• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Wendy Brandes Jewelry Blog

Never Is the Next New Thing

  • HOME
  • SHOP
  • ABOUT
  • FAQ
  • CONTACT

RIP, Anita Sarko

October 26, 2015 by WendyB

I was distraught to learn on Friday that iconic ’80s DJ Anita Sarko had killed herself. I didn’t know her personally, but she was a big part of the club scene that I read about avidly in Details magazine and Michael Musto’s Village Voice column. I was so fascinated by Anita that I have a vivid memory of shaking her hand at a Duran Duran concert at Madison Square Garden, while I have a comparatively faint recollection of being front and center at the tiny club gig Duran Duran played after the big show. By the way, I persuaded the music critic who took me to MSG that it was worth going to the after party, because if Anita was there, it was going to be great.

View image | gettyimages.com

Another place that Anita could be found was spinning records for VIPs in the Michael Todd Room of the Palladium nightclub. I was so excited to get in there a few times that I saved my drink tickets as souvenirs rather than getting drinks with them.

palladium

Yep, I put them in a scrapbook. Click for original post.

It was Michael Musto who wrote about Anita’s death on Facebook. They stayed friends all these years.

View image | gettyimages.com

He followed up with this beautiful piece for Paper Magazine.

MICHAEL MUSTO’S OBITUARY FOR ANITA SARKO.
 

As Musto writes, “The outpouring of love that exploded when I Facebooked about Anita Sarko’s suicide the other day was so astounding, I bet it would have saved her life if she’d been around to witness it.” Truly. RIP, Anita Sarko.

Additional reading:

  • The New York Times obituary.
  • A 1987 New York Times profile called “The Queen of the Discotheque Deejays,” with a highlarious cameo by club kid James St. James.
  • The Village Voice obituary.
  • Anita and Danceteria.
  • Anita named “the best” DJ by New York Magazine in 1985.
  • Anita’s own telling of her peculiar cancer experience. She had severe gynecological symptoms for years but kept testing negative for cancer. Finally, after being diagnosed with anemia, Anita was told that she had uterine cancer. Then she was told she had ovarian cancer, which is even more deadly. She had a hysterectomy, only to be informed that her cancers had stayed at stage one and that she needed neither chemo nor radiation as a follow-up. Very unusual. A friend of mine who encountered Anita back in the day — and more recently had an unnecessary hysterectomy — says we shouldn’t underestimate the effect this traumatic operation can have on a woman’s mental health, even post-menopause.
  • Two articles Anita wrote for Interview magazine.

You might also like
Jane Asher, '60 Chick
Classic Carly Simon
Throwback Thursday: Tiffeau Dress Through the Years

Filed Under: 80s style, obits, style icons

Previous Post: « The Week in Review
Next Post: What Wendy Wore: Oh, These Old Things »

Primary Sidebar

MEET WENDY BRANDES

Award-winning designer of fine jewelry inspired by women's history and pop culture. A former journalist who writes about jewelry, fashion, medieval history, news, feminism, dogs, cats and whatever else is on her mind. Blogging since 2007.
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

ARCHIVES

CATEGORIES

Facebook Pagelike Widget

POPULAR TOPICS

NEWSLETTER

Subscribe for Email updates.
* indicates required

Original jewelry designs, photos and text are © Wendy Brandes 2007-2016. All rights reserved.

© 2016 · FOODIE PRO THEME COPYRIGHT BY · SHAY BOCKS GENESIS FRAMEWORK · BUILT ON THE WORDPRESS