In 1991, at the height of my nightclub career, I was working at a club in Orlando, Florida called The Cuda Bay Club. By then, I had been in the club business for several years, teaming up with my partner in crime, Stan "the man" Priest (who is still in the music business). Together, we were known as Weird and Feared, DJing and doing light shows in various clubs and cities.
During a trade convention called Lighting Dimension International (LDI), we both sat on panels discussing our art forms. During the convention, I was voted Lighting Technician of the Year, and Stan became a Billboard® reporter. That same year, Disney® teamed up with MTV® to stage a statewide dance contest at the newly opened Pleasure Island club, Mannequins.
I was given the nickname WeirDave (thanks to another DJ, Thanks Seb!) because of my unique dancing style and the fact that I was a Goth Boi working and dancing at Top 40 nightclubs! Over the years, many people came to the clubs we worked at just to see me dance. Including a group from a school for hearing impaired people!
Fast forward to the contest… I was heavily encouraged by my good friend Michael Goldman, who was Disney's Promotional Director at the time, I decided to enter the dance contest.
The contest lasted about a month, with over 3000 applicants participating throughout the stages. I tried out on the final try out day and I won my stage and advanced to the semifinals. After winning the semifinals, I had one week until the finals. I was nervous because the songs chosen for the contestants were not my style at all. Most songs were way to “poppy” for me and leaned more towards hip-hop. Of the selections, I hoped to get KLF's "3AM Eternal," the best option for a gothic-style dancer like myself.
As luck would have it, during the semifinals, I drew Marky Mark's "Good Vibrations" from the hat. Although I wasn't thrilled, I smiled and danced my way through and I won the semifinals. At this point I was surprised and kept my fingers crossed for the finals thinking I am probably going to get a really mainstream song and never be able to showcase my style. At the finals, I got lucky and drew the song I wanted, but almost at the start of my audition, my shoe flew off! Shaken but determined, I kept dancing and... I won!!!
I was so excited when I won, I just couldn’t believe it! As I made my way to the award stage there were reporters and radio personalities doing live broadcasts of the event and I was asked how I felt and I replied “I feel fucking great”, lol. I quickly apologized when it suddenly dawned on me that I was live! I was so embarrassed… as I stood there holding my shoe.
The grand prize was a trip to New York City, to film 15 episodes of Club MTV. These episodes, equivalent to two years of episodes, were filmed in just two days. It was an exhilarating experience! So now you know how WeirDave (Weird Dave) ended up on MTV. Occasionally, they still show old episodes of Club MTV, and you might just see me!
