Season 1 · Episode 7
Club owner and promoter · Danceteria, the Tunnel, Mars · club designer in São Paulo
Released 11 Oct 2021 · 1:10:35 as a podcast
Every name, club, book, song, night and look from the interview - 150 references and 493 mentions in this episode. From a 24-hour club six floors under a Berlin bunker and the one-night Pravda to Danceteria's floors, Madonna's first shows, Keith Haring's black-and-white floor, the Club Kids' basement at the Tunnel and a Liberace party with white pianos everywhere. Wow!
Short swept-back white hair and a white sweatshirt printed all over with black crosses
A home office lined with dark bookshelves, books and DVDs spread on a table, and a stereo speaker
Dress-up costumes
Upper East Side kids sneaking out in outfits; James calls them Halloween costumes, Rudolf the start of cosplay
Rudolf's club: first an illegal after-hours club on 37th Street in the Garment District, busted once it got too famous; then the legal second Danceteria with bands on every floor. Rudolf says the name came from someone passing a cafeteria and wanting a 'dancing area'
FashionLogo by David King (see Mood)
Heard as “Ansaturi / Dan Saturday / Dance Tyria / Dancer Jerky”
The city itself: Rudolf's home after Berlin and the setting of his clubs
Rudolf's third time living there; fifteen years of designing clubs, bars and restaurants and licensing New York brands
Rudolf liked LA but couldn't adapt; the 2 a.m. closing time drove him crazy
Heard as “LA”
Rudolf's club, opened just as Nell's took the cool crowd; he and Michael Alig made its basement the Club Kids' base. Rudolf says there's a second tunnel the same size underneath
Heard as “Tunnel / tunnel”
Rudolf's home city: isolated by the Wall, cheap for young people and, as he puts it, extremely urban, hard and nuts - good training for New York
Rudolf gave him a busboy job at Danceteria to stop him pestering the office, then his first nights; together they made the Tunnel basement the Club Kids' home. James relays Michael's version that Rudolf dropped him from Mars; Rudolf says they talked it through and stayed friends to the end
FashionClub Kid leader
Heard as “Michael / Michael Alec / Michael Alick / Michael Eilig”
Started in the Tunnel basement, dancing in the main room for their drink tickets. Rudolf sees their dressing up as the start of cosplay; he says a group dressed as villains after the Batman film broke into warehouses until he threatened their drink tickets
FashionHalloween-costume looks (see Mood)
Heard as “Club Kids / club kids”
Rudolf's Meatpacking District club; as he tells it, the hip-hop crowd, dealers taking over and violence there ended his New York stint. He took Michael Alig's ideas (like a tilted bar) but not the Club Kids
Heard as “Mars”
Rudolf spent three years there developing a club for Billboard
Heard as “Salt Beach / South Beach / south beach”
Rudolf says New York changed when he became mayor and puts him in a long line of repressive mayors, in much stronger words; James jokes he could have fixed New York with drink tickets
Heard as “Giuliani”
Rudolf ran Tatou there; the only interesting place in town, he says, for the locals
Rudolf's one-night club in SoHo, a Bauhaus-style opening sponsored by Fiorucci; he says that night made his New York career
FashionBauhaus design
Heard as “Pravda / Propda”
The guest: club owner, promoter and now designer behind Pravda, Danceteria, the Tunnel, Mars and Palladium nights, more than 130 clubs by his count; based in São Paulo. Links to his Night Fever episode
FashionStarted out as a window dresser in Berlin, among other jobs
Heard as “Rudolph”
Rudolf's club in the old Area space after Mars; it didn't succeed, he says, though its lounge was called the best-designed in America, and he sold it
FashionAward-winning lounge design
Heard as “Quick / quick”
Rudolf's heartbreak: a Palladium party for him with eight or ten white grand pianos and pianists in white tuxedos drew only about 2,000 people
