The Golden Boy of the clubs

In 1977 I was 12 years old. The movie Saturday Night Fever came out and Studio 54 was in the news. I saw the videos and pictures of what the inside of disco’s looked like and I knew that was where I would work when I was old enough.

By the time I was 15-16 I knew I wanted to have a house with a nightclub dance room with sound, lights and a DJ booth. I knew nothing about any of it.

I started sneaking into clubs when I was 17 but I couldn’t get into the local big gay night club because I came out of the closest at 15 and everyone knew who I was. I had to go 90 miles to be able to get into a couple of gay night clubs where no one knew me.

At 21 I started hanging out in the big club in my hometown, Peoria Illinois, at night and during the day. A friend that I met at 17 when he was 19 was now the #2 DJ in the club and he cleaned the bar during the day. I always offered to help him do it so he would teach me how to mix music. Within a year I was better than everyone including my teacher. That was Scott.

Then I went to work at the bigger of the two gay nightclubs in Springfield Illinois and spent the summer as their only DJ. After that I went back to the first club and ended up working there until I was 28. The club could legally hold 400 people.

Because I would hang out in the place while they were closed during the day I heard things.

The girls were always ripping their restroom door off the hinges. No one wanted to fix it. I told the owner I would fix it. I did and I explained to him exactly what I did so that it won’t happen again.

So I became a DJ there and started fixing everything in the club. The owner quickly figured out that I am one of those genius types that can easily learn and do anything. As a 20 something year old kid with no experience in anything I started remodeling one of the 3 biggest night clubs in the city.

First I turned a mostly unused seating area in the dance room into a new men’s room with a new coat check room next to it. Three urinals, double sinks, one toilet, ceramic tile floor and walls topped with wallpaper. I did all of the design, cost estimation, carpentry, plumbing, electrical, tile, wallpaper and everything else. I had never done much of any of that and some of it never before.

What I really wanted to do in that place was tear out the massive 1980 DJ booth, raise the dance room ceiling and put in a new dance floor and stage but the owner wouldn’t let me until after I did all of the other major projects.

Next was the women’s restroom. Two toilets, double sinks, tile, wallpaper. I combined the old men’s room with the women’s to make it bigger.

Then it was tearing out the old coat check that was at the front of a large back to back bar. The owner had me turn it into a horseshoe bar matching the original white Formica bar tops from the 1970’s, a suspended cupboard overhead and padded rails.

Then I installed a 125 gallon aquarium in the lounge that I built a special enclosure for so I could have a water source and drain line behind the tank so I could maintain it.

Something else… Employees were supposed to pay for all of their own drinks. I never did and I drank heavier than everyone. Six liters of Beefeater’s Gin every month. Probably twice that in vodka, Kamikazi shots. Tons of Miller Lite bottles. Lots of Irish Cream in coffee. Miscellaneous everything else here and there.

My bar tab was allegedly $40,000.00 or so. I didn’t care. The owner didn’t care. I was the golden boy that could do anything. I never had hangovers. I could drink and work from 10pm to 4am 5 nights a week, go home, sleep, go back to the club and work all day, go home, nap, get cleaned up and go back out at night. Years and years of this.

I was a pretty boy that most everyone loved. People got to know that if they saw me in any club that something was going to get done.

The bonus working for that big club owner was that he was the biggest slumlord in town. Some of his properties were nice and employees at the club got first pick. I lived in 10 different units. Houses and apartments. I did not pay rent. He also paid my utilities.

Because I was doing so much constant work for him he used to let me keep one of his credit cards. Even though I could do many things I was still a wild kid. Always running around barefooted in my daisy duke cutoff denim short shorts and oversized shirts to look like I wasn’t wearing anything underneath.

Everybody loved it except for my partner at the time. No one was allowed to touch me ever. They knew better.

One time my boss went on his yearly trip to Vegas for a long weekend. I lived in one of his houses with a large unfenced yard. I wanted an above ground swimming pool. City code requires a fence around it. I had the boss’s credit card.

In the short time he was gone I bought all of the parts and had installed 300’ of 4’ tall chainlink fence. The first of many fences I built. After he got back and found out I had to avoid him for two weeks until he calmed down. He took away the credit card but within months I had it back.

Rinse and repeat for the massive 220v whole house window air conditioner and then again for the lawn mower.

When you make yourself into the most valued employee that a boss has ever seen they will bend over backwards to keep you.

The way I worked was as if the club belonged to me. I protected it and I wanted it to be the best it could be at all times.

Midway through working at the big club our female bartender that everyone loved, Diana, opened a small gay bar on the other end of the same block. It had been a wino bar so it was really dirty, especially the restrooms.

