McNamara laughs warmly about the lounge at the Inman, called the Crystal Room, being the first ‘gay bar’. Barnes took a shot at the job, having never been a DJ before, and found a new vocation and community.
Having a live DJ instead of just a jukebox was all the new rage at bars and clubs as the disco era began to take hold and McNamara was looking for a DJ. McNamara was the manager of a little bar called Giovanni’s Place that opened in Champaign in 1975 and catered to the gay community. Barnes went on to attend Illinois State University in Normal, IL and visited bars like the Male Box in Peoria, where he met Joe McNamara.