FashionRhinestone showman (see Mood)
Heard as “Liberace / Mirachi”
Rudolf says he can't stand it; he saw it coming while building Mars and changed crowds
Heard as “HIPAA / hip-hop”
Where, Rudolf says, Michael Alig really became a star, and where the Club Kids formula continued
Heard as “Limite / limelight / limite”
Rival club owner; Rudolf says the clubs competed but owners all visited each other's clubs, except Peter, who as Rudolf tells it never went to anyone else's
FashionSignature eye patch
Heard as “Peter / Pillagation”
Between the two Danceterias; Rudolf found it in the old Knickerbocker Hotel
Heard as “Pepper Lounge / Peppermint Lounge”
Rudolf says he paid about $3,000 to bring her over for her first American show at Danceteria; she didn't tend bar there, despite what James had read
Heard as “Chardet / Chardé / Sade / Sarday”
Club for yuppies and uptowners Rudolf joined with Mark Fleischman; he ran its Beverly Hills branch 1991 to 1994 and its Aspen branch
FashionGeezers in bad suits at the bar (see Mood)
Heard as “Tattoo / Tatu / tattoo”
Rudolf tried moving back after LA and lasted three months
Heard as “Germans / Germany”
Rudolf says she lived in the Music Building opposite the first Danceteria before she was known, played her first shows there (but never worked there) and played her first concert for $200
Sponsored Pravda's opening; Rudolf remembers the shop's fabulous windows and that you could never actually buy anything
FashionFashion brand at the heart of downtown style
Heard as “Fiolucci / Fiorucci / Spiroci”
Rudolf's favourite club of all time now: a cathedral of clubs open seven nights a week. James's best memories are there
Where Rudolf lived after Berlin, doing events at Les Bains Douches, Le Palace and Queen
New York club Rudolf licensed to Brazil, with 14 branches across the country
Heard as “Kiss and Fly / key supply”
James misses its windows
FashionWindow displays
Heard as “Barney / Barneys / barnage”
A Danceteria busboy who needed money, as Rudolf recalls; Rudolf had him paint a whole floor black and white, done in about three days and later painted over
FashionPop Shop T-shirts and graphic style
Heard as “Keith Harring / Keith Herring”
Rudolf hired him for Pravda and was his partner at Danceteria and Peppermint Lounge until they fell out; as Rudolf tells it, Jim is still bitter about it, while Rudolf says he isn't. Rudolf says it also took weeks to talk Jim into the name Danceteria
Heard as “Jim Farad / Jim Farat”
One of the clubs Rudolf worked at between the two Danceterias
Heard as “Studio 54 / Studio fifty”
Opened weeks before the Tunnel and, as Rudolf tells it, took the whole cool crowd
Heard as “Nels / Nelson”
Paris club where Rudolf did events and, he says, David Guetta was a house DJ
Heard as “Bandouch / Bandouche / Banduce / Bondouche”
Rudolf's big flop: white pianos everywhere, only about 2,000 guests
FashionWhite grand pianos and white tuxedos (see Mood)
Heard as “Liberace party / party for Liberace”
Where Rudolf lives and works now: the New York of South America, he says, with after-hours clubs still running
Rudolf's partner at Tatou, the club for the uptown crowd, in New York, Beverly Hills and Aspen; Mark looked after the Beverly Hills establishment, Rudolf their sons and daughters
Heard as “Fleischman / Fleshman”
The decadence Rudolf says his Berlin club was inspired by, and his father's libertine friends' good old days
FashionWeimar decadence
Heard as “Weimar”
James asks if he was in Berlin; Rudolf doesn't remember him there. Later named among Fiorucci's shop staff
FashionSpace-age tuxedo and painted face
Heard as “Klaus Nomi / Klaus Nomia / Klaus Normi”
Rudolf's ex-wife and still a close friend; he says they really met on the staircase at the first Danceteria, not at the Mudd Club as she tells it. Links to her Night Fever episode
FashionQueen of the Night, famous for her figure-hugging looks
Heard as “Diane”
