The original Juice Crew had a secret weapon. Her name was Starrlite Gentry. One of the first big fans of the "Mr. Magic Disco Showcase", she taped countless WHBI and WBLS radio shows up until the end of the "Rap Attack's" run in 1989. Though many of these tapes have unfortunately been lost forever in a fire, a precious amount of them still exist, and Fly Ty and Starrlite were kind enough to let me check them out. Those tapes are the source of the poster that came with the Down The Dial deluxe edition, seen below. Without her archiving, some of these shows could've been lost forever, never to be heard again.
Here she is requesting Whodini's "Yours For A Night" during the February 17, 1984 show.
One of my random side notes... Starrlite would appear on Street Sounds Hip Hop 18 compilation as the female emcee on Jazzy Keith's "Force Desire," which was also a 12" single on Profile Records.
One of the many gems in Starrlite's collection was a cassette to TV recording of Mr. Magic and Divine Sounds' appearance on the Dick Cavett Morning Show. As wikipedia has elegantly explained to me, and I quote:
"Richard Alva 'Dick' Cavett is an American former television talk show host known for his conversational style and in-depth discussion of issues. Cavett appeared on a regular basis on nationally-broadcast television in the United States in five consecutive decades, the 1960s through the 2000s, a feat matched only by Johnny carson."
More importantly, I'm pretty sure he's the guy interviewing John Lennon in Forrest Gump.
I'm going to split this Cavett morning special into two posts, starting with todays interview with Mr. Magic. I'll save Divine Sounds performance and Cavett's introduction to break dancing for tomorrow.
I really like this interview. Magic is well spoken about the hip hop scene, and Cavett provides some one liners that show just how new the genre was to those who weren't at all involved in it. What's with Magic stumbling over the words to "Magic's Wand" though? These things happen.
Mr. Magic Interview with Dick Cavett (From April 20th, 1984 Tape)
I'm not sure if that's the exact date of this morning show...
Sorry about the loud baby crying at one point. That's why I figured it was a TV to cassette tape recording.
Meanwhile, I am extremely tired, so I gotta cut this rant short. A lot of this dialogue from the interview I sampled on the outro to Down The Dial, "Super Blast." My man Nostalgic came through on that beat. Check it out below.
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