Perhaps you've been reading my contributions for a while, and you feel like you know me pretty well. After all, I have written about many aspects of my life, including some very personal things. But I must confess, I haven't written about everything. There's one glaring omission in my disclosures that I need to share with you now, before we go any further. Until recently people didn't talk about this, but attitudes are changing. With that new openness I need to disclose that I love Disco. I really do. I have Saturday Night Fever on video, and I have the soundtrack on CD. I get such a rush when I turn on my CD player and hearing "Jive Talkin'." It may seem like an antiquated form of music, something to be viewed with disdain, but it's a wonderful genre. It seems that the disdain is falling away as more and more people are being turned onto Disco. I hear it more and more on the airwaves, whole songs or sections that are part of new songs. Just like the great Disco artists took classical tunes and made them part of their modern music, today's artists are doing the same for my favorite music. I welcome these new versions of my favorites, for it only helps to shed the hate and bring acceptance.

I'm always hesitant to tell people about this love of mine. While it seems perfectly natural to me, some people just don't understand. I can never predict a person's reaction before my disclosure, so I like to wait until they know me reasonably well before I tell them. Hopefully, by that time they know me well enough to know that despite this difference in the things we love, we can continue our friendship based on the things we hold in common as well as our differences. Despite this precautionary standard, I've still had some bad experiences in telling people who I really am. Only a few people have turned away from me after I've told them, but there's always that moment immediately afterwards where I don't know what to expect. It's not like I want to make everyone into a Disco fan, I just want people to know the most important parts of my life if I am to call them 'friend.'

Despite the longtime public disregard for my love, I find that the more I talk about Disco, the more people are interested in what I have to say. I have a small but well-chosen selection of CD's, and more often than not I am turning down requests to borrow parts of my collection. Naturally, I can't loan out my most precious possession, 'Disco's Greatest Hits'. I bought through a TV commercial. When I heard the tag line 'Hey! Have you heard that Disco's making a comeback?' I knew that whatever they were selling, I needed to own. I rushed to my mailbox every day while I was waiting for it to arrive. When it finally came through the mail slot, I opened it right away, and I was not disappointed.

I can't help but enjoy the way David Shire helped to evolve 'Night on Bald Mountain' to 'Night on Disco Mountain.' Mr. Shire and his counterparts (including Walter Murphy, creator of 'A Fifth of Beethoven') help bring classical music into the realm of every person, making music that was so misunderstood a part of everyday life. Without Disco, this understanding would not have been reached and people would still regard classical music with fear and disdain. By making it a part of mainstream culture, people began to realize that classical music is not something to be feared, but to be enjoyed.

And so it is today, when I listen to the radio and hear the background track from "Stayin' Alive" with rap lyrics over it, I know that the revolution continues. Once again, something that has been long scorned because of an uninformed public has begun to gain acceptance. Only because Disco is everywhere, lurking in the background of songs so quietly that you don't notice it, does the element of fear start to dissipate. I'm doing my part to continue the revolution and evolution of Disco by telling the world that I love Disco, and I'm proud of it!

With the coming of the New Year, I encourage you to get out there and tell people who you are. Take the risk, tell them about your Disco, whatever it may be. Only by being honest about who we are can we dispel the fear and gain unity.