10 Interesting Facts about Labor Day

Sep 7, 2009 by Dan Taylor    12 Comments    Posted under: News

Happy Labor Day to all my American readers! Living in Europe, it’s just another day, but to those under the Stars and Stripes, it’s a day off. While you’re either happy or sad to see summer come to a close, it’s customary to enjoy a picnic or barbecue on this ‘free day off’. But how much do you know about the origins of Labor Day? Here are ten interesting facts that just might help you out on Jeopardy or the next family Trivial Pursuit game night.

1. Labour Day originates from our neighbours to the north – eh?

Most Americans consider Labor Day a uniquely American experience, but in all reality, Labor Day has it’s origins in Canada. Stemming from 1870’s labor disputes in Toronto, in 1872 a parade was held in support of a strike against the 58 hour workweek. As a result, 24 union leaders who were responsible for organizing the event were arrested under anti-union laws.

2. First US Labor Day observance was in the form of a parade

The first US observance of Labor Day came in the form of a parade. Sponsored by the Central Labor Union, On September 5th, 1882 ten thousand workers paraded through New York City. This is commonly considered the first observance of Labor Day in America.

3. The 12 hour work day norm

What’s outrageous enough to spur ten thousand people to parade through NYC? A 12 hour workweek! In the late 19th century, the average working day consisted of 12 hours. Held on a Tuesday, the first Labor Day rally was held in order to gain support for the 8 hour workday.

4. Oregon first to declare Labor Day an official holiday

In February of 1887, the great state of Oregon was the first in the Union to pass law making Labor Day and officially recognized holiday.

5. Grover Cleveland makes Labor Day a national holiday

Making Labor Day an official national holiday as part of his political campaign, in 1894, President Grover Cleveland made good on his promise, and signed a law making Labor Day an officially recognized US holiday.

6. Not just in the US

Although Labor Day hails from Canada and the US, a large number of industrialized nations around the world celebrate Labor Day as a time to respect and reflect upon workers around the world. While not all celebrate it at the beginning of summer, the concept is similar, and is sometimes celebrated in combination of May Day.

7. First Waffle House opens on Labor Day

In 1955, in Avondale Estates, Georgia, the very first Waffle House opened it’s doors to the public. 25 states and 50 years later, Waffle House now counts over 1500 establishments. Yay waffles!

8. The White border

Labor Day has been traditionally the unofficial “pack up the whites” border, and was often considered a fashion faux pas, if worn post-Labor Day. This tradition has been steadily decreasing over the past decade(s), and is often now just remembered as the “something that once was.”

9. 150 million working Americans

As of 2008, there were 154.4 million people over the age of 16 in the US with jobs. Around ¾ of these workers receive paid vacation time, but an extra day off is certainly nothing to sneeze at.

10. Unofficial NFL season kickoff

99.44 percent of the time, the NFL plays it’s first official season game the Thursday after Labor Day.

So there we have it. Perhaps a few things you already knew about Labor Day, but hopefully a few that you didn’t. Have fun, enjoy today, and remember to drink responsibly.

Rebuilding – Slowly

Jun 15, 2008 by Dan Taylor    12 Comments    Posted under: Uncategorized

Hmmm…ok. Bear with me here folks. As you can see, TTS is back, but in a Humpty Dumpty kinda way.

If you’ve made it thus far, you’ll notice that you’ve been redirected from turnthescrew.com to blog.turnthescrew.com. Yay…I managed that much.

Pretty much everything works just the way it should…except we’re missing over a year’s worth of content. This should, technically, be no problem, as I exported the database that was sitting on the former host’s server. This is where things start to go crazy. Upon uploading the backed up database, the front page appears, along with the associated content, BUT any linked articles, pages, sections of the site show up as 404 errors.

Hmmmm…well…the data is there, I’m just somehow not making the connection. As I said…this should be a learning process for us all.

Richie Hawtin at Pyramide, Vösendorf, Austria

May 19, 2008 by Dan Taylor    3 Comments    Posted under: Music

The short version: This party sucked. It was ruined by bad people, a bad vibe, a production company that clearly has no idea how to run timings, and a bad location. FU Pyramide, FU Hypnotic, but I still love you Richie.

I don’t even really know how to talk about this party. Maybe the best place to start is in the beginning.

When I was in university in Rochester, NY, I spent many weekends making the ritual drive around the lake, and heading up to Toronto to hear some world class DJ’s and experience some excellent clubs. Amongst some of these best DJ’s, one of the best parties I’ve ever been to had Richie Hawtin as the headliner. I’m dating myself here, but this was sometime around 1997-98. Richie had already achieved a star status, but was still playing for a 400-500 person crowd. Big, but not too big, small enough, but not too small, just all in all, incredible music, good people, a good vibe, and an all around awesome party.

