Matthew Clark sinks deep into the plush green booth near the back of The House, 263 E. Lincoln Highway. Appropriately, a fresh mug of coffee sits in front of him. Clark is the establishment’s general manager, though he doesn’t really care for that title.

“I don’t think of myself that way, but rather as someone here that can bring about the good vibes,” Clark says.

-As he blows the steam rising from his large, black coffee mug, he explains the role of a “good vibes generator.” It’s to keep the people feeling good — not just those working for him, but also patrons of The House. Between questions, he hops from the booth and bounces from table to table, ensuring everyone is taken care of.

“He’s a great boss,” said Sebastian Hansen, who has worked for Clark a little more than a year.

Clark has lived in DeKalb for eight years and has an appreciation for the town.

“DeKalb has a wonderful spirit. It’s got a diverse population and a great music scene,” he said.

The music scene originally brought Clark to DeKalb. He would come to Otto’s Niteclub, 118 E. Lincoln Highway, for musical performances. He eventually moved to DeKalb and worked at Otto’s, booking the talent to perform. Four years later, he left Otto’s with two others, a vision and a little hope. Then, he received a loan and began the year-long conception of The House.

Today, Clark spends more than 80 hours a week there, sometimes sleeping on the floor of his office in the basement. He is responsible for everything from the ordering to the inventory, from booking the bands to clearing tables. His countless hours at work — a phenomenon he jokingly refers to as “House arrest” — keep him inside the utopia he’s built for himself.

Clark values every experience; he thinks that life just shouldn’t be lived, but experienced viscerally. For this reason, only fresh ingredients go into The House recipes — many of which are vegetarian and vegan entrees. Clark has been a vegetarian for more than five years and saw that it was difficult to find a variety of such entrees at most restaurants.

He personally books all the bands and artists who perform at The House. Emphasizing his hands-on approach, Clark quotes a House-favorite band, Troubled Hubble: “If you wanna go fishin’, I mean real fishin’, then jump in the water.”

Clark constantly has music on his mind. When he speaks, he almost whispers words in a rhythmic pattern, pausing momentarily to find the perfect metaphor or fitting rhyme.

He’s had a passion for music since he was a kid. It was a way to escape the bland flavor that surrounded him growing up in the small town of Yorkville. He and a few friends began working as deejays at high school dances.

“It was a lot of fun,” Clark said. “We just did a lot of off-the-wall stuff, which in turn got us a lot of gigs.”

When Clark laughs, he smiles widely and his teeth shine, surrounded by the mustache and beard that extends a hand’s width below his chin. His blue eyes are wide, like those of a child. The gentle demeanor is hardly that of someone who grew up wanting to be a policeman.

Clark did, in fact, study law enforcement at Lewis University in Romeoville. Then, on one particularly dull day during his junior year in 1991, a former classmate approached Clark and asked if he wanted to see a few concerts. The tickets were for a band that was going to play at three different states.

“I thought the guy was kind of a nerd, and later I found out that I was the nerd,” Clark said. “He told me who the band was, and I said, ‘The Grateful Who?'”

But Clark was open-minded and curious, so he decided to take the tickets and check it out. He and the nerd, along with a few others, hopped in the car and followed the Grateful Dead from Chicago to Kansas and finally to Ohio. At the first concert, he discovered a love for the music, the people and the atmosphere.

“It was just a cultural shock,” Clark said, his eyes gleaming with excitement. “I mean, I would look to the left and see people dancing and hugging and be like, ‘Whoa.'”

Clark said he was happily enjoying the concert when he, rather suddenly, had an epiphany.

“Midway through one of the concerts, I realized that if I was going to be a cop, then I’d have to arrest over half of the people there, for doing … well, for doing what they were doing,” Clark said, laughing. “And I wasn’t cool with that.”

Clark returned to school after the concerts and, like so many third-year college students before him, did some serious soul-searching about what he really wanted out of life. He missed the feeling he got from the concerts. So he decided not to become a cop. Life was too short, he said, and he wanted to enjoy every minute of it.

“I definitely think that it was meant to be,” Clark said, “in the great, cosmic sense of good, enlightened vibes.”

After Clark finished his cup of coffee, he continued to greet his customers — just another night of spreading the good vibes.