Today I’m joined by Rick Barter, whose musical lockdown project was called Dance with Uncle Ricky. Starting at the end of March, every day, for 100 days, he shared a song to dance to and a fun personal anecdote or little know fact about the song on Facebook. He numbered them and it became a ritual that his friends keenly awaited every day. I wish everyone could have an uncle Ricky in their life. He’s an endless source of fun and good stories because he’s had an adventurous life, guided by the principle of doing one thing that scares him every day. I met Rick because one day, that thing that scared him was attending one of the silent disco events I had organised on a London rooftop. He came, he danced and he loved it so much that he just kept coming back, and we became friends after dancing together almost every week for a year. Rick is now 61; he was born and raised in New York City but he’s lived in Paris, Vienna, Beirut, Gran Canaria and London. Our conversation was beautiful and it was long, so I’ve split it into two episodes. In this first one, we talk about his lockdown project, about what it was like growing up queer in New York in the 70s and 80. He gives us a visual description of a New York dance club back then then, tips on how to skip in public and much more. 

Here is the playlist collecting all the songs he shared, in the order in which he shared them.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3k99MGqONSBhC06WhhiZGc?si=12c54f01c8cf4082