While finishing up the video project for Leper's song Fon Ghrein (Beneath The Sun), I had to meet with Skot Shaw to get a couple final shots. He had mentioned an idea a while back for another project though he didn't say which song it would be. He brought it up again while we got those shots and hung out afterwards. A couple weeks after meeting to get the final shots for Fon Ghrein (Beneath The Sun), we scheduled time on a Saturday to shoot this new idea he had.
I got a bit of a late start that morning due in part to helping jump the neighbors car. Skot had said to meet him at his studio so I dropped Elphie off at J.P.U.S.A. where she would hang out with Rachel while Skot and I worked on this video idea. It turned out Skot wasn't at his studio so I had to return to J.P.U.S.A. to pick up Skot and some of the equipment and props he wanted to use...then we headed back over to the studio to get a couple more items.
Skot's plan was to shoot with stone wall as the background. He had a church in mind as the location so we drove north to Winnekta, however, when we arrived, there was a pumpkin sale going on where Skot wanted to shoot. We looked around the church at other walls that we might be able to utilize then headed over to another church called Christ Church which we ended up using instead.
This was a fairly simple shoot. Skot played through the song Red Words a few different times, using acoustic and electric guitars and just the vocals as well. He had a chair and his scythe as props. We added in a clip using a deer skull as well. After this he walked up toward the door of the church with the scythe and finally, we got a shot of his shadow to wrap up the shooting.
When all was said and done, Skot realized he forgot his Bible he wanted to use during the song. Back at J.P.U.S.A., he got a Bible and we shot one more scene in his bedroom.
Skot told me how he wanted the shots to look and I took that direction to capture as he wished.
Editing did not take long once I had the time to work on it. I synced up one of the clips to the studio track of Red Words. I watched through to determine which parts from that clip were worth keeping then did the same with each of the other clips. The last clip I added in was the clip shot in the Shaw's room at J.P.U.S.A. I tried to mix up the variety as the video went along. It was fairly easy as there was not a lot that felt like "throw away" shots or couldn't be used.
I added in a couple clips using an old Bible I had at home. I set a fan to blow the pages so that they would turn and had the Bible opened to Scripture using Red Words. I decided to use this clip as the intro with the title text over top of it. I used it for an outro as well. I also captured a clip of the cover of the Bible which I over-layed onto the first couple seconds. I used it more in the outro. I took these clips and added them into a couple other parts of the video as well.
During both the intro and outro I added in a few other clips I shot that day including the church building itself, Skot's shadow, The chair with the scythe and with each guitar. I took one clip of the chair and sped it up showing the movement of the shadows. After getting feedback on the first finalized attempt, I moved a few of these clips around to different parts of the video. The outro was determined to be better as just using the Bible with the Red Words. I also had to adjust some elements to better sync up with the audio track.
After finishing the editing and piecing the clips together, I began to add in effects using gradient colorize to achieve the black and white look I prefer then adding in another colorize effect to add a little blue at Skot's request. I also added in the "bad film" and "vignette" effects but chose to not utilize any of the "bad tv" this time around. I doubled up the "bad film" and "vignette" effects, adjusting a few of the elements of the affects a little differently including the focus. To keep the blue appearance, I ended up adjusting the color then with the second dose of "bad film" I had to adjust out the saturation. I overlayed the file with the blue appearance over the regular clip of the bible to try to keep the Red Words showing as red while changing the coloring of the background to fit closer to the rest of the project. I think it ended up working well. Finally I added the text files to finish the project for Red Words.
I had an idea in mind to create this music video for Leper's Fon Ghrein (Beneath The Sun) for a while now...around two years I believe. In that time, I captured several sunrises and sunsets. I uploaded some of those separately, but they became the video footage I ultimately created this project around.
When I finally started to work on this project, I took the video clips of the sunrises and sunsets then by changing the speed and splicing the footage I set them in place throughout the duration of the song...mostly in the chorus section. I also took some live footage I shot of Leper performing "Fon Ghrein (Beneath The Sun)" in 2018 at Wilson Abbey as part of a Tiny Houses benefit.
The lyrics of the song speak of the evil "beneath the sun" so I began searching and compiling footage that depicted evil such as war and other terrorist acts, oppression, police brutality, and riots. I also searched for footage of natural events such as tornados, hurricanes, waves, and volcanos to add to what I already had. Same with abandoned places...I searched some more footage to add with what I had captured already...my hope was to add more of an apocalyptic feel. I also felt it could in a way show the ecological evil done by humanity and the earth's reclamation of those places.
After a fire in a church in Chicago this spring, I decided that I wanted to capture footage of the ruins of the church before it was torn down. I also visited another site of a church which had burnt but some of the walls remain standing. I sought out footage and news coverage of these fires as well as that of Notre Dame from a few years ago to include in the project.
I decided to also compile footage from the civil rights movement and other protests which I included among the footage in the chorus sections of the song to sort of give the feel of the masses shouting "Beneath The Sun" along with the band. I included some of that footage in a verse of the song where oppression is mentioned as well. This footage is not being used with the intention to call the peaceful protesting evil.
