Miss Clap's apartment in Washington Heights wholly faces the inside of the block, and so our view out her window is the back wall of the neighboring building. Consequently, we get direct sunlight in the room for about fifteen minutes a day, usually sometime in the 10 o'clock hour of the AM. So during this indian summer on Sunday, I was still snoozing, but the direct light more or less woke me up.

I sprawled in bed. I blinked my eyes. And then I realized what I was hearing: someone was playing "Funky Town" at a remarkably loud volume. I looked over at the clock - 10:28.

Someone was playing "Funky Town" at 10:28 am on a Sunday morning?!

This was awesome!

I started dancing. Miss Clap slept on, undisturbed.

I kept listening, and apparently it was some sort of disco compilation. I don't remember specifics, as I was sort of drifting in and out of sleep, but I know "Night Fever" was involved, and possibly "Dancing Queen." Eventually Miss Clap woke up, and as she was drifting into consciousness, she said, "What the hell is that?"

And yeah, it was "Funky Town." Again. At 11:14 am on a Sunday morning. Which means that the compilation was on repeat.

We both started dancing. She yelled, "Turn it up!" We opened the window wider, and that actually did make it turn up. With the full exposure, I realized just how loud it was--it sounded like it was bouncing off a few surfaces before it got to us, so not only were we hearing it at full volume, but we were hearing it at full volume from either the street or a building or two away. It was impressive.

Then I think we sang Biz Markie's "Just a Friend," but that might have been Saturday morning. Anyway.

PS: Why is the Ladybug Transistor listed as a "Follower" on the Bee Gees' AMG page?

PPS: If you thought of that "Life in Hell" stip involving stereo wars in small apartments and "Funky Town," well, I did too.
posted by Mike B. at 12:23 PM 0 comments