In het voorjaar van 2010 begon ik een bijzondere correspondentie met Michael Alig, de beruchte 'King of the Club Kids'. In de jaren 80 en 90 drukte hij, samen met Peter Gatien, een onuitwisbaar stempel op de clubcultuur van New York. Als het creatieve brein achter Disco 2000, een serie legendarische feesten in de Limelight, schreef hij geschiedenis. Deze iconische nachtclub, gehuisvest in een voormalige Anglicaanse kerk, werd het epicentrum van een culturele revolutie. Hoewel ik zelf nog optrad op Lord Michael's Future Shock, zouden onze paden zich destijds nooit kruisen.
Voor mijn documentaire wilde ik Alig spreken, wat uiteindelijk vorm kreeg via een briefwisseling tijdens zijn verblijf in Coxsackie Correctional Facility, een federale gevangenis in het oosten van de Verenigde Staten. Tussen februari en augustus 2010 wisselden we drie brieven uit waarin hij verrassend openhartig schreef over zijn ervaringen. Hij deelde niet alleen zijn encyclopedische kennis over de scene, maar deed ook talloze suggesties voor andere interviews en gaf inkijk in zijn leven achter de tralies.
In zijn brieven toonde hij zich optimistisch over een vrijlating in de nazomer van 2010. De realiteit bleek weerbarstiger - het duurde uiteindelijk tot 5 mei 2014 voordat hij weer vrij man was. Het geplande interview kwam er nooit, maar wat overbleef, is deze unieke briefwisseling. Hoewel ik mijn eigen brieven niet kopieerde voor verzending, vormen zijn antwoorden een gedetailleerde reconstructie van onze dialoog. De correspondentie onthult niet alleen een cruciaal hoofdstuk uit de geschiedenis van New Yorks elektronische muziekscene, maar toont ook een kant van Alig die zelden het daglicht zag. Met aanstekelijk enthousiasme deelde hij namen van dj's, producers en andere spilfiguren, en beschreef hij hoe zijn magazine Project X de opkomende acid house, trance en techno scene hielp vormgeven.
Na zijn overlijden op 24 december 2020 in New York kreeg deze briefwisseling een extra dimensie. Het vormt nu niet alleen het verhaal van een niet-gerealiseerd interview, maar is ook één van zijn laatste gedetailleerde getuigenissen over de scene die hij hielp vormgeven. Voor zowel liefhebbers van elektronische muziek als Alig's nog altijd toegewijde volgers bieden deze brieven een waardevol inkijkje in een bijzonder hoofdstuk uit de geschiedenis van de dancescene.
De eerste brief, 26 februari 2010
Dear Maurice,
Thanks for your letter... Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you, but the address you have for me is an old one and it takes them a while to forward my mail. My current address is: Michael Alig #97A6595, Box 999, Coxsackie Correctional Facility, Coxsackie, NY 12051.
I recognize a lot of the names on your list of confirmed artists involved in your production, and I would naturally love to be part of it, if I can. I just don't know how it would work. I know that they do allow media interviews here, and I have been interviewed for documentaries in the past while in here ... but never over the phone. They've always come and filmed in person. I suppose you'd have to call the Department of Corrections in Albany, New York, and see what they have to say. Anything you do would have to be cleared through them anyway. As for using footage from the PM documentary, you would have to ask someone at World of Wonder. They can be reached at 323-603-6300 in Hollywood, California. You can ask to speak to James or Theirin Smothers.
I should be released sometime this year, possibly at the end of summer or in early fall ... so maybe that might be a better time to do an interview? I don't know what your schedule is like ... but at least I'd be out there and you wouldn't have to go through all the trouble of setting something up in a jail. You have a really great list of people involved, I know almost all of them ... you might want to talk to people like DJ Keoki (who was the original DJ at Future Shock), Keoki, Lord Michael (promoter at Future Shock), Frankie Bones, etc. I don't know, you probably know who would work best ... these are just some names that popped into my head just now!
Anyway, thanks again for thinking about me. I would love to help in any way that I can... just let me know what you need and if you were able to get the necessary permission from Albany.
Otherwise, maybe we can meet up a bit later on, after I am released. Hope to hear from you again ...
XXOU, Michael
De tweede brief, 4 mei 2010
Dear Maurice,
Hey there ... thanks for your letter!! Of course I am/was interested in the music element! It's half of what you need to make a great nightclub! It's like, a great crowd of people is sort of useless without great music ... while at the same time, great music is useless ... unless you have great people to listen to it. So, yeah, I did/do care very much about music. In thinking ... maybe more names you're missing ... Adam X, Moby, Carlos Soul-Slinger, Joe-ski, Keoki, etc. Scotto… might be a good person to contact ... Altern-8? I really love them!
