![]() A JTribune article about the club's farewell begins, "All good things must come to an end - and after almost nine years as one of Chicago's most colorful nightspots, Medusa's is shutting down its Sheffield Avenue location." A developer later turned the building into apartments and offices, which remains today. The club closed in 1992 after problems with the alderman led to Shelton not renewing the lease. There were so many segregated back then.everyone was equal in this place." "We were everything that other places weren't, maybe that underdog, that outcast, more creative people, they were all thrown together. "I think there was just a hunger for that kind of scene, something really different," Shelton says. The club would open for the all-ages crowd at 7:30 until about 10:30pm, when the club would shut down for a half-hour and reopen for the 18 and over crowd at 11, staying packed until 2 or 3am. ![]() It was one big house party all the time." People kind of gravitated to us as a non-corporate environment. "There was no big concept of making big money, just putting people we like in there. "When we started, we really just wanted to hear great music and hang out with friends," Shelton remembers in a phone interview. The club first opened as a late-night New-York style venue and then as an all-ages club, attracting suburban teens into the city, as well as club owners, performance artists, musicians and DJs. He spent years throwing unconventional parties all throughout Chicago, but finally spotted a perfect place at Sheffield and School. After spending some time hanging in Waikiki, Hawaii, Shelton (nicknamed Medusa because of his curly blond locks) returned home to his native Chicago with dreams of opening his own club. The original Medusa's opened in 1982 or 1983 (Shelton can't remember which year for sure), after Shelton spotted a "For Rent" sign on an abandoned Swedish club at Sheffield and School. There are certain facts about the club fit for textbooks, and much of the club's history is nicely written in an article on the Web site for the club's current Elgin location. On the Facebook page "MEDUSA'S on SHEFFIELD in CHICAGO," 4,369 fans gush about how much the club impacted their lives. Despite being closed for more than a decade, Medusa tribute nights pop up in the city every so often, with a possible reunion scheduled for October. These are all words, stories and moments used to describe the irreplaceable atmosphere of the club, which has since been turned into offices and apartments. Is that Billy Idol?" and punk rocker GG Allin telling the crowd he was going to kill himself but instead, cutting his body and lighting equipment on fire.įormer site of Medusa's at 3257 N. "Dark, thumping, alive" and a melting pot with blobs of gum covering the sidewalk of the front entrance, Medusa's was the setting for several legendary Chicago stories: Billy Corgan and company wearing black velvet capes during one of the Smashing Pumpkins' first live shows, the late Studs Terkel saying, "Thanks for a great night. Opened in the early 1980s, Medusa's on Sheffield was one of the defining nightclubs in Chicago's house music scene throughout the '80s and early '90s. In Chicago mythology, if you hung out just long enough Medusa's, the famed nightclub at North Sheffield Avenue and West School Street, you sure as hell didn't turn to stone. In Greek mythology, if you stared directly at Medusa, the legendary female Gorgon with mesmerizing snake-hair, you turned to stone. Description of the Facebook page MEDUSA'S on SHEFFIELD in CHICAGO gotta square? a clove? 13 and drunk? i don't remember.beat up? fucked up? knocked up? new wave, house, industrial, hip hop slam dance, dirty disco, techno, this acid life.ahhhhh the memories." "you wouldn't believe me if I told you.15 going on 25.favorite color? BLACK! smoke cigs? yup. See our previous look at Off The Alley here. Feature Thu A Look Back in the Mirror at Medusa'sįor the second article in an occasional series on long lost music venues in Chicago, Transmission takes a look at Medusa's, an all-ages music and dance club that was one of the first New York-style nightclubs to open in Chicago.
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