He seemed like a wonderful human being by your words about him. Anyone who brings music to other people for the pure joy of sharing it is a beautiful person. Especially nice to hear about twin cities history. Did Freddy Fresh also play at his parties?
minto On Jan 2, 2013, at 2:20 PM, Michael Elliot-Knight <[email protected]> wrote: > Some of you may know of Thomas Spiegel. He was the owner of the deep house > record label Deep Haven Records based in Miami Florida. > He was also a good friend of mine. > > Sadly, Thomas passed away on Sunday. > > What follows may be a bit long but I owe it to him to tell you about him. > > I first met Thomas, well, I can't recall what year or how long ago. I do > know that I had heard stories of his legendary House Nation Under A Groove, > Club Degenerate, and Hair Police parties from a mutual friend. Thomas was > pretty much is solely responsible for introducing House music to the > Minneapolis/St Paul area back in the 80s when the underground was > underground. He was a dedicated House head - 100% and he tried to live his > life in the true spirit of House. > > Without Thomas Spiegel there would be no Woody McBride/DJ ESP, no Zak > Khutoretsky (Transmat), no Minneapolis house or possibly techno scene at all. > Thomas brought his love for House music that he picked up in NYC in the 70s, > moved back to Minneapolis and got together with local DJ Kevin Cole (who was > more of a rock & roll guy) to start the House Nation Under A Groove parties. > It was at one of these parties that Woody McBride was introduced to House > music. Thomas told me how he used to see a teenage Woody hanging around the > DJ booth to find out what records they were playing. > Thomas was personally involved with and learned from the best of the best in > the NYC underground House world: Tee Scott, DJ Mark Kamins (Danceteria), > Afrika BamBattaa, Jose Borbon (Vinylmania), David Morales, Roger Sanchez, > Tony Humphries and the Richard Long sound system at Club Zanzibar, Blaze, > Vinylmania Records owner Charlie Grappone and Ed Cushions of West End > Records. Thomas was the first to let Cushions know about how the West End > releases were being sampled by new house music producers without his > knowledge or permission. > > Thomas introduced me to his method and outlook via his House Nation Under A > Groove parties here in Minneapolis. I'll forever remember the postage stamp > sized 7th Street Entry room we used at the very rock orientated First Avenue > Nightclub (made world famous by Prince and his Purple Rain movie). We would > start early in the day of the event (or the day before) loading in all the > sound system until there was very nearly no room to move across the room. > Then we'd begin to arrange and stack the system - test and retest it - under > Thomas' direction, until we had built his legendary Wall of Sound. Years > later, Woody McBride would borrow the name for his Wall of Bass - but Thomas > always insisted that he was after much more than just bass but a full > spectrum of sound. He was chasing the infamous Richard Long sound, which > Thomas called Mr Clean. Thomas was always trying to better himself and top, > what he thought, were his highest achievements. > > I was involved with one such high point when we put together an afterhours > party inside the June Lune Theatre in Minneapolis. The stage, with it's > built in spring reaction for live theatre and dance, was turned into the > dancefloor. At the far end Thomas decided to stack the entire soundsytem > into, by far, the most massive wall of cabinets I've ever seen. As we went > along testing the system for places where the soundwaves were coupling > (Thomas didn't want any one area concentrated with sound) my friends and I > walked around the stage acting as human flags for where the sound was > stronger. We knew we hit the right areas because when we stood in those > places our vision would become involuntarily unfocused and the bass waves > would punch through your chest. This soundwave was heightened by the > vibration coming through the stage. It was then that we realized that Thomas > had chosen the theatre and planned ]to use the stage as a dancefloor because > he had an idea that the stage itself would act like a giant subwoofer - > sending the music soundwaves physically through your body. It was brilliant. > We often recalled that night and Thomas would just shake his head in > disbelief as if he was just a witness to it himself and not the man behind > the plan. > > Thomas brought together people from all walks of life that otherwise would > have never met. He created environments that everyone was welcome at - there > was no attitude at House Nation Under A Groove. Well, the only attitude was > for everyone, regardless of background, to join the House Nation family and > dance and smile. I may have never seen other House Nation family outside of > HNUG events but we'd easily pick it up when reunited. One of the last nights > I saw him in Minneapolis, we discovered his immediate circle of Mpls friends > were all wearing the House Nation t-shirts that he gave us at a previous > party. Also, he had brought whistles, fans, handkerchiefs, and other items > for us. Of course we all had our bags of baby powder for the floor. Talc > powder was a standard feature of House Nation events. We were ready to move. > > Thomas was an incredibly sweet soul. He did amazing things for his friends > and would go out of his way to bring House music to people he barely knew. > For my birthday he brought Larry Heard in for a House Nation event in that > tiny little 7th Street Entry room. He introduced me to Larry and arranged it > so that I sat next to him during the dinner the night before (which Thomas > paid for - had to have been ten or more people at one the swankiest > restaurants in the city). Later I asked Larry to sign my copy of his Aliens > LP, which he did while we talked about it being one of his own favorite > recordings in his catalog. Thomas knew how much of a Larry Heard fan I was > and he made this all happen for me. It was an incredible gesture of his > friendship and there is no way I can ever return the favor. Thomas and I > talked about it afterward and I can only hope that I expressed exactly what > that night meant to me. > > Sadly, I began to lose touch with Thomas after he moved to Florida. However, > I often checked in with his new endeavor - DeepHaven Music. His deep house > record label, in partnership with Curtis Urbina, was going from strength to > strength it seemed. He was always looking for new talent to bring to light. > > I'll forever miss him > > Michael
