I am a long time reader and I commend you for your effort in keeping everyone in this industry informed and inspired. My name is Vince Lawrence. I appeared in Frank Marshall’s Bee Gees film, discussing Disco Demolition from the perspective of a Black person who was actually in the stadium on that frightful day. I am also a writer and music producer credited for spearheading the House Music movement and remixing countless dance tracks.

I just read your commentary about the Bee Gees doc and appreciate the perspective. Of particular interest to me is your perception of the Disco Demolition event. You say, “Let’s go back to when this really happened. It wasn’t seen as racist or homophobic; the biggest story was THE WHITE SOX HAD TO FORFEIT THE GAME!”  Bob!, I don’t remember it that way at all.  When I “go back,” I remember that 1978 was barely ten years after the passage of the civil rights act and prior that the Jim Crow rule of law. Think about that; we had barely gotten past “whites only” restrooms and lunch counters and Black people relinquishing their seat on the bus. In 1976, Eric Clapton said ONSTAGE “I think we should send them all back and that England was in danger of becoming a “black colony”.  If I “go back” Bob, I go back to the event with the context around it. In 1978, here and abroad, race relations were in crisis. Disco Demolition is just another example.

Bob, your a brilliant thinker who always stands up for the rights of others. I’m genuinely disappointed that you focused on the media not seeing the event as racist or homophobic. HELLO BOB! Every Black and Gay person in the world saw it as racist and homophobic! That was the point of that sequence in the film.  I’m sorry, Bob, but that recollection makes you sound like a Trump loving white guy looking at all the “fun kids were having” with no consideration of whose expense.

One other thing, Did you ever hear the term “Disco Ni##3r”? Let’s face it; the antidisco movement was just another racist endeavor supported by many white men in the music and radio business. Bob its time we acknowledge our failings and stop gaslighting Black people by celebrating things that are clearly racist (or at best offensive).

The BLM movement has brought many issues of our past to the forefront of pop-culture. Discussing subjects like this out in the open is a great start. Perhaps it would be cool to have Steve Dahl and myself onto your SiriusXM radio show, given that we have such opposing views on this event. The audience, Steve, and even I would likely learn something.

Bob, one thing I’m working on, is to befriend as many smart people as possible. And when called for – offer my first hand perspective on what it is like to live in my shoes. Bob, consider me a friend. I know you one of the guys who could make a difference in this crazy fucked up world we live in.

Vince Lawrence

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Hey Bob,

Nice to see that you got it right! You may be the only one!! I am a friend
of Steve Dahl¹s, and the official photographer of Disco Demolition. When
we were at the stadium, out on the field, there was absolutely no thought
of racism and homophobia. It was never an issue. The story is:
Steve worked for a large rock station in Chicago, and was their
centerpiece. Around Christmas of 1978 (actually Christmas Eve) he was
broadcasting from the back of a truck on the street in front of the
station, doing a food drive dressed in a Santa Claus suit. When he was
done, he went upstairs to find out that the station was flipping formats
to Disco the following Monday and that he was no longer needed! So, he
drove home to his pregnant wife (in the Santa Claus suit) for a merry
Christmas of being unemployed! 

He quickly found a new job in the new yearon WLUP (The Loop) another powerhouse rock station in town. He started noticing that whenever he looked at the Top 10 songs in America, 7 or 8 of them were disco songs, and there didn¹t seem to be much room for rock and roll anymore. So he started “blowing up” Disco records on the air (sound effect) and making appearances in public to destroy disco records to the amusement of an increasingly larger crowd each time.

Mike Veeck (Bill Veeck’s son) the marketing manager for the White Sox suggested that the station sponsor a “Teen night” and have an appearance by Steve between games of a double header. It kind of was too successful!!
Revisionist history soon made it a racist event, when in fact it was just rock and roll fans expressing their displeasure for their music being edged out. Steve continually does interviews and is always asked if it was a racist event. He always says no, but it is always written up as such. He and I, along with writer Dave Hoekstra collaborated on a book 3 years ago, and even the publicist for the project asked us as the book was being finished why we were doing a book on a racist event. I had to ask her if she was listening to Steve in 1979, to acquire that opinion and she admitted that she had not been born at that time. 

Too other quick notes:

The Bee Gees were never a disco band- they were a pop band with great
songs and great harmonies.

Bill Veeck, the owner of the White Sox at the time, would never have stood for any kind of racist promotion. He actually marched with Martin Luther King, Jr, even though he only had one leg!!!

Paul Natkin