Seeing all the postings today about the passing of Dave Medusa’s Shelton has brought back a steady stream of memories. I never met the man, but the venue he created had quite an influence during my later teenage years.
The memories are numerous. Hanging out in the video room toggling between watching the videos playing on the large two opposing screens, dancing to them, or watching people dance to them. Dancing to How Soon is Now or Kooler than Jesus in the video room. Dancing to Headhunter or grinding to French Kiss in the main space. Dancing up on the boxes in the main space for a birds-eye view of all that was going on. Watching the mosh pit from that vantage point as I Will Refuse played. Waiting in line forever to get in. Dancing with friends in the main space. Going solo and waiting across the street to see if anyone I know was there. Parking illegally under the el tracks (never got caught). Having cheese fries at Muskies with friends. Getting a super large fountain drink at JJ Peppers to rehydrate. Having my boom box stolen out of my car. Driving friends home down past 95th to Roseland and Morgan Park at 3AM so they wouldn’t need to take the Red Line. Driving to the Montrose rocks afterward on stormy nights to see the waves crash up in front of the headlights like ghosts. Hanging out in Evanston and worrying when some friends jumped in the lake and were missing for a couple minutes. Such an eclectic group of people that opened my eyes to a broader world. A couple of them got me (underaged) into a gay dance club up on Clark north of Lawrence. There were other dance clubs during my young adult years like Dome Room, Shelter, and Crobar, but they didn’t have the energy that Medusa’s had.
This playlist is a very good cross-section of the music that was played there.
Medusa's Video Room, Chicago 