Devil's Nest
Related: clubs - New York music - freestyle (music)
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On August 2, 1985, a club called the Devil's Nest opened its doors on the corner of Webster and Tremont Avenues in the Bronx. The club was originally intended to be a salsa club but the turnout was very light and the club owner, Sal Abbatiello, knew he had to think fast to keep the club alive. After a visit to a Manhattan club called Inferno which was packing in a large Latin teen crowd, he decided he should try to make Inferno's formula work in the Bronx. In order to succeed, he needed the right D J., the most popular new D J. on the street, to draw the crowd to the Devil's Nest. He heard about a young Puerto Rican D.J. who didn't play in clubs because he was too young, but when he played at local street jams, crowds followed him. The D.J. was Little Louie Vega. Two weeks later the Devil's Nest booked Expose, hired Little Louie, and Sal crossed his fingers. Luck he didn't need. The combination of Little Louie's following and the popularity of Exposé's hits "Point Of No Return" and "Exposed To Love" paid off. The club was packed and stayed packed week after week. --Joey Gardner
Little Louie started playing "Show Me" by the Cover Girls and "One Way Love" by TKA on demo reels. They soon became Louie's biggest records even before they were officially released. On March 1, 1986, one week after the release of "One Way Love," TKA performed at the Devil's Nest. The club was packed with kids waiting to see who sang the record that they had heard in the club for weeks. When TKA walked on stage, the crowd went crazy. In all honesty, the show was rough around the edges, but the crowd loved them. They were happy to see one of their own on stage. TKA wound up repeating their entire show twice that night. --Joey Gardner
The same response greeted the Cover Girls at their first performance at the Devil's Nest. Dressed in sequined gowns, Caroline Jackson, Sunshine Wright and then lead singer Angel Sabater nervously took to the stage to perform "Show Me" for the first time. By the first few notes of the intro to the song, the crowd was screaming and pushing to the stage to get a closer look at the Cover Girls. By the song's end, the whole audience was singing the chorus and the Cover Girls, no longer nervous, exuded the confidence of twenty-year veterans of the business. To the Devil's Nest, they were the Supremes - their Supremes. Although Freestyle was not conceived at the Devil's Nest, this is where it was born.--Joey Gardner
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