You might not be able to see George's Music Room, but you'll surely hear it, thanks to its loud speakers that blast music onto Roosevelt Road. The shop hasn't been around since 1969 because owner George Daniels wants to be inconspicuous, after all; he helped launch the careers of many hip-hop and R&B artists – just take a look at his MySpace profile (yup, he's even hip to MySpace). The shop (there's also a location at Midway airport) is respected nationwide as an independent music retailer and was recently featured in a video blog on the Scion website. In 2005, Mr. Daniels' birthday party even received a write-up in the Sun-Times.

Walk in to this small West Side music store and the posters and photographs bombard your vision, but if you focus on the music you'll find a wide-array of soul, funk, R&B and hip-hop gems from the '70s up to the latest Bow Wow promo record. But don't expect a huge vinyl selection; the majority of music here is available only on CD.

If you think of yourself as a DJ, make a custom mix at George's. When we visited on a busy Sunday, customers were flocking to the kiosks, where you can peruse a huge catalog of music and create a custom CD for only 99 cents per song.

Centerstage Reviewer: Maya Henderson