Thurs. March 11, 2021

Absolutely tops vintage grail I stumbled upon on eBay a few years ago. Regret not pulling the trigger on this one, but someone was asking in the range of $700 USD for it! 😱







Keith Haring “Larry Levan” Paradise Garage Tribute Tee by Ministry of Sound for London Lighthouse & Lifebeat - the shirt is from a Larry Levan tribute night & initiative aimed at raising money for people in the LGBT community facing AIDS & HIV in London & New York. Pinpointing the year has proven difficult, but I would assume mid to late 90s.

I did manage to find an archive based in NYC called Downtown Archæologies that has in their collection a brochure related to this T-shirt - “The brochure created by the Ministry of Sound to advertise their tribute night in honour of New York music scene pioneer Lawrence Philpot, more famously known as Larry Levan, is one that clearly highlights the extent of his cultural influence in various areas of New York. The artefact’s cover page is a black and white line drawing of Levan himself holding two clubbers and making them dance created by New York 1980s street culture pop artist Keith Allen Haring. It is important to note that this cover was drawn in a style reminiscent of the advertisements and flyers of the gay discotheque that he was a resident at, Paradise Garage. The inside cover of the brochure has a small recap of Larry Levan’s early life, as well as the legacy that he left behind in New York.”

A mere year before he passed away from complications due to AIDS, Larry Levan played at Ministry of Sound in 1991 & was brough to London by the club to help install their sound system for a week. He stayed for three months. This interview took place on November 24, 1991:




Last year, the Housemasters page on Facebook compiled a list of nearly every record Larry ever played at Paradise Garage, of which there is a Spotify playlist with a staggering majority of the records present:


Remember - Love is the message! <3