Patrick Cowley, Megatron Man, 1982. I don't even know how to begin a post about Patrick Cowley, the openly gay and still influential electronic music pioneer who so dominated the soundtrack of my early club life. Everything he released, from his collaborations with Sylvester (Do You Wanna Funk), Paul Parker (Right On Target), and Loverde (Die Hard Lover) to his three seminal solo albums Menergy, Megatron Man, and Mind Warp - they all became immediate gay club standards and are still so today. (And not least of all, his epic 15-minute remix of Donna Summer's I Feel Love.) I remember being stunned and confused when Cowley became the first person I'd ever heard of to die of AIDS. That was in 1982, when it was still called GRID. He was only 32.

This Sunday in San Francisco there will be a free celebration and "living memorial" to the life and music of Patrick Cowley. A previously unreleased album of Cowley's work, Catholic, will be debuted at the event. I'll have information here about where to get Catholic when I get it. You can preview tracks here. Attendees of the event are invited to bring any personal items related to Patrick Cowley to contribute to the memorial.