Flier for “Chief Rocker Busy Bee’s Birthday”: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A flier for “Chief Rocker Busy Bee's Birthday,” at Ecstasy Garage. The flier is in portrait orientation and printed on white paper with black text in varying sizes and fonts, graphics, and a black-and-white photograph. At the top of the flier is the event title [CHIEF [five-pointed star graphic] ROCKER / BUSY BEE’S / BIRTHDAY] with a large five-pointed star graphic next to the word [BIRTHDAY]. Pointing hand graphics bookend the words [CHIEF] and [ROCKER]. A small photograph of Busy Bee in the top left corner depicts the artist from the waist up, standing against a wood paneled wall. He is wearing a black tee-shirt and is holding his proper left hand up, pointing upwards.

Centered below the event title is small text that reads [Featuring] above the two featured acts, [Lovebug / Starski] on the left, [Kool / DJ AJ] on the right, and [PLUS / THEODORE / FANTASIC [graphic of a hand with five splayed fingers] MC’s] centered below. To the right of [THEODORE] is the text [And / of / course / New York’s No. 1 Lady / SHA·ROCK!] above a graphic of two women disco dancing under four lights. Just above the graphic is the text [DISCO] and below is the text [Happy Birthday]. At the center of the flier is a small graphic of a male and female couple dancing together. To the left of the graphic is a list of event invitees: [Invites[sic]: / Bambaataa· / Spoonie Gee / Flash· / Breakout· / Funky 4+1· / Mercedes Ladies]. The bottom third of the flier features the event location, date, time, admission fees, dress code, and deejay names. The text on the left reads [ECSTASY / GARAGE / 172 ST MACOMBS RD / first 15 LADIES / FREE!!! / CRASH CREW DJ’S / DRESS CASUAL / INVITED MCS]. The text on the right reads [SATURDAY / OCT.25 / 9TIL / GUYS 3 / $ / GALS 2 / b/4 / 11pm / WITH HOUSE DJ’s / Mean Gene]. Directions to the venue are printed in small, vertically oriented text near the bottom left corner: [NO. 4 TRAIN TO ONE 70TH STREET / WALK TWO BLOCKS / 1508 Macombs Rd.]. Four graphics of eight notes are scattered throughout the text with two framing the center graphic. The back of the flier is has no text or inscriptions.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: October 25, 1980
• Designed by: Unidentified
• Subject of: Busy Bee Starski, American, born 1962
• Subject of: Lovebug Starski, American, 1960 - 2018
• Subject of: Kool DJ AJ, American, died 2015
• Subject of: Grand Wizzard Theodore, American, born 1963
• Subject of: Fantastic Five, American, 1979 - 1994
• Subject of: MC Sha-Rock, American, born 1962
• Subject of: Afrika Bambaataa, American, born 1957
• Type: fliers (printed matter)
• Medium: ink on paper (fiber product)
• Dimensions: H x W: 8 3/16 × 6 1/4 in. (20.8 × 15.9 cm)
• Place used: Bronx, New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Design
• Topic: Disco (Music)
• Topic: DJs (Musicians)
• Topic: Graphic design
• Topic: Hip-hop (Music)
• Topic: Nightlife
• Topic: Rappers (Musicians)
• Object number: 2020.38.1.22
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: Public domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.