n the offices of Otto’s Niteclub, 118 E. Lincoln Highway, is a small room with wood-paneled walls and carpeting that faded years ago. A fluorescent lighting fixture hangs overhead, but its flickering resembles a camera flash. The only light source comes from the hallway and a lamp situated on a desk.

Nort Johnson sits behind this desk. Even though he’s approaching 50, he wears a black hoodie. He has a grayish-white beard and his hair hangs about two inches beyond his shoulders. He is wide-eyed and has the look of constant surprise on his face, even as he leans back in his chair, puts both hands behind his head and tells story after story, with motivational quotes mixed in.

His resume includes titles such as roadie, production manager, journalist, editor, publisher, husband, brother, father and grandfather. Johnson now can add one more title to the list: booking agent.

Johnson has been in the music business for more than 30 years, a lifestyle he said is a bit out of the norm. He started out as a roadie at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago back in the ’70s.

"I would basically wait for the tour staff to either pass out or [overdose] and then I would take over," Johnson said. "It was a great way to make $10."

After hitchhiking around the country for a while, Johnson ended up back in Chicago and started working in lighting and sound production at venues such as the now-defunct Tuts and CODs. It was around this time that he began booking punk bands.

"I brought bands such as the Dead Kennedys and Black Flag to Chicago for the first time," Johnson said. "The first time that R.E.M. played Chicago, 12 people paid to see them."

After the birth of his son in 1980, Johnson started a lighting production company and began touring with the likes of Kansas and worked at area festivals.

"I learned from people in the business along the way and I had a lot of respect for them," Johnson said.

His first shot at journalism was an article about Styx in 1988. After several more articles, Johnson started "Showcase Music Magazine" in which he was both the editor and publisher. His writing soon earned him numerous awards and he began to focus his writing on concert production. Within a few years, he was granted exclusive rights as the only journalist on Pearl Jam’s 1995 tour. In 2002, he archived the Rolling Stones Forty Licks tour, the largest touring production in history.

"It took three days to set up the outdoor stage," Johnson said. "[It] was 13 stories tall, had five-and-a-half tons of [public address system] on each side and had a $6 million video screen."

After working on the Jay-Z/R. Kelly tour this past fall, Johnson decided he wanted to slow down.

"I’ve seen firsthand what this business can do to people," Johnson said. "I’ve seen what money, drugs and success can do. I have to be careful what I say about that tour."

So what brings Johnson to Otto’s?

Maybe it’s the fact he’s moving out to the country. Maybe it’s because he loves working with a generation that keeps him young at heart. Maybe it’s because he’s best friends with Stan Doty, Wilco’s sound engineer and owner of Otto’s. Then again, maybe it’s because he loves a challenge.

"We’re hopping to open it up to bigger and better shows," Johnson said. "We want more people to come and hang out."

Johnson said bands looking to play Otto’s will find an extremely high level of professionalism.

"If you’re going to step into the ring with me, you better have your gloves on and they better be tied tight," Johnson said.

Johnson and the staff are giving the place a makeover as well. So far, the underground has been cleaned up, various parts of the venue are receiving new coats of paint and Johnson personally replaced all the burned-out lights in the Main Room.

"Everyone is on the same page now," Johnson said. "We all have a common goal and we’re all headed in the same direction."

With some new blood running through the venue, music fanatics and Otto’s patrons alike can expect only good things to come from the downtown establishment which Johnson has already begun to shed some new light upon.

"We definitely have some surprises lined up over the next couple months," Johnson said with a smile on his face as he leaned back in his chair.