Richie played Saturday night at the Pyramide in Vösendorf, a suburb of Vienna. At least, I think he played. I didn’t make it that far. There are so many things that went wrong with this party it’s hard to even list them. This might possibly have been the worst party I’ve ever been too, which is really saying something, as I thought I’d been to some pretty crappy parties before. To be fair, the Pyramide soundsystem was outstanding, but that’s about the only thing that impressed me.

Within about an hour it became all too apparent what I’d just stepped into: a pure commercial event. I don’t blame Richie. He’s truly obtained superstar status. In order for a production company to book Richie, they MUST book a massive venue, as I’m sure Mr. Hawtin took home anywhere between 10 and 15k for playing for 2 hours. Don’t take this as gospel, as I truly have no idea, but I do know that Parov Stelar, who has a fairly decent name commands around 5k to play an evening, Richie’s rate must be financially reflected by his popularity and world known name.

While I am a fan of the music, I’m also a fan of an ‘experience’. I am a DJ, and therefor for me, the music has to be good, but let’s face it, the music is only one of the possible senses that can be addressed in an evening. One of my most impressed memories about the Toronto party scene is/was the attitude…the atmosphere. Call me old school (’cause I am an OG now), but I still believe in PLUR. I know it’s a term that’s been played out, and plenty of party scene folks become jaded and disinterested over time, I still believe in the spirit of the term. There was simply no PLUR present in Vösendorf on Saturday night. It was cold. It was bare, it was commercial, and it had absolutely no vibe whatsoever.

Another big factor for me is attention to details. There are a few clubs/events that really stick out in my mind as having a pure “WOW!” factor. Lighting can make a huge difference in setting overall mood. One that sticks out to me was a club slightly outside of Toronto. In hindsight, there’s nothing incredibly special about this, but it simply set the mood. You walked in the entrance, all walls are painted black with dark carpeting. The tickets are on the right, and the coat room on the left. The entrance way is bathed in a soft red light, and the top of the first staircase is illuminated with one red spotlight. You walked up that staircase into this red light, turned the corner, and walked up another set of stairs blanketed in aqua light. One more turn, and the stairs are washed with blacklights. All the while the volume of the dancefloor above you increases at each turn. Dramatic. Tension building. Until you finally arrive at the main entrance to the dancefloor with it’s massive light show whirling above your head.

Sounds like a great entrance eh? Let’s fast forward to Saturday night. We entered through 2 glass doors, into a lobby brightly lit with fluorescent lights blasted from above. Let me say that again, ALL THE LIGHTS WERE ON. As if we were there for a business convention (which, incidentally, the Pyramide is normally used for).

To top it all off, we didn’t even make it to see Richie perform. We were all simply exhausted. I don’t know if it was Hypnotic (the production company) or Richie’s personal choice, but he didn’t come on until at least 5am. We bagged it and called it a night around 4:30. Richie was floating around the DJ booth, indicating that he was getting ready, but really: 5am? That’s simply ridiculous. Let’s face it, but 5am, the people that are there and are drinking are way to drunk to know what’s going on. The people that are there that are on pills are completely f(*&ed out of their mind, and would think that my dog was the best DJ they’d ever heard. And the people that are there that are relatively (I had 4 beers, i think) sober, and have been there most of the evening are simply exhausted. I have absolutely no problem with staying out until 6 in the morning dancing my ass off, but that means I have to be entertained between 2-4/5 am. To bring the headliner on at 5am is simply ridiculous.

So sadly, while I dropped a decent amount of coinage (25 Euro) on this party out in the middle of nowhere, and was surrounded by cold, party posers, and didn’t even get to hear Richie, I did learn a lot. I learned how NOT to throw a party. I learned HOW to be prepared for a party. I learned NOT to ever expect much from Hypnotic’s parties. I learned that it will take AN ACT OF GOD to get me out to the Pyramide again. And all in all, I learned WHAT a commercial party is, and will NEVER throw one myself. If our parties get beyond an underground feeling (as I still believe a big party CAN still have PLUR present), that’s the day I throw in the towel and start something new.

If you’ve made it this far in the post, thanks for reading. I’m not mad. I’m not sad. It might even been my own damn fault, as I had such high expectations for this world class DJ, and it was just simply ruined by a bad location, a bad crowd, and a bad production company.

Vienna, I’m disappointed. Show me you can do better than this.