Stonebridge & Crystal Waters Take on ICON

Stoney, Nick, Atilla and I

It was 100% pure love under last night's supermoon at Nick Lion's club, Icon, in Astoria. Some of international clubland's most talented and charming personalities were in the house.

Starting at 8 pm, Icon was open for a press conference with dance-music producer Sten Hallstrom (known professionally as StoneBridge) and dance diva deluxe, Ms Crystal Waters.

I first met StoneBridge and his protege, Dj Atilla, outside the club before doors opened. They are simply the nicest, funniest two gentlemen you'd ever hope to encounter. We were then joined by promoter Barbara Sobel, who stepped from her cab fashionably chic with a lovely new 'do and glam black blouse/skirt ensemble.

I introduced myself to the divine Ms Waters shortly after she entered the club. We'd already done an interview regarding her new song, "Be Kind," that she did with Stoney and is destined for the top of the charts at clubs and on dance radio. Crystal is an absolute doll and it was a pleasure and a privilege to meet her in person.http://djbuddybeaverhausen.blogspot.com/2014/07/new-crystal-waters-interview-exclusive.html

Once the press conference officially began, I asked Sten why he took on the name StoneBridge. Well, wouldn't you just know that Sten means "Stone" in Swedish. Holy Smiles of a Summer Night! And Bridge is an audio mixing term. Get it?

I learned from Sten and Crystal that, although they'd known about each other for ages, they met for the fist time at a club in Amsterdam in 2010. They have now recorded 14 tracks together. If "Be Kind" is any clue as to their collaborations, these songs must all be brilliant. Sten informed me that Crystal has an upcoming album, working with various producers, and some of his tracks will be on it. Already, I want to hear the outtakes!

I told Crystal I'm now a Brooklynite and asked if she ever performed there. She happily replied that she has performed at Brooklyn Pride. She also performed at the old Spectrum club in Brooklyn with its iconic dancefloor (filmed in Saturday Night Fever). I told her that, in the '90s, I used to come into Bay Ridge from Manhattan, with friends, to dance there.

As we were side by side at the buffet supplied by Icon for its VIP guests, ready to chow down, I asked Crystal about her being the youngest recipient (at a mere 14) of the American Poetry Society. "My mother found my poems and submitted them," she informed me as she put a turkey/chesse-on-crusty-Italian on her plate. Was she eying the potato salad or getting inspired to pen a new song? Or both?!

Roped into the VIP area, it was a delight to schmooze with Nick Lion and guests like Get Out Awards 2013 Award Winner, Eric Alan, the club's Marilyn Monroe, Barbara Sobel and others.

Resident dj Ian Ford started the night and ushered in the excitement after doors officially opened. Then Dj Atilla brought everybody's booties to the floor and finished his dynamic dj'ing once the very physically kinetic StoneBridge took over with rock keyboardist moves behind the booth.

StoneBridge opened his set with "Be Kind," which brought the booties to the dancefloor en masse. There is no way this can't be a huge, global hit! Crystal's best song ever! And THAT is saying something!

Party pictures:

Go Go God

Young Icon clubgoers

Me & Crystal Waters

Ian Ford

Eric Alan & I

Billboard's Year-End 2013 Dance Songs of the Year

This year's #1 on the Billboard Top 50 Dance/Club Songs chart really blew me away! What a refreshing surprise that the UK's Emile Sande's "Next to Me," from her 2012 album release, is at the top. Sande is truly a diva to keep your eye on and your ears open for. This soul/funk upbeat throwback highlights the Scottish singer's distinctive vocals and songwriting skills. Mirrorball's Big Room mix is best in my opinion. How nice to have this settle atop the US chart!

Next to her, at #2, is Christina Aguilera's "Let There Be Love." More disco funk in fourth place with Daft Punk's "Get Lucky," a definite neuveau-disco and certainly one of the year's best dance tunes.

Frankly, though, there's a lot of crap at the top of the chart until you get to the acceptable "People Like Us" by Kelly Clarkson, at # 18 another pop radio tune remixed for clubs rather than a song intended for them. (She is also at #31 with "Catch My Breath.") Lovely to find Yoko Ono at #19 and Kylie Minogue's "Skirt" at #22.

Ellie Goulding occupies both the 24th and 26th spots. In the prior, she is featured vocalist on dance producer Calvin Harris' "I Need Your Love" and is solo star in the latter slot's "Anything Could Happen." Katy Perry's "Roar" at #27, again topping Lady Gaga on the chart though LaGa's release ("Applause") came later in the year and appears on the chart as numero 35.

Depeche Mode scored a major dance hit with "Heaven" (#29). Very happy to see Chris Cox + Dj Frankie's "Oh Mama Hey," featuring the voice of Crystal Waters, at #41. Truly one of my faves of 2013 that can bring me to the dancefloor any time. Tori Amos' "Flavor" is #42, buoyed by one of the late, great Peter Rauhofer's final remixes.

