Dance Mania

My fav, Steve Russell, front row, right.

Do not wear control top panty hose to the club. They seriously restrict your range of movement. For a part Benes/part jump 'n' funker like me that's troublesome. They do, however, reduce your thighs three fold, which, I guess, is worth it if you're not gonna be dancing. Oh and don't drink either because control top panty hose fit like a second extremely co-dependent skin and peeling them off for a Rosé fueled run to the restroom is a serious endeavor. Do pay attention to the label when you stop by Filene's after work to pick up black Donna Karan hose for insulation underneath party perfect tight jeans or prepare to feel the burn when you hit the dancefloor.

But my point is when I was feverishly dancing to Guy and Christopher Williams last night I thought of episode 411 of The Cosby Show and I started humming the theme to the Soul Train rip off Dance Mania and I felt really good.

My late night encounter with "I'm Dreamin'" inspired me to scroll through my iTunes for late eighties/early nineties R&B wunderkinds and I found Troop who came to me in my single digits. "My Heart" was my shit or as I would have put it then, "the jam" (I didn't start cussing 'til I was 19), and "Mamacita" permanently endeared them to my New Edition obsessed self but I hadn't uploaded Troop's eponymous debut to the shitty Dell yet (working on getting a Mac as we speak). I did notice a few tracks from their sophomore album Attitude "Spread My Wings", "All I Do is Think Of You", and the especially compelling "I Will Always Love You." Listen. "Shabba Dabba" sounds sweet even without the "tweet tweet tweet."

I was gonna call for an immediate reunion tour with Today (Big Bub, where ya at?) or Lo-Key as opener and then I saw that Troop put out an album last year four days after my birthday. I really want to see them perform. I don't care if they are old(er) and fat. I don't care if they still rock jheri curls (whatever your feelings toward curls, you can't front, theirs were hot. So was El DeBarge's and don't e-mail me claiming El's hair was naturally curly and juicy. I know a curl when I see one). I don't even care if they rock low budget Steve Harvey suits:

I just want to see them do the choreography from the "Spread My Wings" video that J-Lo jacked for the breakdown in her "If You Had My Love" video (Don't believe me? Just watch VH1 Soul). And I think it's telling that as many compile year-end best of lists (which I reserve the right to do in the near future) I consort with the ghosts of R&B past.