LET'S DANCE!

Dance Diva; First she was an underage adult film star, then a TV actress. Now, Traci Lords is a techno-dance DJ ready to spin discs at what is being billed as the biggest dance party on the Prairies.

Publication title: Edmonton Journal
Pages: C.1 Section: Entertainment

Publication date: Nov 2, 1995
Copyright: (Copyright The Edmonton Journal)
Author: Ohler, Shawn

Two transformations for the price of one.

Buy a ticket to Cosmic Jam '95 -- an ambitious pseudo-underground dance party happening in a south-side warehouse Saturday night -- and that's what you're bound to witness.

The first transformation is happening as you read this.

Organizers of the event are scrambling to turn the warehouse -- a filthy, empty box of a building at 8059 Coronet Rd. -- into a wildly decorated four-room party palace fit for a throng of grooving club-kids and a big fashion show.

The second transformation has already happened. She's Cosmic Jam '95's star attraction, Traci Lords.

Yes, that Traci Lords, the dance-music diva who appeared in TV's Melrose Place and Roseanne, the big screen's Cry Baby and Serial Mom and, between the time she was 15 and 18, dozens of illicit porn movies.

If you believe Lords' press kit, the 26-year-old beauty has shed her shady porn past and emerged as "techno's ethereal angel," "America's sweetheart" and "America's Girl Next Door." She's a featured DJ at Cosmic Jam '95, one of 22 DJ's from across North America who will spin and mix thumping electronic dance music in four different rooms for an estimated 1,500 people.

Cosmic Jam organizers, a local group of entrepreneurial 20-somethings who have dubbed themselves The United Underground, say signing Lords to DJ the gig is a huge coup.

"Everyone from 15 to 45 knows who Traci Lords is, even if they don't necessarily know her as a DJ, if you know what I mean," said 20-year-old Cory Payne, Cosmic Jam's head man. "She's turned over a new leaf, you could say, but she's still pretty notorious. She'll bring in some people who wouldn't ordinarily come."

Lords, who's busy touring with American dance music heavies My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, wasn't available for interviews.

But Lords' manager Wade Hampton, who's also DJ'ing at the party, said Cosmic Jam-goers will be surprised when they see Lords on Saturday.

"She's the real thing," said Hampton recently from the San Francisco office of his record label, Domestic.

"She's just starting out, but she's a natural. She has a passion for the music that you can't deny, she's good technically and she really connects with the crowd."

Hampton said Lords, who sang on her debut LP 1,000 Fires and had a top 10 Billboard dance hit with Control, doesn't sing at her live shows yet.

"She just deejays. It gives her some distance from the crowd. They tend to press in to see her, and that would be too much if she sang."

Payne, who calls Cosmic Jam "the biggest dance party to ever happen between Toronto and Vancouver,'' attracted some other credible talent besides Lords -- Robbie Hardkiss from San Fransisco, DJ Dicky Doo from Vancouver.

The names mean nothing to the average person, Payne admits, but to dance music aficionados, they're The Beatles crossed with The Rolling Stones.

"Traci Lords is a big name and she's good and everything, but Robbie Hardkiss is one of the 10 best DJs in the world," Payne said. "People are flying here from Vancouver and Winnipeg to see him."

To the untrained eye, DJ'ing might look like the most talentless of musical pursuits. DJs play recorded dance music on turntables on a dais above the dance floor. That's about it.

But Payne says -- rightly -- that there's more involved than that.

Parties can go on for hours; Cosmic Jam might rage until 8 a.m. Sunday. It's the DJ's job to spin music which will keep the crowd going constantly with no lulls.

"It's all about keeping everybody hyped," said Payne, himself a DJ. "They have to mix in stuff that you'd never expect. Take some techno, slam in a bit of disco, add some samples, completely pump it up without leaving any space for boredom.

"If I was spinning 10 records, and someone else had 10 records, and Robbie Hardkiss had 10 records, it would be completely different."

Cosmic Jam's high-priced talent is part of a ground-breaking package for Alberta's growing dance music scene, Payne said.

For one, it's all-ages and booze-free, a rarity for big dance parties in the province.

Further, advance tickets are being sold through Ticketmaster, an odd move in that information about the parties' location, time and cost usually spreads through underground word-of-mouth.

Payne's also shying away from calling Cosmic Jam a rave for a couple of reasons.

He doesn't want people to associate the party with the rampant acid and Ecstasy drug use which has muddied rave's name.

He also insists that Lords' and Hardkiss's star appeal pushes Cosmic Jam a step higher than an average rave.

"This is the next generation of parties. Raves used to be one DJ, sound system, people. This is going to have 22 DJs including some stars, a massive fashion show, multiple rooms.

"It's something's that's completely future-oriented. For anyone who's born between 1970 and 1980, you need colors, you need pizazz, you need lasers, you need machines, you need robots, all in this nice package in this neat warehouse you've never seen before."

LET'S DANCE! All of the music at Cosmic Jam '95 is electronic dance, ranging from hard- driving techno to slow ambient. To hear Traci Lords' Top 10 techno hit Control, from her album 1,000 Fires, dial 944-0600 and press 1200.