Where Pravda's Bauhaus-style night took place, when SoHo was still artsy
Heard as “Soho”
Where the first Danceteria opened, on 37th Street, off the beaten path for the downtown crowd
Heard as “Garmin district / thirty seventh Street / thirty-seventh Street”
Sire Records boss who, Rudolf recalls, came to Madonna's third Danceteria show and signed her first record deal
Heard as “Simo Stein / Simul Stein”
Where Dianne says she met Rudolf; he says it was the Danceteria staircase
Heard as “Mud Club / mud club”
Fenton suggests a drag trapeze challenge; James has heard a bar in Brazil rebuilt the Drag Race workroom
Heard as “Drag Race / drag race”
Upper East Side kids sneaking out in outfits; James calls them Halloween costumes, Rudolf the start of cosplay
FashionDress-up costumes
Heard as “Halloween costumes / cosplay”
The 1930s mayor Rudolf calls the most repressive of all, citing his ban on strip shows; he says Giuliani admired him
Heard as “La Guardia / LaGuardia”
Ann Magnuson playing accordion all night inside a Danceteria elevator
FashionPerformance-art showgirl
Heard as “accordion”
Rudolf says he introduced him to Liberace, which set up the Palladium party
FashionUnicorn-high pompadour
Heard as “John Sachs / John Sex”
Host; runs a true-or-false round on who really worked at Danceteria and shares his own Palladium memories. Links to his own Night Fever episode
FashionRemembers door staff searching his wigs and checking under his skirts (see Mood)
Heard as “James / James St. James”
Co-host; DJed on Danceteria's Congo Bill's floor with Randy and interviewed Rudolf years earlier for the Party Monster documentary. Links to WOW
Heard as “Fenton / fentany”
Co-host; away on special assignment for this episode. Mentioned as DJing with Fenton at Danceteria. Links to WOW
Heard as “Randy”
Fenton interviewed Rudolf in Paris for it, when Rudolf said there are two New Yorks, by day and by night
Heard as “Party Monster / party monster”
Where Mars stood; James says the area wasn't safe at night then
Heard as “meat packing”
Fabulous windows and nothing to buy inside, as Rudolf remembers
FashionPop colour and fashion fantasy
Heard as “fabulous windows”
Rudolf's first club, which James dates to 1970: a World War II bunker in Berlin, six floors underground and open 24 hours
FashionWeimar-style decadence
Heard as “Park / park”
James asks if she was in Berlin, and remembers her party at the Palladium
In Rudolf's account, it pushed drugs west through Berlin
Rudolf says Bowie came to Park now and then while living in Berlin, and that, as he sees it, Berlin was the worst city to go to get clean
Heard as “Bowie”
A Bauhaus-style club opening in SoHo, sponsored by Fiorucci
FashionBauhaus primaries and clean lines
Heard as “Bauhaus”
Named by Rudolf among Fiorucci's shop staff, and as Ann Magnuson's stage partner at Danceteria
Heard as “Frey Arias / Joe Arias”
James has read that he once said he bussed tables at Danceteria; Rudolf doesn't think so
Heard as “Cool J”
Co-founder of Xenon, named in passing before Rudolf settles on Seymour Stein as the man who signed Madonna
Heard as “How Stein / Howard Stein”
Rudolf says the first Danceteria was 100% illegal, open from Friday night to Sunday morning, and got busted once the press made it too famous; he's proud of it
Heard as “got busted”
Drag queens in furs, wigs and boas swinging on trapezes over a safety net, as Rudolf remembers
FashionFurs, wigs and feather boas
Heard as “trampee / trapeze”
After the first Batman movie, as Rudolf tells it, some Club Kids dressed as super-villains (see Club Kids)
FashionSuper-villain costumes
Heard as “Batman”
Kids dressed as super-villains after the Batman film, as Rudolf tells it
FashionSuper-villain costumes
Heard as “super villains”
Named by James as the man who represented Mars's Japanese investors; spelling as heard
Heard as “Yuki”
Rudolf says he founded it as the New York Cabaret Association, bringing all the club owners together
Heard as “Cabaret Association / Nightlife Association”
