Cliff Hengst on B.T. Express’ EXPRESS

1. In seventh grade, every Friday would be special, because that was singles day. A teacher would put out her record player on a table and run an extension cord through the classroom. My friends and I would bring our 45’s and try to outcool each other during lunch. The one record I remember the most (besides PICK UP THE PIECES) would be EXPRESS by BT Express. Everyone called it ECHO EXPRESS, like the line in the song, and it would turn our little party out. The bass kick, the triangle, the old train whistle -- it was so immediate. Even after all these years it is still a thrill to hear, like a light switch flicked on: get ready, we may even do a Soul Train, you better have some moves stashed away in your little head to pull out and hypnotize.

2. I also remember a few weeks later when some contestants were on “The Gong Show” to pop lock (it may have very well been the L.A. Lockers, a legendary dance troupe that every guy at my school tried to emulate). They dropped ECHO EXPRESS and turned it out, moving and synchronizing in their suspenders and bowler caps and pant legs stuffed into tube socks, it was incredible. Just as it couldn’t get better, the song immediately cut out and the house band took over. It snapped me out of my dream state. As the aging band backed up and ran over the groove the illusion had vanished. I keep this insignificant gripe in my memory forever, and I will take it to my grave, eternally disappointed.

| Cliff Hengst is an artist who works and lives in San Francisco.