I can't listen to CDs in here, only cassettes ... and they have to come directly from a company and be sealed in plastic. It's very very difficult to get music in here! Fortunately I have a good friend in Texas who makes tapes for me. He goes to stores and buys up all the cheap tapes, Judy Garland, Bob Hope, etc. for something like 99¢ apiece, then he takes them home and records over them ... then he has the tapes shrinkwrapped and he sends them to me along with a fake invoice, like I'd ordered them from a catalog. Cute, huh? I don't know what I'd have done without him all these years, because the music I listen to ... is pretty hard to find!!
I am supposed to re-apply for release in just 87 days! Time is really going by quickly ... my counselor said he can't imagine why they wouldn't release me in early September ... it's going to be nerve-wracking, waiting for a response ... but I am pretty sure I'm going to go home soon, in a few months. In fact I just did a big interview with Interview Magazine, it's in the April issue and it came out really good, all about my upcoming release and future plans. They put in lots of great old pictures ... and one big new one that I really hate! I had just gotten my hair cut, and it's way too short, it makes me look bald!! Anyway, it's a positive article, nothing bad or negative ... just what's been going on with me, when I'll be coming home, what I'll be doing, etc. Anyway ... so yeah, contact me if you'd like to do some filming, or have me in your documentary ... you know where to find me ... at least for the next three months!
Thanks for thinking of me, Maurice ... bye for now ...
XXOU, Michael
Achterzijde:
Also: Mike "Hitman" Wilson, Doc Martin, Mark Spoon, Scot Hardkiss, Pete Avila, Damon Wild, Josh Wink, Jeff Mills, Anthony Reid, Quadrophonia.
Any documentary about electronic music + its connection to NYC nightlife would be incomplete without a section dedicated to the way we promoted + pushed acid house, trance, + later on, techno, with our fabulous magazine, Project X, which highlighted all the great electronica DJs + producers of the time!! (Just a little reminder! :))
De laatste brief, 4 augustus 2010
Dear Maurice,
Just received your letter ... I'm glad to hear you're moving ahead on your film project and that some of my information was useful to you ... I forgot if I've asked you this before, but have you contacted Keoki? Maybe you told me this already and I've just forgotten ...
Yes, I do have an email set up ... well, it's currently a blog, written by my friend Joanne, but it's where I'll be able to be contacted at once I'm released: michaelaligblog.com. Joanne also bought some other domain names for me, michaelalig.com, projectnext.com, and some others ... but for now, this is the one I'll be available at.
My drug program ends in five weeks, then I go before the Time Allowance Committee in mid-September. If they decide to grant me all my good time, and my counselor is still saying he thinks they will, then I should be released almost immediately. Now, the thing is, my release from state prison is going to be an anti-climax, because I will be being released not onto the streets, but into the hands of a Federal Marshal. I have to be taken to a federal facility where I will have my time commuted (for the federal sentence I have running concurrently with this one). Once they compute my time as having been completed, I'll have to sign my release papers and be released from there ... wherever that may be. I'm hoping it will be one of the federal facilities in either Manhattan or Brooklyn. I can't see this taking longer than a day or two ... a week, at the most. I've written to the judge who sentenced me about this, and he said it would be merely a formality and wouldn't take long at all, maybe not even a whole day. In any event, that's how it will all be going down ...
Well, if you want to do some filming of me leaving, I guess the place to do it will be at the door of the federal facility. Unfortunately, I won't know where that will be ... until I'm getting closer to my release date, and maybe not even until the last minute, when I am on my way there! I guess we'll just have to stay in touch ... unless there is some way you could "follow" me from out there. I know there are all kinds of "inmate locator" websites for the state Department of Corrections. I'm sure there is something similar for the Feds, no?
Maybe you can do a little investigating ... and if you come up with something, please let me know ... I'm sure my mom and friends would like to be able to follow me when I go to the Feds ... if only to know where to pick me up when I am released!
Anyway, thanks again for writing, Maurice ... good luck with your film and I'm looking forward to seeing you and maybe being part of your project ... after I'm released! Bye for now ...
XXOU, Michael
Achterzijde:
More names? Nikki Fingers Gonzo Corbett Rob Gee Decypher Prototype 909 Digital Domain MC Chris Styles (he'd sort of "rap" over the music on the main floor at Limelight) F-14 Program 2 Underground Resistance Formula.
Tussen 2008 en 2013 interviewde ik meer dan dertig pioniers van de rave-scene voor de documentaire 'Oldschool Renegades'. Hoewel slechts fragmenten van deze interviews in de film pasten, bevatten de volledige gesprekken verhalen die het verdienen om gedeeld te worden. Unieke verhalen die laten zien hoe een generatie pioniers met minimale middelen en maximale passie het fundament vormden van een nieuwe muziekstroming.
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