Named by James as a club owner who really led his crowd
Heard as “Eric”
Quick opened in the old Area space; Rudolf says Area had run its course and was a hard act to follow
Heard as “and area I mean / old area space”
A $20 million club Billboard backed in South Beach, which Rudolf developed; he says it opened just before 9/11 and never took off
Heard as “Billboard / billboard”
James loves its neat, clean graphic look, which he says defined the early 80s; final art by David King
FashionClean early-80s graphics
Heard as “logo”
Designer who, as Rudolf recalls, did the final art for the Danceteria logo; part of the walk where the name was found
FashionGraphic design
A field Rudolf says the French are good at; he went to a seminar on it in Brazil and it's the last chapter of his book
Heard as “sociology of night / sociology of the night”
Rudolf remembers her shows with Joey Arias and the night she played accordion all night inside a Danceteria elevator
FashionPerformance-art costumes
Heard as “Anne Maggerson / Anne Maguson”
Where Liberace was performing when Rudolf planned his Palladium party
Heard as “radio city / radio street”
Eight or ten white grand pianos with pianists in white tuxedos all over the Palladium
FashionWhite tuxedos and white grand pianos
Heard as “white tuxi / white uh pianos”
Rudolf's finished book of nightlife stories, written in Portuguese, ending with the sociology of the night; he'd like to have it translated
Heard as “rise and fall of the mega”
Fenton's company, mentioned in the intro
Brazil's president when the episode was recorded; Rudolf doesn't name him, only calls him a bad imitation of Trump
Heard as “except the president”
Rudolf calls Brazil's president at the time a bad imitation of Trump
Heard as “Trump”
James remembers door staff going through his wigs and checking under his skirts once clubs started searching people
FashionWigs and skirts
Heard as “my wigs”
Rudolf's picture of the Beverly Hills regulars standing at the bar
FashionBad suits
Heard as “bad suits”
Rudolf: the only store left with interesting windows, if even that
FashionWindow displays
Heard as “Bloomingdale”
A 24-hour club six floors under a Berlin war bunker, in the spirit of Weimar decadence
FashionWeimar-style decadence
Heard as “bunker”
Berlin nightlife star James asks about; Rudolf says she was around in his Park days
FashionGlamour drag cabaret star
Heard as “Ronnie Hag”
Why, Rudolf says, nobody wanted to move to West Berlin, so the government paid half the rent for young people
Heard as “the wall”
One of the big bands Rudolf remembers playing his Berlin club on minimal equipment for about a thousand dollars
Writer who, Rudolf says, still remembers the Pravda night
Heard as “Anthony Aden guest”
LA writer and 60s–70s It girl; Rudolf has just discovered her book about Fiorucci, which he says reads like science fiction today
Heard as “Eve Babbitts”
Eve Babitz's book about the Fiorucci shop that Rudolf has just read
FashionFiorucci fashion
Heard as “this book by Eve”
Part of the uptown, downtown, fashion and Hollywood mix that converged at Fiorucci, as recalled on the show
As Rudolf tells it, he hired him to paint a wall at the first Danceteria and let him go when it got too artistic
Heard as “Basquiat”
Rehearsal building across from the first Danceteria, where, as Rudolf says, Madonna lived before she was known
Heard as “music building”
A whole floor painted black and white in about three days, as Rudolf recalls
FashionGraphic black-and-white line art
Heard as “black and white”
The label that signed Madonna after a Danceteria show, as Rudolf recalls
Heard as “Sigh Records”
Rudolf says a Rolling Stones release party at the first Danceteria made headlines around the world
Heard as “Rolling Stones”
Rudolf says it wrote about the illegal first Danceteria before the club was busted
Rudolf says it wrote about the illegal first Danceteria before the club was busted
Heard as “Daily News”
