Chicago House Music Oral History Project
 
Interview with Dana Powell

Authors

Micah Salkind

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Description

DJ Dana Powell grew up during the 1960s in Gary, Indiana, where he participated in school music ensembles in addition to getting involved in some theatrical dancing through programs like the Gary John Will Anderson Boys Club. Powell was instantly drawn to the thick orchestral arrangements of tunes like Barry White’s “Love Theme,” which his school band performed during a spring concert. In his first year of college, he recalls going to the Crystal Tower Disco and hearing Kraftwerk’s “Trans-Europa Express.” These two strains of what came to be called disco, synth-driven electronic music and Gamble & Huff/Sigma Studios’ orchestral funk, inspired Powell to become an avid record collector and a prolific DJ. During his decade-spanning career he performed at such lauded gay venues as Chicago’s Stop and Drink, but it was his longterm residency at the Generator that made him a local favorite, and a regional tastemaker (he was even lucky enough to get on the exclusive Strictly Rhythm mailing list). Powell DJ’d the Generator’s legendary disco Wednesdays (in rotation with founder Tyrone Mixx), as well as current house hits through the ‘90s until the Generator closed. Today he laments that the city’s DJs don’t support each other like they once did in Chicago, recalling fondly the days when he could call up on his fellow spinners to enjoy their hospitality on a night off.

Publication Date

2014

Publisher

Columbia College Chicago

City

Chicago

Keywords

House Music, Chicago, Illinois, Gary, Indiana, disc jockey, Generator, Stop and Drink, Tyrone Mixx

Disciplines

African American Studies | Gender and Sexuality | History | Latina/o Studies | Music | Regional Sociology

Comments

This interview is part of the Chicago House Music Oral History Project held at Columbia College Chicago and was captured for Do You Remember House? Chicago's Queer of Color Undergrounds authored by Micah Salkind and published in 2019. The work integrates histories of music, production, DJing, dance, fashion, and slang and addresses movements that led to the development of Chicago's house music.

Interview with Dana Powell

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