They needed new restrooms but had little money to do everything with so I made her and her partner an offer. I would build both restrooms how they wanted them for free in exchange for free drinks for the life of the bar. They agreed and I built them. I was about mid 20’s by then.

The bar then turned into a night club with a dance room and then a game room. It kept growing in size by expanding into two other buildings.

I worked there for 10 years. I ended up building 5 restrooms. I did the first two for free but after I built the game room they wanted the first ones redone since they had the money to do it so I tore out my first two and had to completely tear out all of the old original cast iron sewer pipes that handled the bar restrooms as well as the apartments upstairs where people were living so I could move the toilets to different locations. That was complex. I was in my late 20’s by then. I also did all of their sound and lighting for the dance room plus a ton of other things.

Then I started working at the straight clubs on Main Street because we had a lot of clubs in the 80’s & 90’s. I did one, then two, then three on and on for 25 years working at multiple clubs at the same time, always being on call while hanging out in whichever gay club I called home at the time plus working at the biggest music store in the city on and off for over a decade.

I ended up working at 24 clubs. I knew as a little boy that was what I would do and I did it. I worked for every major club owner and my reputation always preceded me.

I was always the most uncontrollable employee yet I had the respect of all of them. The rules applied to all other employees except for me. No one could compete with me in any way. I couldn’t be replaced and I knew it, they knew it. Everyone knew I was a rare type of person.

Working at night I always had to be in packed clubs even though I am agoraphobic and have social anxiety disorder in addition to being bi-polar and a bunch of other messed up disorders. Clubs were my safe space. I had power, my DJ booth, the office, basement and everywhere customers couldn’t go so I could always get away when I wanted to.

I was always standing with club owners which helps keep people away from me but I was the one doing all of the things that everyone wanted to see get done so everyone had to compliment me on whatever it was I just built, decorated, demolished, etc.

I lived my dream. I loved my jobs and it showed. I loved getting to go to work and playing with all of the clubs I acted like I owned. I ended up being able to charge a small fortune for my work but I never actually chased the money.

I never had to kiss a single employers ass. Not even once. I trained them to know that if they try any shit with me that I would walk out their door and straight into the next club waiting for me.

I would do it all again.

There was a downside. From age 22 to 32 I had one partner. He was a 14 years older ex-marine that was a physical and emotional abuser that used to try and beat on me. I sent him to the hospital 3 times because the only way to get him to stop was to knock him out. From age 35 to 50 I had another partner. A sociopathic emotional abuser. They both had their trophy, me, and I had assholes.

I have a multitude of issues but I own them and I never stop learning how to make life easier while living with them. My two exes will never see or acknowledge what they really are.

My first ex from age 15-21 was 24 years older than I. He was the only good one I ever had and was my closest friend until the day he took his last breath with me at his side. He did like teenaged boys but he did not go after me. I went after him. I wasn’t an average 15 year old. My IQ was already in the 98^th percentile by then as it was 127 at age 13.

That was John. He was the best part of my life over everything I have ever done. He was my protector up until the point when he needed me to be his protector for the last few years of his life. He committed suicide by sugar while having very severe diabetes. I had to watch him slowly die for the last year as I was his 24/7 caregiver. It broke me at age 41.

I lost my entire 40’s because of the loss. I couldn’t function. I went through that while being with the sociopath that took advantage of my weakness.

Nine years ago I cut off the physical abuser because even after a decade he wouldn’t stop the emotional abuse.

Eight years ago I cut off the sociopath. If anyone ever truly loves him again I feel sorry for that person and I hope they get away sooner than I did.

The moral of the story. Do what you love and love what you do. Never stop learning. It will always be better to exceed expectations instead of just meeting expectations. Blow their minds.

Integrity is everything but self-sacrifice can sometimes be the cost of keeping it if you really value yours. If you are not respected, don’t make my mistake. Respect yourself and get away.

There is no limit on how many times you can start over. If the person you are in love with does not protect you then you must protect yourself because the abuse will never end as long as you allow it.

I’m like old gay Yoda.

This was The Club where I spent my 20’s.

The Club Peorian Disco

This was the golden boy. Franke DJ.

I have had several iterations of the light show in my house over the years. This is the current one as I installed it.

This is that light show running with me doing a short mini-mix.

I am a 9th grade high school drop out. I didn’t need to be taught how to do sound & lighting systems or much of anything else. I typically just figure out things on my own.

I’m also a well known crochet designer with about 60 designs. This was the first half.

I did the crochet designer thing in my 50’s. I turned 60 last December so time for a new chapter of who knows what’s next. It’s always something.