Rudolf says the then-unknown band asked $4,000, over his $3,000 limit per band, so they never played Danceteria
Heard as “called U2”
Partner and investor in the second Danceteria, giving Rudolf money he didn't have the first time
Heard as “Argento”
Named by Rudolf (heard as Alexi Lorenzo) as the other partner and investor in the second Danceteria; owned its 21st Street building
Heard as “Alexi Lorenzo”
As Rudolf recalls, the old Knickerbocker on West 45th Street housed Peppermint Lounge and, before it, GG's Barnum Room. Not the Times Square Knickerbocker
Heard as “Knickerbocker”
Gay club in the old Peppermint Lounge space on West 45th Street, with drag queens swinging on trapezes over a safety net
FashionDrag trapeze show (see Mood)
Heard as “G G Barnums”
Danceteria's fourth-floor lounge where Fenton and Randy DJed and met Michael Alig, then a busboy
Heard as “Congo Bills”
A judge at Michael Alig's first Danceteria party, the Filthy Mouth contest. Links to his Night Fever episode
Heard as “Musto”
Michael Alig's first party, as James remembers: James, Michael Musto and Andy Anderson as judges and Anita Sarko as MC; James says people got up, talked dirty and got naked
Heard as “Filthy Mouth”
Bonjour jeans founder and Tunnel co-owner, named by James (heard as Ellie Diane) as Rudolf's partner there. Rudolf says the club took too long and cost too much to open
Heard as “Ellie Diane”
Rudolf says the first generation of club kids were Upper East Side kids sneaking downtown in outfits
Rudolf says the Mudd Club owner had real charisma, odd as he was
Named by James with Arthur Weinstein as owners who were better at partying than at business
Heard as “Rocchio”
Named by James with Frank Rocchio as owners who were better at partying than at business
The buyer Rudolf names when he sold Quick; spelling as heard
Rudolf says Guetta was one of his house DJs at Les Bains Douches in Paris before becoming a superstar
Heard as “Guetta”
Paris club Rudolf calls the greatest of them all, near its end when he arrived
Heard as “Les Palace”
Another Paris club where Rudolf did events (heard garbled)
Heard as “Queen's uh Green”
Billboard Live opened the day before, as Rudolf tells it
Heard as “nine eleven”
DJ who brought new wave to Danceteria; on the walk where the name came up
Freud's disciple, whose writing on repression as a conservative tool Rudolf cites
Heard as “Breich”
Heard garbled; Rudolf's example of painters who belonged to nightlife
FashionBelle Époque posters
Heard as “doubtreck”
Rudolf says its crowd practically lived at Danceteria
Rudolf calls Berlin's expressionist movement a nightlife movement
Heard as “expressionist”
Rudolf: Danceteria's era had no cell phones or video cameras, and MTV was just starting
Nightlife writer whose interview with Rudolf James quotes: Rudolf now names Palladium his favourite club
James remembers her dancing on the table at her Palladium birthday party
Palladium's VIP room; James says it was always spectacular
Heard as “Michael Todd”
One of James's Palladium memories
Heard as “Grace Jones party”
James's favourite party of all time
Heard as “zigzag”
Rudolf remembers Palladium's Tuesday meetings and how Steve talked journalists round from complaints to fabulousness; James calls him a modern-day P.T. Barnum
Heard as “Steve Revell”
Journalist Rudolf gives as an example of a reporter ringing the Palladium meeting
A home office lined with dark bookshelves, books and DVDs spread on a table, and a stereo speaker
FashionShort swept-back white hair and a white sweatshirt printed all over with black crosses
His home library of packed bookshelves, an Edgar Allan Poe portrait, action figures, a studio microphone and a cowboy poster
FashionShaved head, black rectangular glasses, a peach satin cravat and a silver-grey satin jacket
Olive-brown curtains and a large white studio microphone
FashionNavy and white Breton-striped top and pink-rimmed glasses; bald
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