Deep house origins according to Terre Thaemlitz

"There must be a hundred records with voice-overs asking, 'What is house?' The answer is always some greeting card bullshit about 'life, love, happiness....' … House is not universal. House is hyper-specific … 'The contexts from which the deep house sound emerged are forgotten,' states Terre Thaemlitz, aka DJ Sprinkles, in a wistful spoken intervention on Midtown 120 Blues. 'Sexual and gender crises, transgendered sex work, black market hormones, drug and alcohol addiction, loneliness, racism, HIV, ACT-UP, Tompkins Square Park*, police brutality, queer-bashing, underpayment, unemployment and censorship – all at 120 beats per minute.' Midtown 120 Blues is educational, for sure; but it’s no lecture – Thaemlitz demonstrates the emotive and (believe it or not) political potential of deep house not just through rhetorical preaching, but by assured and heartfelt practice. (via FACT and RA)

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"Probabil ca exista sute de piese cu voice-over-uri care intreaba, 'Ce este [muzica] house?'. Raspunsul seamana intotdeauna cu o carte postala plina cu urari de kkt despre 'viata, dragoste, fericire...' [Muzica] house nu este universala. [Muzica] house este hiper-specifica... 'Contextul in care s-a nascut [muzica] deep house-ul e uitat', afirma Terre Thaemlitz, aka DJ Sprinkles, intr-o discutie plina de regret despre albumul Midtown 120 Blues. 'Crizele sexuale si de gen, hormonii de pe piata neagra, dependenta de droguri si de alcool, singuratatea, rasismul, HIV, ACT-UP, Parcul Tompkins Square*, brutalitatea politiei, violenta fata de fenomenul queer, sub-salarizarea, somajul si cenzura - toate la 120 BPM'. Midtown 120 Blues (asculta aici) este educativ, cu siguranta; dar nu e un curs, iar Thaemlitz demonstreaza prin el potentialul emotional si - sa vezi si sa nu crezi - politic al deep house/ului, nu doar printr-o predica retorica, ci prin practica simtita din inima si asumata." (via FACT si RA)

*By the 1980s Tompkins Square Park had become for many New Yorkers synonymous with the city's increased social problems. The park at that time was a high-crime area that contained encampments of homeless people, and it was a center for illegal drug dealing and heroin use.

In August 1988, a riot erupted in the park when police attempted to clear the park of homeless people; 44 people were injured. Bystanders as well as homeless people and political activists got caught up in the police action that took place on the night of August 6 and the early morning of August 7, after a large number of police surrounded the park and charged at the hemmed-in crowd while other police ordered all pedestrians not to walk on streets neighboring the park. Much of the violence was videotaped and clips were shown on local TV news reports (notably including one by a man who sat on his stoop across the street from the park and continued to film while a police officer beat him up), but ultimately, although at least one case went to trial, no police officers were found culpable.

The park had become a symbol of the problems in the city. Against that backdrop, Daniel Rakowitz^[11] Rakowitz, nicknamed "The Butcher of Tompkins Square", was found not guilty by reason of insanity and remains incarcerated at the Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center on Ward's Island.^[12] shocked the neighborhood in 1989 when he murdered Monika Beerle, dismembered her, made a soup out of her body and served it to the homeless in the park.