Named by his parents after the patron saint of Cephalonia, Greece, not the famous Apache Indian, Geronimo sits high above his congregation Thursday nights armed with more than 3000 compact discs from the '60s and '70s.
This retro DJ is hard to miss: Just look for the white polyester suit, the extended-collar shirt, and the gold chains resting amid his chest hair. Also check out the period Fu Manchu mustache and three-foot afro. The getup is all part of a disco inferno party, as bartenders and servers don their funked-up '70s gear and dance on the bar to era anthems like "YMCA" and "Macho Man" by the Village People.
When Geronimo and his brother took over the managing duties at the bar formerly known as Sidelines, they decided to create the disco theme night. The idea was a success for the brothers in the past when they were managing partners at nightclubs in Minneapolis and Orlando. Putting together themes like S&M night and '80s night is what they call their "niche."
"I'd always like to grab old clothes out of my uncle's closet or go to thrift stores and grab up all the vintage stuff," says Geronimo. "When we opened the bar, we looked no further than my own closet to find all the 'old school' clothes."
Spinning records since the age of 16 at places like Penrod's of Fort Lauderdale, Geronimo decided that, besides managing the bar that now bears his name, he would also take over full-time on the turntables.
A graduate of South Plantation High School, Geronimo says he got interested in becoming a DJ during the early '80s when break dancing became popular. But things were different back then when he fed a single turntable into his "ghetto blaster," as they called it, and mixed a record with a prerecorded tape into the second tape deck.
"Those were the days when technology was not that available, but we brought our music everywhere we could," he says with a nostalgic grin. "I was DJ for a local break dancing crew called Smurf Rock, and I remember the best record out was the Sugar Hill Gang."
Nowadays he spins on the latest in audio advancement with a Gemini CD-9500 mixing system. He gets in all the classic favorites like "I Will Survive" and manages to keep the party going with his own favorite, Rick James' "Brick House." Server Jim Nesselt, who has been with Geronimo since the club's opening, says, "There's never a dull moment when the boss is behind the turntables; it's almost too much fun to call it working." Do the hustle Thursday at Geronimo's (3528 S. University Dr., 954-474-9998) in Davie.
