Bad Boy Bill

Coming to international fame in the Nineties via his double-entendre-titled Bang the Box mix series, Chicago's Bad Boy Bill (William Renkosik) has never been known for subtlety. And that's okay, because sometimes there's the plain and simple need to be whooped on the head with a huge groove and a bumping beat on a dance floor. Representing the harder edge of the Chicago house spectrum, he has been DJing since many of today's doe-eyed jocks were in diapers, but he doesn't carry himself like a Jurassic selector in the least. Sometimes DJs are best left in the shadows -- nothing to see here, folks -- but Bill also happens to be entertaining enough to sustain interest in his DVD, Behind the Decks Live. It's a fine substitute for those whose interest in clubbing has waned. But for the rest of us, that in-person shot of adrenaline from one of Bill's precise, quick, and surprising mixes is still something to be desired.