What a great way to start 2007!

I received the nicest email the other day. It told me something that I was always quite aware of, but that no one ever told me directly; basically that the Partyzone and MTV in the nineties were so important in uniting young people from all over Europe, the former East Block countries, the Middle East, etc. We brought youth culture to places where it was hard to get it any other way. We educated kids musically, opened their minds and gave them the feeling that they were part of something.

That thought always meant so much to me & I took the role as 'messenger' very seriously. Uniting young people was something I really wanted to do and it was also what attracted to me to the whole dance scene, that whole feeling of all being one. Guess I'm just an old hippy at heart : )

So anyway, I loved getting this email. Check it out:

Hi Simone,

I found your wonderful blog the other day and was so happy seeing some of the old partyzone footage and also finding that you have followed your dream in such a beautiful place like Belize.

I must say I was addicted to PartyZone (in its last 2-3 years of existence because I didn’t have cable before) and sort of lived for those Friday nights. Basically everything that I knew about dance music was due to your work and dedication. And believe me, a 16-year-old boy to have heard about (and listened to) Laurent Garnier, Derrick May, Carl Cox, Moby or Marusha in 1996 in Bucharest, in post-communist Romania, was a rare occurrence.

Now it looks so simple, go on the internet and find whatever you need, but back then, your 2hr show was one of (if not the only) source of information, music and club-culture for all these eastern european countries. You couldn’t buy that kind of music, there were only pirated cassettes from Poland with shitty music and no CDs or vinyls. So I would record cassettes from the TV speaker to keep that music and listen to it again and again.. so, yeah.. it’s fair to say: “Simone, thank you for influencing my life as much as you did as a teenager and for giving me that kind of musical background”. And also James Hyman, I didn’t see him on camera but I remember his name appearing on the credits screen together with a bunch of people (researchers or whatever).

Anyway when the show ended (I remember you being at a snow party somewhere saying “it’s over guys, they’re taking us off the air”) I was pissed on MTV for that and for all those other changes that started to make the channel to what it is now (common and useless hit rotation machine). 10 years later I’m working as a programmer/designer and, thanks to you, involved in the clubbbing scene here with http://www.nights.ro/; you on the other hand gave up all that crazyness for a quiet life in a tropical resort. That change must have been really tough at first, I mean I would freak out to live in a place with less than 2 million people around, but there’s a time when I do think about family and kids and getting away from this fast pace, but I’m still young and I guess I can take some more clubbing for a few years or so. I wish someday I could be lucky and bold enough to take a decision like yours. For the moment, I’ll put Belize on my destination list if I ever decide to take an extended trip like that, it looks fabulous.

I wish you and your family a great 2007, with only good things coming your way!

All the best from light-snowy Bucharest.
Cosmin.