Here's the schpill: In '94 the main DJ mag, Mixmag, polled the top 100 international DJ's as to their favorite place to spin.  Out of the 100, 54 picked Simon's.

After spending 5 years going to Eintstein's I thought my club/music scene was over with.  Then Heather went to Simon's one night (I was ill) and came back saying the music was incredible (saying it was something like New Order).  Back then, in 1990, the term 'House' wasn't widely used in Jacksonville.   The first song she heard at Simon's was by Liquid Crystal called "I Start To Cry" (really called "Innersense").  I headed down there ASAP and the first song I heard was "Rhythm Is A Mystery" by K-Klass. 

Simon, I believe, started out spinning at MFP (My Favorite Place).  He then started a small club for members only.  When Heather & I went down there we arrived at midnight, not realizing the club didn't start really until 3am.  However that didn't stop me from going crazy on the floor with "Rhythm Is A Mystery".  The next day my friend Don and I went to Simon's store and Bruce, the resident DJ from the club, gave us memberships.  Simon tried calling his club "Trancentral" but everyone just called it "Simon's".

Heather & I would drive from Jacksonville to Gainesville and stay at the Gainesville Lodge until we got to be friends with Bruce and then we started staying over at his house.  The first night we were down there at his house this guy, Chris Harshman, was over at his house practicing on Bruce's tables since he didn't have any.  Nothing happened that night but the next morning Chris came by, picked us up, and we drove around in his car going to yard-sales listening to his tape.  After that we quickly became the best of friends.  Around this time Chris became the resident DJ at Simon's while Bruce went and worked for The Edge.

The best set I ever heard at Simon's was when Paul Van Dyk first came to the states (it was his first set ever in the states).  We almost didn't go out because we didn't have a clue to who he was (neither did anyone else).  Sasha's first set in the states was also at Simon's (he liked it so much that he came back the very next weekend to spin another set).

What made Simon's so special is that it was all about the music.  Usually the clubs were filled with drugs and people concentrated on thier fix but all we cared about was dancing to some really good shite.  That's why Simon's was so popular with all the DJ's. 

My era at Simon's lasted 5 years too (like Steins).  What killed it for me is that in '95 Drum&Bass came along and overtook the scene.  I hated that style of music so I got out it.  It took Heather & I about 6 months to save enough money to head to NYC.  Unfortunatly in NYC the music scene sucked (it paled in comparison to Simon's).  So I decided NYC had much more to offer then just a club scene and I started working for Sony Music and going to NYU.  It wasn't until about 10 years after the fact that I decided to get try to get back into a music scene.  It took a long time, and massive amounts of wasted energy trying to find a genre I was into.  Finally I decided I was into the Electro sound - not the German hardstuff but the more "bubblegum" fun sound of Belguim.  This is when I came across Larry Tee at Duvet.  I sought out Larry Tee because 20 years earlier at Einsteins he came to the club with his band "Now Explosion" and I figured if he was good then he might just be good now.  Little did I know he would seek me out to be his business partner - something that should take shape in 2006.  

1st song I heard at Stein's was Depeche Mode's "Strangelove" (MaxiMix). This was in 1985 when I was 14 (in 9th grade). I watched this guy Eric dance to the song - we were the only people there and he was the only one on the floor (I had never danced before so I remained seated).

The club was for New Waver's & Goth kids. It was considered to be the place for freaks by those that were mainstream meatheads. It was definitly an underground music scene.

I remember the first song by my favorite group I heard there (New Order) was "Love Viligilantes". After hearing that song New Order instantly became my favorite group.

I also remember the first time dancing. I think it might have been the Communard's "Don't Leave Me This Way" (I'm not really sure) but I was with Tressa and Christine and I kept my hands in my pockets the entire time since I had no clue to what to do with them.

After about a year or two of going there I met Heather, who is currently my roomie (that was 18 years ago). We used to get into a whirlwind of trouble back then.

I remember the first time getting drunk was in the parking lot of Steins (way before I met Heather). It was on strawberry Boonesfarm with Tressa and some other people.

But the best times were those when we would zoom and go crazy dancing to the music. Our lyric was from "Bizarre Love Triangle" by New Order and it went: "I feel fine, I feel good. I feel like I never should.".

Our song back then was Book of Love's "Modigliani". They actually came to Steins one year and then the next time they came to Jax it was at the Milkbar and we met them and went back to the guy's hotel room to watch him do his laundry/underwear.

One thing I should mention since it's come back to me in a way was I saw Larry Tee in 85 or 86 when he was in Now Explosion. They were huge at Steins so I, and a bunch of my friends, got them to sign their LP's. What's cool is that, e-gads, 20 years later I'm now becoming business partners with him. 2006 should be an interesting year.

I should say what ended my era at Stein's, in 90, was 2-fold. The New Wave / Progressive music scene had become way too generic and I was 18 and graduated from highschool (generally considered too old to go to the club).

Pics from Steins:

http://www.newwavehouse.com/mypics/shannonericsteins.html

http://www.newwavehouse.com/mypics/meheathersteins.html

http://www.newwavehouse.com/mypics/suemeheathersteins.html

http://www.newwavehouse.com/mypics/heathermenewyearseve.html

http://www.newwavehouse.com/mypics/heathercar.html

http://www.newwavehouse.com/mypics/mecar.html

http://www.newwavehouse.com/mypics/bookoflove.html

http://www.newwavehouse.com/mypics/bookofloveparksuite.html

http://www.newwavehouse.com/mypics/julieheather.html