Siano, who was a resident DJ at New York’s iconic Studio 54 nightclub in the 1970s, flew in from the Big Apple to play to a sold-out Saturday night dancefloor.
Clips of him dropping disco classics were soon illuminating social media. Siano was a natural choice for Homobloc. He’s been a DJ since 1971 and was there in New York at the birth of the disco movement.
With his brother, he co-founded the seminal Gallery discotheque in Manhattan, where his sets influenced the then-undiscovered likes of Larry Levan and Frankie Knuckles. He then helped to produce the 1978 single ‘Kiss Me Again’ by Dinosaur, which sold 300,000 copies, featured Talking Heads’ David Byrne on guitar, and remains a cult disco classic. He also spent many years working with those affected by AIDS.
Homobloc ’24 was the fifth edition of the annual LGBTQ+ block party that has been described by one of its head promoters as “queer Christmas.” It runs for 13-and-half hours in a disused railway station and brings together some of the world’s biggest and brightest DJs, dancers, and performers from all kinds of genres—sharing the bill with Siano were the likes of Princess Superstar, Erol Alkan, and Shygirl. Its manifesto closes with the declaration that “Love is and always has been the message.”