Cher's "Woman's World" sneaks in at #46, released mid-year.

And there we have it: your Hit Parade per Billboard featuring some of our current, beloved divas. Have a safe, holiday season and support the artists and the club venues and let's hope 2015 will bring a big return to true dance/club music for us all.



You can see the full Billboard round-up by visiting:
http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2013/hot-dance-club-play-songs

Beaverhausen's Divas: Week in Focus

Happy Passover and Easter, everyone! Like Joan Rivers, I'm celebrating both Spring holidays by dying matzoh. And by looking back over this past week in divadom!

Yoko Ono, 80, continued her club diva reign as "Hold Me," redesigned by Dave Aude, rose to #3 on the Billboard Dance chart (and she appears to be upwardly mobile).  Crystal Waters' "Mama Say" (best club tune in months) is sitting pretty at #13, after claiming the #1 Dance/Club position two weeks ago. Meanwhile, Christina Aguilera's "Let There Be Love" nudged into the chart at #21, looking like it has legs fit for climbing.

Divas Mariah Carey and Lady Gaga had birthdays over the past week. And Ms Dionne Warwick is broke, owing the Feds USD$10 million! While most of us are envious because we wish we made enough to owe the IRS that kind of bread, Ms Warwick was at least able to become a tabloid darling, grabbing headlines once more.

Oh, la publicite! La publicite!

Cystal Waters, Yoko Ono, Tori Amos: Billboard Dance Divas

While the current Billboard dance chart leaves me cold in many ways, there are some gems amongst the dust. And I don't mean to be a Dj Buddy fuddy-duddy but I am having an affair with classic disco and, especially, the music of Bob Esty right now, reminding me how great dance music can be. The current crop of dance music, especially as seen on the Billboard Dance/Club chart, is a disappointment by any aesthetic comparison as far as I'm concerned.

If my finger on the pulse of the gay dance-music scene in NYC is any indicator, a nostalgic embrace of club music from the '70s through the '90s is what's currently happening. Clubs in the boroughs are regularly announcing revival nights with legendary divas for whom there are hardly any matches on today's dance-music scene. On July 12, there will be a major, open-air Tribute to Donna Summer concert, featuring Gloria Gaynor, The Village People, The Trammps and Rose Royce, on Coney Island. This is where the gay scene's currently at, not just for those who remember the day, but for the young who are rejecting the demeaned quality of today's dance music, frequently remixed radio-oriented songs. A quiet disco revolution is going on, take it from me.

Yet some divas spring eternal. Like the ever-essential Crystal Waters, who burst on the scene in the 1990s in a major way with the classic "Gypsy Woman." Her distinctive vocal stylings took the current "Oh Mama Hey"all the way to #1 in a mere eight weeks on the dance chart. (As I write this, Ms Waters is returning from performing in Moscow, stuck in Domodedova Airport with bad pizza and warm beer.) The Chris Cox/Dj Frankie-produced number is a catchy, tribal dance tune that sticks to your head with its fantastic chorus. Especially loving the original dance mix!

Yoko Ono is 80 and she has a new Billboard Dance/Club hit, "Hold Me," produced by Dave Aude. The avant-garde artist and peace and AIDS activist, became a house-music mama in the '90s. Mama hey, mama hi! However, she initially entered the dance-music arena in the 1970s when she recorded "Walking on Thin Ice."

"Hold Me" is currently on Billboard at #9, up from #13 in 6 weeks!

And Tori Amos' "Flavor," finally, is still charting at #12. It went to #1 weeks ago and has clung to Billboard's Dance/Club for 12 weeks total so far. Glory to Tori.

Big thanks, hugs and hellos to my readers in: China, Ukraine, Sweden, Iraq, Romania, Croatia, Belgium and Russia! Peace, love, happiness ... and Disco!

Below, the official video for "Oh, Mama Hey!" Radio-edit version.

Retro Is the New New on Billboard

Dj Buddy B in a groovy space

I'm in a real groovy space right now as I write this, sipping on a little wine (as Gloria Gaynor, I believe, once put it), and listening to the Joey Negro/Sean P compilation double-cd set, "The Soul of Disco: Volume Two." It opens with the funky "Disco Party" by The Escorts, in which gritty, bass-heavy beats and guitar give way to soaring strings and vocals, bringing us back to a bygone musical era . This is followed by the rare Gladys Knight and the Pips' "It's a Better than Good Time," 12" Walter Gibbons mix, which is just disco-heavenly.

I am checking out, in the meanwhile, Billboard's latest top-25 Dance/Club chart, surprised to find it, too, embracing classic dance-music styles, particularly New Wave '80s and '90s House music.

Adele has risen with the remixed pop theme song, "Skyfall," to #10 (from #13 last week), which is more a throwback to the '60s and early '70s as remixed for the Teens. The sublime Oscar-nominated number has several solid dancefloor remixes though it is, no doubt, buoyed on Billboard by the latest re-work by Peter Rauhofer.

