Located almost underneath the L tracks on a constantly growing three-block-radius of Sheridan (look for the blazing Old Style sign), this dark country & western-style bar is a ball's out mixed crowd, replete with third-shifters and Harley riders, with a bit of Uptown artist thrown in for "good location" purposes only.

Rather large and spacious, the hole-in-the-wall tends to get packed on Friday and Saturday nights, when country music fans come in droves to check out the live C & W bands that play here on a regular cycle (Remember: These are the only nights where the $1.50 draft special doesn't apply).

The rest of the week, neighborhood locals file in for the cheap beer, loaded jukebox, lone pool table and brash, take-no-prisoners attitude by the elderly female barkeep (clearly, you must really impress this one before she cracks a smile; she could really give a hells-bell if you ever come back). Twinkling with X-mas lights and with a television blaring in the background, the diveyness of the place brings to mind a roadside hellhole on a back country road, deep in the back hills of Kentucky (some folks are really into this type of joint, for good reason, I'm sure).

Not to be bothered with the intricacies of offering food, this is the place to come if you want to swill beer, get plastered, and drop less than a ten spot, all the while gazing out the front wall of windows at a self-storage building, thinking about "what could have been." Sometimes, though, this is the best atmosphere for the gathering of those genius ideas; you can almost see them swirling and formulating in the faces of the regulars, only to turn into a gritty, slurred tall-tale by nights end. But, that's what dreams are made of, right?

Centerstage Reviewer: Misty Tosh