Bits & Pieces 89: Another VIN Mix

Part 2 of a multipart megamix.

As the 1980s reached their Grand Finale, a handful of artfully crafted, 12” megamixes, graced the shelves of specialty record shops around the Greater New York City Metropolitan Area.

A peak example of the bunch, Bits & Pieces 89 stitched together a gonzo patchwork of Dance Music styles and pop culture references spanning at least 20 years; Todd Terry, Whistle, Larry Heard, Malcolm X, Man Parrish, Madness, Ralphi Rosario, Jon Belushi, George Kranz, Kraftwerk, The Clash, TKA, Public Enemy, to name only a fraction.

In 2023, mild curiosity (combined with high grade cannabis) got me looking into this mysterious record from my youth. I wanted to know more about the unassuming, plain-stickered piece of vinyl that frequently murdered my seventh grade basement party dancefloors. Some quick digging led me to DJ Vinnie Campisi, the “Vin” from Bits & Pieces 89’s Side B, “Another VIN Mix”.

Vincent Campisi was born in The Bronx, and grew up in roller rinks.

His father, Vincent Campisi, Senior, had earned the title “National Roller Skating Champion” in 1957 and 1958, and continued enjoying the pastime with his family after moving from The Bronx to Yonkers in 1975.

Around 1976, young Vinnie had a sense that music was about to encounter some big change.

He remembers, “It used to be all organ music, skate music in the rinks, the Waltz. Then one day, they all changed from Waltz to Disco. All the rinks became roller discos.”

Having spent much of his childhood inside roller rinks, with his family, Vinnie was already at-home.

“We grew up skating. I fit right in. Now, I’m Roller Disco Guy.”

In 1981, Vinnie pieced together some mismatched turntables and equipment and began teaching himself to deejay. He was thirteen years old.

A religious listener of (New York radio station) WKTU’s  Paco’s Supermix, Campisi became inspired by the radio show remixers’ innovative edits and blends, especially the contributions of Jose “Animal” Diaz. In 1982, Vinnie bought his first bootleg megamix on vinyl, Big Apple Mix.

Over the next few years, like any new deejay, Campisi made his bones studying the music, practicing mixing, and earning a reputation as the go-to selector for upscale, Westchester County banquet hall Sweet Sixteens.

In 1984, Vinnie made the meaningful leap from roller rink patron to roller rink employee when he was hired to deejay at Yonkers’ popular Wheels roller rink.

Campisi fondly recalls being scared and excited by this “big break” type of gig, “It was a big deal. 8 to 10pm was skating, 10 to midnight was dancing. Come 10 o’clock, you’re playing for an entire roller rink of people. Imagine, at 15 years old, you have to move an entire skating rink worth of people. There’d be breakdancers from The Bronx every week, there’d be battles. I’d be playing Herman Kelly and West Street Mob.  It was that time in history.”

Wheels roller disco is also where Campisi met veteran club jocks / remixers, DJ Eddie Feracca and Paco’s Supermix alumni, DJ Jeff G’Bica (who was also affiliated with the early days of Manhattan’s legendary Fun House disco).

Around ’85, after tricking Campisi into auditioning for the venue owner, Feracca helped the then teenager secure his first, regular nightclub gig at Streets, a popular venue in New Rochelle, New York, minutes north of The Bronx.

“Eddie and Jeff were great guys, great mentors to me. They’re the ones who showed me how to make the edits.”

Vinnie loved the thrill of spinning records to club and roller disco crowds all around New York but wanted the ability to drop some of his own musical ideas onto the dance floor.

‘I thought, ‘Let me do something of my own that I can play at the club.’”

Campisi upgraded his gear, acquiring everything one needed to try their hand at the editing block.

“Like ’85, ’86… two Technics turntables, a Bozak mixer, Akai reel to reel, Ampex tape, a razor blade, a grease pencil, and a splicing block. That’s all I had. I would sit up in the room all night [making remixes]. In those days, I always made special dance remix medleys that I would play at clubs. Bits & Pieces was just one of about twelve different mixes that I rotated into the dance floor. I’d play them off the reel to reels, in the club, when I worked at the Tunnel, and Limelight. They all had them.”

Now in his teens, Campisi became more serious about deejaying and remixes. His obsession started to pay off. He recalls the excitement of hearing one of his mixes on the radio for the first time, “1986. It was my Alisha medley, on WBLS.”

Mention of Alisha reminds Campisi of the time a booker from Manhattan’s Roxy nightclub (and roller disco) told him that his last name sounded “too ethnic.”

"I needed a new DJ name right away. On my way out the door, the last thing I saw was an Alisha record, on [record label] Vanguard. So, for a little while, I was DJ Vincent Vanguard when I played at Roxy, Limelight, and Tunnel.”

Vinnie’s chapter of the Bits & Pieces 89 story begins in 1988.

Proud of his latest work, and eager to get the opinion of fellow club deejays, Campisi carried a cassette of the unreleased “Another VIN Mix” on a routine record-buying mission to Greenwich Village Dance Music Mecca, Vinyl Mania Records.

“I played the cassette to Manny [Lehman], he was a deejay at Palladium who also worked behind the counter at Vinyl Mania. He said, ‘Let me call this guy that sends us these Bits & Pieces records.’”

Vinnie was given a number to call from the payphone up the street. He dialed, a voice on the other end told him to wait on the corner of Seventh Avenue and Carmine Street.

“Ten minutes later, this hooked-up, tinted-out Toyota pulls up with a crazy booming system, the whole thing.”

Inside the car, Campisi made the acquaintance of a man who introduced himself only as “George T.”

“I could tell he was a nice guy, a gentleman, good vibe.”

“I played him the mix and he says to me, ‘This could be Bits & Pieces 89. Do you have a better version?”

A fan of the series, Vinnie was elated.

The man told Vinnie, “If you give me the original reel, I‘ll give you 150 bucks.”

Campisi did the deal and never saw the guy again.

“People say the the record sold out in one weekend and that they were repressed several times. I’m proud of the mix.”

Vinnie never saw George T. again, and he never knew who did the flip side of Bits & Pieces 89, the R/U/DEF/BOY side of the record.

“I have no idea who did Side A. Never met the guy or knew anything about it.”

Recently, while preparing this post, I noticed that an update had been made in Bootleg Megamix Archive’s meticulous database, now listing the producer of Bits & Pieces 89’s Side A as Mark Mendoza, the seasoned House Music deejay of New Jersey’s 280 West Productions.

Via Facebook message, Mendoza confirmed his involvement in Bits & Pieces 89, “I did Side A.”

Up in Yonkers, DJ Vinnie Campisi is chilling with his family and still rocking dancefloors across New York and Connecticut. He still buys copies of Bits & Pieces 89 whenever he comes across them online or in record shops.

“I’m dancefloor oriented. Period. That’s who I am.”

To be continued…

Vinny Campisi can currently be found deejaying at Manhattan’s 230 Fifth and The Roxy CT in Danbury, Connecticut. Listen to his recent mixes here.