"Gold," the Spandau Ballet 1980s classic, has been remixed and remains at #8, more evidence that there is a current popular gravitation to the melodic songs of the 1960s through the 1980s, generally. '90s rock star Lenny Kravitz' "Superlove" peaked at #2, and still remains at 15th place while, at #16, The Pet Shop Boys (who have been with us since the '80s), jumped up three notches since last week with "Leaving" from their current album. http://djbuddybeaverhausen.blogspot.com/2012/10/audio-beaverhausen-pet-shop-boys-elysium.html

Ciara is "Sorry" at #17 but, seriously,  it's nice to have her back. And it's simply awesome to have another song by '90s diva, Crystal Waters -- still going strong on the international club scene-- up and rising at #20 with the superb, energetic Italo-houser, "A Love to Call My Own." Hope to watch it soar!

How come, when I dance in the street, people think I'm a freak? I was hoping this question would be answered on the great new number by Stereo Missile, "Freak," featuring the vocals of another great '90s diva with powerful pipes, Carlotta Chadwick. The question, as posed by Ms Chadwick, is, however, academic, as it turns out. The electro style by Stereo Missile is coolly retro, and it is currently #22.

Revenge of the '90s House Music continues with  Euro-trance producers Delirium returning with a new hit, "Days Turn Into Nights" (#24). And, to round things off, '90s girl, Tori Amos, returns to the Billboard Dance Chart with her new song, "Flavor," remixed by Rauhofer once again, and up at 23rd place. Retro is the Flavor of Today.

But it's even more retro at the Beaverhausen residence tonight as Janice McClain belts out the mid-temp disco number, "Giving My Love" on my aforementioned cd. Retro is the new New! Or so, at least, it seems tonight.

100% Pure Love: Happy Birthday, Crystal Waters!

Dj Buddy Beaverhausen and his readers wish Crystal Waters a very happy birthday today! The dancefloor diva first took the world by storm in 1991 with "Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless)." It was such a massive club and radio hit, there was no escaping it that summer. It climbed to #1 on the Billboard Dance chart, and was an international sensation as well. The thing is, not many people realize the song was originally written for Ulta Nate.

See, Crystal was writing songs for producers Basement Boys, who were so taken by her demo that she was asked to record it herself. Voila! She became a disco darling overnight!

Ethel Waters

But Ms Waters is musical royalty, in fact. Her father is the jazz great, Junior Waters, and her great-aunt is none other than the legendary singer and actress, Ethel Waters. Crystal was also the youngest person ever to be inducted into the American Poetry Society, at a mere age 14.

As crystal clear as water, Crystal Waters is one of the all-time greatest divas of dance music with her brilliant, catchy songs and distinctive vocals and phrasing. She has played to sold-out shows in the UK, Egypt, Dubai, Mexico, Japan, Germany and just about everyplace on the planet. She has also scored #1 club hits with her songs, "Makin' Happy," "100% Pure Love," "Come on Down," "My Time," among others, and also charted in the USA and internationally with "Destination Calabria," "Dancefloor" and "Never Enough." Crystal was also featured vocalist on the 2011 Yolanda B Cool number, "Le Bump," which I really liked a lot. It has a retro, swingtime feel to its distinctly house music beat and came out around the same time as Gloria Estefan's "Hotel Nacional," which had a similar flavor, and I liked mixing them together. I recommend you give it a listen.

So, Happy Birthday, Crystal Waters! Here's to many more and we look forward to many more songs to inspire us to take it to the dancefloor as well.

The original video for "100% Pure Love:"

My Look at the Chart: This Week's Billboard Dance/Club Top 25

While Havana Brown featuring Pitbull captures the #1 position on this week's Billboard Dance/Club chart, "Stronger" by Kelly Clarkson drops to second place. (The less said about a song entitled "F U Betta" by Neon Hutch, the betta, I think. It's #3.)

Madonna cracks the top ten, up 14 spots from last week! "Give Me All Your Luvin'" makes a huge leap to #10, attributed to dj club play that reflects her strong promo of the song at Superbowl half-time. Our modern-day Joan Crawford once again reinvents herself to amazingly capture the pop-culture youth market.

Yoko Ono's "She Gets Down on Her Knees" gets up to the 18th position, from 22 last week. Won't be surprised if Ono makes it all the way to #1; she usually does. Talk about recapturing the youth market! Yoko just turned 79, bless her and her ever creative and irreverant wit.

After peaking at #7, Erasure's "Be with You" hangs in strongly at 21 after 12 weeks on the chart.

And "Love on Top" by Beyonce makes it into the Top 25 at #25. Expect it to peak at #1. Great remixes to push it there.

In the meantime, enjoy this dance-music video, set in a nursing home. (Ok, all you disco dinosaurs, prepare!) It's the always fabulous Crystal Waters doing a swing-goes-disco number (a'la the recent Gloria Estefan charter, "Hotel Nacional") with a serious Doctor Buzzard & His Savannah Band sound. Puppini Sisters, let's get with it!



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