By Frank “Smokin” Truatt
Back in the mid 1980’s, a typical evening out would bar-hopping, hanging out or meeting friends while listening and dancing to music played by a DJ. Many restaurants and bars were catering to this late-night crowd, not limited to weekends as many establishments provided music most days of the week. I heard about this restaurant in West Orange, New Jersey that was looking for a DJ to play music in their newly created greenhouse dance area. They were doing tryouts, and I was able to set up an appointment for the last day their regional manager was there. The restaurant was called the Rusty Scupper, a place I had never been before. It was a competitor for places like Applebees or Fridays, but on a smaller scale with only a few restaurants around the country. Stouffer Foods owned the chain. The greenhouse room had a large dance floor, video players and wall to ceiling windows. The manager gave me three records to play. He said he wanted the music to be different from the other dance clubs, featuring an interaction from the DJ mixing disco with rock and the oldies. I looked at the records, put the first two on the turntable and told him I was ready. He said, “Don’t you want to listen to the songs first so you can intro them?” I told him that was not necessary as I knew all three songs. By the time I got to the third song, “Get Ready” by Rare Earth, he looked at me and asked when I could start! That was the beginning of a long relationship as the entertainment company in charge of their music. For me, that 10 bucks an hour was good pay as the equipment and music was already there. I just showed up at 9 pm and played until 1:30am in the morning. Some nights were slow, but happy hour on Friday started at 4:30pm with a free full buffet and the place was a mob scene all night long. It was great extra income for a second job that lasted until the strict state drinking laws took effect and the company decided to shut down the dance floor and return to a restaurant only business. Within a few years, they were out of business and today it is the site of a hotel. I do have lots of great stories working there, but we’ll save that for another day.
