During the entire saga of Shelter announcing on their flyer that Derrick May was playing at their 30th birthday party, then their second flyer to say he wasn’t, followed by the discovery he still was, one question remains unanswered. Why, oh why, did they book Derrick May to play at all?

None of my sources in New York can ever remember Derrick May being booked to play at Club Shelter over the years – and some have been going to their parties since the mid-1990s. I accept there’s a possibility he has, but I can find no record of him having ever done so.

Could the real reason for the booking be money? It could well be. A source told me yesterday that “Like most DJs, Timmy has felt the pinch recently. And it’s not just pandemic related. He’s been tempted to take Shelter down a more techno route for a while. He’s not massively into it, but he knows that’s what the kids like – and what the kids like is where the money is”.

He continued, saying “Shelter’s always had one eye on commercial stuff. Most underground clubs do. It’s how they spot what’s coming next. They couldn’t have lasted this long without doing it. And look at the bookings for next month – [François] Kevorkian has played techno for years, [Joe] Clausell has done too”.

Still, there’s one piece of good news amidst all this. According to another source, “There’s no f***ing way Mayday’s getting $10,000 out of Timmy for this gig!”. Poor Derrick might have to manage on one less cigar a day…