THE BACKSTORY
At every critical moment in early House Music history, Robert Williams was there. As the owner of the original Warehouse to the Music Box to the parties he continues to throw today, Robert Williams has become an icon, a treasure of the Chicago House Music scene. He was honored at last year's Chosen Few Picnic and... well, as Mike Dunn once told me, "Who is Robert Williams? If you have to ask, you don't even know..."

So when we heard that Robert was kicking around the idea of writing a memoir - a true, real history, as he saw it, of Back in the Day - we wanted to do everything possible to help.

Robert, as everyone who knows him can tell you, is a great talker. So one balmy day this Autumn, 5 Magazine's Czarina Mirani, Terry Matthew and Carlos Morris got together with Robert at a downtown cafe and, with minimal prompting from us, just let him talk. Three hours later, we had enough, we thought, for several articles on a wide range of topics, from Richard Long and the mechanics of good sound to the duty and responsibilities of a real DJ to a maestro's understanding of the ingredients that make a party not just good but legendary. Much of what we talked about had to do with the issues swirling around the Chicago House Music scene today, but all of it is informed by his experience running two of the seminal House Music spots and having a hand in creating this thing we love.

Over the next few months, we'll be printing excerpts from our chat with Robert from this and more conversations to come.

Read our previous interview with Robert from December 2005 here.

 

 

ROBERT WILLIAMS: ON THE SCENE
When I was at an event recently, I don't know what to say but I thought the music was just dreadful. In New York back in the day, with Larry Levan, there was the view that the customers' opinions did not count. Let me make that clear: we knew that the customers would enjoy our music because we knew what to play to them. We were the masters, we were the puppeteers. We kind of programmed them.

Good music is good music. It doesn't matter if it's new or old. If you don't know the difference between good music and bad music - whether it's Beethoven or whatever - then you're doing something wrong and maybe this is the wrong line of work for you.

So when I hear people say that the Southside is "all classics" and the Northside is "all about new music", I think that's the fault of the DJs. If that's what I expect to hear when I go North or South, well, that's all I've been programmed to hear. We've dropped the ball.

The venues are another story. These aren't clubs and they're not even bars! They're taverns. What kind of an environment is that? What kind of experience is that for someone to get into when you need to go into a dive to hear House Music? The culture hasn't been upgraded. I feel like when I go in some places on the Southside, I should take my aunt with me and have an old cocktail or something! They're taverns.

The music scene in Chicago just plain sucks. I can go up north and feel a little bit energized, but I think that's just because it's new to me.

 

ROBERT WILLIAMS: ON PROMOTERS
First of all, the people that are calling themselves promoters, a lot of them should cut their wrists! [laughs] What are they promoting? Let's ask that question as an audience. What incentive do you have to go out tonight? You don't feel like there's a place that you must go to. If I go out with you to a terrible place, I can still enjoy myself because of your company. But if I feel terrorized when I walk into the room, next time we'll go out somewhere else.

What can they do differently? The right presentation is a start - the right marketing. This goes from the music to the bartenders all the way to the people at the door. People want to feel welcomed, loved. If you're in a situation in which you're alienated from the time you walk in, why would you ever go back? I'll say this about Ron [Watkins of Da House Spot's] parties: you will never, ever feel intimidated there. You're in the back, having a good time, and you're able to do your own thing and express yourself within the context of the party. You feel welcomed. Ron does what a promoter should do - he's a host. He's trying to give people a place to go. It's not a tavern, and he tries to change it around a little to make it look more clubbish.

At a party, every person is a part of the ensemble. Everyone effects everyone else there. That's why I mention the right marketing. You can't have a good party when you just have a big cattle car and invite everyone and their mother indiscriminately. You have to pick and choose. You have to decide who you're really looking for. You have to have intelligent and correct marketing for your event, whether it's a big club or a lounge.

Advance promotion is a science. If you're going to charge people anything, you need to come correct. Just because you say you're a promoter - that means nothing. Everyone can be a promoter just by calling themselves one.

You can go into the bathroom, put in a CD and stand at the door and say, "Five dollars!" And I think that's what some of these folks are doing! And for what? What are you giving these people that they can't get anywhere else?

A part of selecting the right crowd is the music. Let's give up the idea that we can appeal to everyone in one night.