Music
Tony de Vit's death shocks clubland - unprecedented tributes flood in. Mr C opens restaurant. Pleasure Rooms in Leeds closes. boy george on tony de vit 'IWAS planning to see Tony in hospital when I got a phone call and heard he was dead. It was such a fucking shock. I knew Tony was ill - I was one of the few who did know - but the whole thing was really sudden. Good for him in a way, because when you're HIV positive it's usually a long cycle of recovery and relapse. He hadn't known he was ill for long and he didn't tell many people. "I'd known Tony well for two years. We started playing in the same clubs and we went on a trip to play in Ireland together. When he knew I was just starting out, he would come up and make comments, like 'I really liked your set'. He was quite a generous person. He wasn't a bitter type.

"I think the thing about Tony was he knew he was really good. He excelled at what he did so he didn't need to be paranoid. He had his own sound and did it better than anyone else, so you never had the sense he was competing with you. I remember giving him a new track of mine and watching him instantly mix it in. I thought, 'Cunt! He's so confident and I've got to go on after him.' It was quite daunting playing after him.

"Tony had a long history and built up a really big reputation. His career was just getting to an interesting level when he died. "The funeral was really sweet. A couple of close friends read things out and told funny stories. Funerals aren't pleasant by their nature but there was something nice and something right about it. I think he'd have appreciated it."

News
Tony de Vit dies on July 2nd of bone marrow failure and bronchial pneumonia. He's rushed to hospital after a recurrence of exhaustion, which had forced him to cancel his DJing dates. Tributes flood in from DJs and clubbers
- The End boss Mr C opens a restaurant adjoining the club, called AKA. "The peas are good," reckons the DJ
- Monica Lewinsky is granted immunity in exchange for full testimony about her relationship with Bill Clinton
- An AIDS warning goes out to clubbers in Doncaster after the town is singled out as an HIV hotspot with ten cases of heterosexual infection in two years
- Wu-Tang Clan rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard, now answering to the name Big Baby Jesus, is shot twice in a robbery at his cousin's home
- The 1998 World Cup is won by France, who defeat Brazil 3-0
- News leaks out that All Saint Melanie Blatt launched her career on Coldcut's Ninja Tune label with an 'unusual' fusion of trip hop and rockabilly under the name Drive
- Darren Hughes leaves Cream to follow other interests, including a rumoured London superclub
- The Propellerheads cancel their tour when drummer Will White is hospitalised
- The Drugs Czar blasts E-testing kits being marketed by E-Z Test as "immoral" venture n The Pleasure Rooms in Leeds, former home of the legendary Back To Basics, closes n London's Gay Pride is cancelled, the latest blow to an already beleagured festival season

Fight
What's the beef? They're both French. They both make wicked chill-out albums, but Kid Loco - he of the psychedelic record collection and 'ladykilling' image
- absolutely hates Air: "Their LP is muzak. They try anything that is the 'new thing'. They try to be trendy." Air, though, refused to join in the name-calling. Boring!
Winner? Kid Loco on a mood safari

Object
GHB reared its ugly head again this year, causing unfortunate clubbers from Bolton to Ibiza to collapse in wobbly heaps. Oh dear

Year Review: 10/1998