Goss would become DiVito’s friend and disciple, serving for many years as his alternate.ĭiVito grew up in Oak Lawn, a suburb south of Chicago. Billboard Magazine named him “best regional dee-jay” for two consecutive years. Back in Atlanta I heard some good jocks but none had the ear that Lou did.”ĭiVito was so good, he became Chicago radio’s first “hot mixer” on WDAI in 1979, recording his sets right in the club. “Lou was the first DJ I ever heard mix on beat and in perfect pitch. Goss was immediately struck by his skill. According to Goss, Davison was a bartender originally, but in 1973 he borrowed money from his parents, leased an old French restaurant called the Bistro, and converted it into a dance club. By the time Goss started going there, it had already been open four years. The Bistro was Chicago’s largest gay disco, and it was Edward “Dugan” Davison’s party.
Not Faces, not Zorine’s, not any of those clubs.”
It was so big, and it was so popular in Chicago that when touring rock stars and celebrities would come through, that’s where they would go. The Bistro was the pinnacle club in the Midwest and one of the top in the country…. One night Goss ventured farther afield, to The Bistro at 420 N Dearborn St., just north of Marina Towers on the Chicago River. Goss recalls that clubbers had to travel in groups, wearing whistles around their necks to call for help in case of muggings or literal “gay bashing.” Says Goss, “It was scary.” The area was nowhere near as upscale as it is today. On moving back to Chicago in 1977, Goss started dancing at Broadway Limited and Crystal Blinkers in what is now Boys Town. It was there that an aunt introduced him to clubbing. Goss grew up in Chicago, but between the ages of fifteen and seventeen he lived in Atlanta. Goss is the creator of Disco Museum, a sprawling tribute to the glory days of disco, when gay culture crossed over into mainstream America for the first time.
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In a basement full of memorabilia, Daniel Goss (51) catalogs his experiences, recording rare mixes and scanning personal photographs. The history of Chicago’s gay dance scene has gone mostly undocumented, despite its undeniable influence on the development of disco, house, and pop music. Daniel Goss on Dugan’s Bistro and Chicago’s First Radio Hot Mixer