For the last 15 years, it seems I have always made the long pilgrimage to downtown Chicago in order to broadcast kick ass rock and roll to all of my brothers and sisters in Chicago. Truly, some of the coolest radio broadcast studios in the world are located in this great city, and I have enjoyed using all of them... but thanks to COVID and the related work restrictions these days, I am now broadcasting from my home studio... affectionately and rather sarcastically nicknamed by my friends as The Patcave.
The "Patcave" sounds way more cool than it is. It is located inside my rather unattractive beat up old shack that was built almost 100 years ago that sits at the bottom of a ravine on the shores of the Fox River. As you can see from the photo, it is a very small place with only about 1100 square feet of space inside, and 180 degree views of the river. There is a monstrous 1500 square foot wood deck that wraps half way around the 2nd story of the outside of the house that is a favorite of guests who want to chill out and relax, and a large stone fireplace takes up an entire wall.
Due to an illegal pipe installed at the bottom of the ravine by Cuba Township, the waterflow is easily blocked and now jumps out of the ravine and onto my road, traveling down the road and sending millions of gallons of water directly into my front door. The head of Cuba township at the time came in and did it as a late night off the books favor to his friend who lived in the house next to it. It seems he wanted more parking space. As a result, the house has flooded over 30 times in the 10 years that I have lived here, permanently destroying most of the downstairs. We have rebuilt it similar to a swimming pool and commercial restaurant, with everything well above the tile flooring and designed to take the hit as best as possible when the waters come... and they always come.
Some of you may remember the video footage that was shown on WGN after one of the many storms.
Upstairs is where all the magic happens. The whole place is filled with music gear of all kinds, massive tube powered guitar amps, vintage guitars, a huge record collection known as the Vinyl Vault, a huge Rottweiler, and a couple of chairs for friends when the stop over. You can see in the above photo part of the fireplace and one of my main Marshall amps. what you can't see is that directly in front of me is several computers, a mixing console, a large array of monitors, and some video equipment. This is where I create the broadcast that you can hear most weekends from 4-9pm on Rock 95.5 FM in Chicago or online at https://rock955chi.com
My neighbors have now learned that this is where I broadcast, and the local kids and some curious residents seem to enjoy walking by the shack as they check out the river and giving a very obvious wave as they walk by the windows... which I think is pretty cool.
So, now you know what the inside of the Patcave looks like. It's not much, pretty ugly really, prone to flooding, and full of all the magic toys that you need to make great music. As you hear me speak on Rock 95.5, you can bet I'll be sitting behind all that cool gear, leaning into my tube microphone while looking out over the river through the big windows, and talking about rock and roll. It's a hell of a great way to spend the weekend!
-pc
Images by Mrs. C