Odd Café calls back the seventies

Glam rock, punk, disco fever and Motown will be brought back to life at Odd Café’s seventies party on Saturday 14 May 2011 from 18h00 to late.

It was a decade defined by the hippies, a hang over of the sixties, of “Saturday Night Fever”, Donna Summer, Boney M, Abba, and Elvis Presley’s “Burning Love”. It was also the decade the world lost Presley and Bing Crosby, but which saw the birth of fiber optics, microwaves and VCRs. Pocket calculators, video games and super computers were the next big thing.

Of course the decade is the seventies, or the ten years that author Tom Wolfe dubbed “the ‘Me’ decade”. It was a time when feminism became more pronounced and women entered the work force in Western countries in greater numbers, while environmentalism started moving from the fringes to the global centre stage.

Bellbottoms were big, as were espadrilles, halter necks, hot pants, love beads, patches and leather jackets with fringes. “The Brady Bunch” was a hit on television alongside “Charlie’s Angels”, “The Love Boat”, and “Three’s Company”.

“Star Wars” and that other cult called “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” were born. The science-fiction epic would become one of the biggest cinematic franchises in history, while Rocky Horror bombed on debut but became a cult classic.

Odd Café in Greenside will be celebrating the nostalgia of the seventies with a “Burn Baby Burn” party that will be held on Saturday 14 May 2011 from 18h00 to late at the café which is situated at 116 Greenway Street, Greenside in Johannesburg.

“It’s the beginning of winter, so what better way to warm up people’s spirits with a decadent seventies party filled with the sounds of Donna Summer, Barry White, the Ramones, Blondie, Patti Smith, The Clash, and yes.. believe it or not, Dolly Parton,” says Christina Patricios owner of Odd Café.

Patricios says the event will give people the opportunity to dress up in glam rock, or seventies punk. “There’s such a huge range of fashion choices because the seventies gave us minis, maxis and micro minis. Flared trousers and bell bottoms were huge, and not to mention pants suits. Then there’s the fact that nobody worth their salt was without platform shoes in the seventies.”

“The seventies were of course a golden age of music,” says Patricios. “This decade gave us the best of Motown, and music as diverse as John Denver, Barry Manilow, Aerosmith, The Eagles and the legendary Fleetwood Mac. Rock ‘n Roll was at its zenith with the likes of The Kinks, The Knack, MeatLoaf, Pink Floyd’s massive breakthrough. Bands like The Rolling Stones,Styx, Slade, Super Tramp and The Who were also in full stride.”

“Disco became massive thanks to John Travolta and ‘Saturday Night Fever’ which was a massive phenomenon. So we’ll be pulling our disco ball and telling everyone to put on their seventies mood ring and come on down to Greenside where we’ll be serving comfort food and gourmet munchies. We’ll also be handing out prizes for the best dressed, whether it be punk, hippie, a pimped out seventies look, Elvis look a likes or glam rock costumes. Basically we just want everyone to have a bit of nostalgic fun.”