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A few months ago, during the NBA playoffs, Rick Payne hosted some special guests at his Broad Ripple dance club, Eden.
Dennis Rodman camped out in the club's party room with an entourage that included Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder and voluptuous TV beauty Carmen Electra.
He ran up a $1,000 bar tab, drew a taunting crowd of Pacers fans outside, and left a buzz in his wake.
"I swear, for the next three weeks, all I heard was, 'Hey, I heard Dennis Rodman was here," Payne says.
It didn't take Rodman to create a buzz for Eden. And Payne figures the club will continue to thrive as more young people are exposed to the high-energy dance music his DJs play three nights a week.
Eden, founded in 1994 by Payne and his brother Kerry, is the only club in town specializing in progressive dance music. As guitar rock continues its precipitous fall from the pop charts, the popularity of fast dance, or "house," music is spreading.
Although the local house music community is small, Payne says Eden draws steady crowds. Revenue in 1997 was about $1.1 million.
Competition has grown in the past few years as the Vogue and the Patio have started playing more dance music. But Payne says Eden serves a particular niche...