Former members of the Gentleman Callers performing as their new act, The Blind Eyes. If you are into early 80' Brittish bands like the Jam or Elvis Costello you might enjoy these guys.

When was the last time you saw a marching band that just completely rocked? Until I saw Chicago's own punk rock marching band, Mucca Pazza I hadn't either. This 25 to 35 member marching band nearly blew the Bluebird down a couple of months ago. This was a really incredible night and an astounding performance, I hope this video has captured even a fraction of how good this show was. I also did an interview with some members of the band before the show, but due to audio issues I decided not to include much of it here. However if you really want to see it hop on over to the Circuit and I'll post the entire interview there.

Also in this episode: a promo for my other video project Lo-Fi Sessions, and a trailer for an old movie Muscle Beach Party that I thought I would throw in, in honor of the start of summer. It's pretty fun with cameo appearances by Little Stevie Wonder and Dick Dale. You can get it at Netflix here, or read about it on IMDB here.

The Helium Tapes are back! And they have a new CD! This is a song from a show I shot last spring at what was originally planned to be their CD Release party, but one event after another prevented them from releasing it untill now. Go do a search for it at CD baby, Amazon, iTunes or wherever you buy your music. It should be available. It's well worth picking up.

Last February Tom Huck, printmaker extraordinaire, called me up and begged and pleaded with me to come cover this event of print makers from around the country who had converged on the Contemporary Art Museum to sell prints and socialize. I had already planned to shoot another event that very night but figured that I could squeeze in about an hour at this show before I hit the other event. Im glad I did, because this was a party like no other. Complete with wild art and poetry and musicthere were even half nude performance artists from Estonia. This was nothing short of a blast.

I first became aware of Jason Hakenwerths amazing baloon sculptures when I did a video about Doc Popular last summer. He was at City Museum creating an enourmous balloon sculpture and in retrospect I was foolish for not stopping to talk to him then. But as luck would have it, Jason came back to St. Louis recently (he is a hometown boy who now resides in NYC) to show some of his work at his Alma Mater Webster University. I was able to corner him for a few minutes at his opening to ask him some questions. The show closes at the end of this week so catch it if you can.

Mark Vickroid makes wonderful homemade guitars out of old cigarboxes. Some of them even have an amp built in. I went to his house to see how he made them and talk to him about how he got started.

From my new series, Lo-Fi Sessions shot at City Museum with one camera, no editing and live sound.

You know, I really have no idea when I first met Sunyatta. That line of when I knew of her and when I actually knew her is kind of blurred for me for some reason. I do know that I have admired her from the first time that I saw her perform. And in getting to know her personally over the years I have always found her to be as sweet and charming as her face and voice suggest she might be.

Sunyatta is a member of the Helium Tapes, a band that is on the cusp of releasing their first recording. But the logistics of bringing in the entire band at this very moment wasnt particularly easy. So we settled on a solo performance of songs she wrote that dont fit particularly well in the Helium Tapes repertoire. I knew she had done some solo performances in the past. One that particularly comes to mind is an occasion that she played a country set on the patio of the Royale (a popular southside tavern). The thing that stands out in her solo performances is that you can hear the nuances of her voice and phrasing that you might not appreciate so much when she is leading a rock band. And while I really love the Helium Tapes as a band. I really would like to hear her more often in a low key environment like this. By the way I should mention that Sunyatta is accompanied here by Brandon Mason the keyboardist for the Helium Tapes.

She had a bit of trouble getting through this song on this particular night. Im not sure why. Maybe it was the camera, as sometimes cameras make people nervousthey make me nervous. In the end we finished recording these songs, and while they arent perfect, I think you too will appreciate what a gem Sunyatta is.

This is a 4 piece band with 2 members--I could make a lot of punny jokes here, like, this is a band that likes to play with themselves blah blah etc. Basically they've done something unique and creative. They play 4 instruments between them by multiplying themselves with a video projection. They also use the video projection to show short films they've made between songs and perform visual gags durring their performances. On top of all this they are pretty damn good musicians and songwriters too, inspite of what they may say. They put on a really fun show. Enjoy!