ROBERT WILLIAMS ON... AFTER THE BOX

Let's say you went to the Music Box and you heard Ron Hardy. You experienced that wonderful crowd, that wonderful music and experienced that audio system. Let's say some years later, you decide that you want to be a promoter of that same music. Now I want to ask you: what did you learn? You say that you are continuing the tradition but it's as far from the Music Box as anything.

The "Black Box" set-up didn't come from the Paradise Garage. My initial inspirations were the places that I went to in New York, places like The Gallery. Things are I think a little too commercial these days. We've lost the personal touch. I still believe in putting a personal touch on a place. If you're a promoter, put your personal touch on a spot. You can have the same old club and make it vibrant and most importantly your own spot with just a few decorations.

Things fell apart. If I had to pinpoint a moment it would have to be after Ron Hardy died and Frankie went back to New York and a lot of the brilliant people began going to Europe. The people who came after tried to copy their success, but it fell flat. They missed the essence.

And I think it's sad. Go to New York now. Just because Larry Levan died, they didn't drop the ball. They're up to date musically. Here they became stagnant.

ROBERT WILLIAMS ON... CHICAGO HOUSE

The Warehouse, the Paradise Garage, that whole segment of New York that came here - that was underground music. It had more of an R&B influence and a few other things. House Music was more your generation. Chicago developed House Music with the drum machines with Farley and Ron Trent and all of that.

Some people thought they would make a few dollars and take it abroad, and that's where the music got messed up.

ROBERT WILLIAMS ON... POLITICS

The police were there sometimes to harass a little. Sometimes they'd come four or five times in a night and I'd have to stop them. I got tired of that. I had to say, "Okay, fellas... are you on lunch? Because you know there's a cafeteria in front of the building where you can go get yourself a sandwich instead of coming here." They'd say that they were just doing their job and checking things out. "Okay," I said. "Then I'll just have to talk to the district commander about this."

You have to remember, when I opened the Warehouse, old Mayor Daley was still there. There was a lot of politics. In fact, Jane Byrne's campaign office was right there by us. Clubs on the Northside were fine, clubs on the Southside were fine, but we were right in the Loop. They didn't like that and you had to deal with a lot of politics because of it.

ROBERT WILLIAMS ON... THE CROWD

The Warehouse was a gay club. Period. It remained a gay club throughout its existence. The straight people that came were either relatives or really close friends.

The Music Box was not a gay club. The reason is that Frankie opened the PowerPlant and that clientele from the Warehouse had followed their DJ while we were in the process of trying to re-open our club and rename it for Ron Hardy. So I had to make a new clientele for this new space. Ron had a certain segment as well that was following him, from Den One and the Ritz.

ROBERT WILLIAMS ON... COUTURE

It's true that people did dress up more then. They did. But they were very preppy and had all of the designer stuff - the Guess? jeans, Armani...

I remember one night, there was a long line outside and all of the men were dressed in tuxedos and women in long gowns. I asked Ron Hardy what was going on and he said that it was prom night. "Let's let them in and give them a real experience!" he said. "Let them in for free!" So we let them in. About three hours later I saw them again. It looked like someone had chased them for about four miles! The boys had come out of the shirts, the girls were carrying their shoes... What a sight!

ROBERT WILLIAMS ON... MEDUSA'S

Dave Medusa was a student of the Warehouse. He came there and saw the atmosphere and then went off on his own.

There's this one story that I always think of and laugh at when I think of Medusa in the early days. Medusa had a club called 161. Frankie was playing for him one night and had a singer there. Have you ever heard of Geraldine Hunt? Well the club was kind of a loft and they had this scaffolding there. Geraldine Hunt was up on this scaffolding. Now... have you ever seen Geraldine Hunt? Most people hadn't. And let's just say it was most entertaining. She wasn't trying to be funny, but it was funny. All I could think was, "My eyes!" It was a really great party! And I know it's not nice to say this, but she was so ugly and elevated up there like an angel. This was back in the late 1970s. All of us were younger and more beautiful but it still didn't help her. People were hollering for help because their eyesight was being impaired... But seriously, I'm sorry, it was just one of the funniest moments I remember at Medusa's 161.