Redemption Dome

In 1996 I moved into one of the dumpiest three bedroom apartments imaginable with three other guys. The place was above a gay strip club called Madrigals - it has since moved to New Orleans. It was located on the Northside of Chicago in a funky neighborhood called Andersonville. And God their music was loud and thunderous. The bass would run through you in the middle of the night like a hammer. It was like sleep deprivation training and acoustic torture rolled into one mind blowing, ear thumping experience. My sanity was tested more than a few times.

The arrangement was sort of an odd-couple times two. Meaning, the four of us had all just been recently dumped by our girlfriends and were in need of quickly finding a place to live. We embraced the gayness of the neighborhood by naming our place the Pleasure Dome. Sadly, I even slept in a bunk bed above another guy who fortunately is still one of my best friends and Godfather to one of my sons. We had some great late night talks that felt like I was a kid back in camp. Turns out that the "Dome" as it were, quickly became a local hang-out even competing with the neighborhood haunts. It wasn't so much about drinking and being a bunch of meatheads - although Schlitz was the official brew of the Dome. It was really about being yourself, even if you were just a big dork like me.

At the Dome, we and an endless stream of friends sang, danced (we had a large functioning mirror ball) and played guitars, banjos, bongos, oboes and, of course tambourines until the wee morning light. Whether weekdays or weekends, it was always time for fun, music and friends at the Dome. On hot summer nights we climbed out on the roof to play guitars, observe our eclectic neighborhood below and sleep under the stars. Living at the Dome opened me up to a ton of new music, friends and experiences that I wouldn't trade for anything.

I could fill up this blog with just memories and music from this period, but if I had to pick a single song that reminds me most of the Pleasure Dome it's definitely Bob Marley's Redemption Song. It symbolizes my three years "under the dome". My wife claims she fell for me the first time I sang it to her with my guitar. Now that's love...Thanks Bob.