With the verse on oppression in mind, I began to organize the clips in the verses to be at least somewhat related to each other. In the first verse, I took some clips from a visit to the Shrine of Christ's Passion after using some nature clips during a percussion interlude. From the clips of Christ's passion, I then took some old war footage of kilted soldiers as they marched and dropped dead. I believe this was likely from a movie set in colonial times. I continued with a clip of graves from our visit to Savannah that were from the Civil War era. Next I used footage from Nazi Germany prior to World War II then added in war footage from World War II. I figure there's not much more representative of evil in modern history than the Nazi regime. I took clips from nuclear bomb testing and a dramatization of the bomb drop on Hiroshima. Next I used clips from Waco, Texas, Columbine, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the World Trade Center, the January 6th insurrection, and finished off with clips from the current Russian invasion of Ukraine. There is one line in the middle of the verse about hope found after joining the dead. I took a couple more clips I captured during our visit to the Shrine of Christ's Passion including St. John The Evangelist Parish and the resurrected Christ. I also included a clip I shot in Berlin, Germany of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church which stands in ruins.
In the second verse I organized the footage of abandoned places and nature for the first part. I combined some old footage from 2014 when visiting the abandoned City Methodist Church in Gary, IN with some exterior footage I shot over the weekend while driving through and stopping. I also got footage of the power plant nearby in Michigan City where I met with Skot and Rachel Shaw to capture some footage I felt would flesh out the beginning and ending instrumentals of the song. While shooting this footage Skot showed me some footage he captured while in Colorado of deer carcasses. While I wasn't able to get that from him, I found footage of someone else scavenging and coming across several carcasses. I found some clips of a recent fire in a homeless camp and added another clip of another camp before the fire clip. I then organized the clips of churches burning using the footage I shot of the ruins of the churches in Chicago as well.
The third verse had lines regarding oppression so during the instrumental interlude preceding those lines and through until the last line of the verse I included footage I had compiled showing oppression starting with the civil rights struggles, the riots in Los Angeles, the Standing Rock protest, and all that surrounded the killing of George Floyd. Going into the last line of the verse I took some images I had captured at Graceland Cemetery this spring and a couple years ago from the Zion Evangelical Lutheran ghost church of the burnt crucifix still hanging on the wall then I used the live footage of Jennifer Mercy singing the last line.
In the fourth verse I decided to use some more abandoned places footage including the Iron Works and Prison in Joliet, an exterior shot of the belltower for a factory near McKinley Park, some footage from Hurricane Ian, some shots from the ruins in Cedar Grove Cemetery in New Orleans due to Hurricane Katrina all leading into the line "chase the wind" which I used the live footage and added a clip from the Forge of the new bass player, John. I followed up this live clip using more clips from the ghost church as well as the faces of those who had either committed some of the evil acts depicted throughout this project or had a hand in it.
The final parts I worked on were the instrumental at the beginning of the song. I had Skot and Rachel Shaw meet me in Michigan City to get a couple clips of Skot playing the guitar solos. I also hoped to capture Skot and Rachel standing watching the sunset over Lake Michigan. The idea came from a scene in Blade where the vampires watch the sunrise over a body of water. Besides getting these clips, Skot had an idea to walk up over the dune nearby with his scythe. This ended up working well. I put a sunrise which I sped up at the very beginning then added Skot walking and standing with his scythe. I added some shots of the waves on Lake Michigan, some post sunset shots, a shot of the Chicago before using the clips of Skot playing guitar. One of the takes, Skot sat on a rock next to the water and the other he is standing by the dune with the Michigan City power plant behind him and the catwalk structure of the pier over him as well. I layered this footage as well as used it separately at different points with it ending as a drumbeat begins which was where I began the project using waves from the Pacific Ocean and lava flowing from our Hawaii trip, a volcanic eruption (captured by someone in Iceland), lightning and tornados to transition to the footage used in the first verse.
The ending I used a sunset clip I had shot in Hawaii sped up. I also used a clip of Skot walking with the scythe again after we finished shooting was was used in the beginning. I used some more waves from the Pacific Ocean, another shot of Chicago, and the shot of Skot and Rachel watching the sunset to end the project. This sunset didn't work out quite as I had hoped due to clouds moving in but it is still useable.
After making the project for "Far A Bheil Do Gath (Where Is Thy Sting)" I tried to minimize the use of cemetery footage a bit if I could...even though the subject of death remains.
A lot of the footage I compiled I shot with my camera as it played through the television screen. I had already planned to use effects to degrade the footage somewhat (such as "bad film" and "bad tv") so I figure this method would just enhance the effects further.
I added the "bad tv" effect at random spots throughout the project in pretty short intervals that are likely easily missed.
I added the colorize and colorize gradient effect, changing the white to red as I did before with "Far A Bheil Do Gath (Where Is Thy Sting)." I plan to keep that as a theme if I do more videos for songs from "This Next Song Is About Death."
I added the "bad film" effect after adding the color effects to the entire project. I changed the setting for the saturation aspect so it wouldn't cause the red to turn into a pinkish color. I also added the "vignette" effect to blur and darken the edges somewhat. After processing all this, I added a second dose of the "bad film" effect, again removing the saturation aspect.
I used Motion 4 to create the title and credit at the end and used the bone font. I included the GRRR Records logo in the corner.
I am hoping that the end result of all this is to the liking of the Shaws and others in or associated with Leper. It was a few years in the making mostly due to needing the opportunity to capture the shots I wanted to make this project. I am glad that I was able to do it!
Some footage was filmed and some was compiled, titles created, and all was edited by Joel A. Swanson.
After the COVID-19 pandemic caused a pause on larger groups gathering together for most of 2020 and 2021, Audiofeed returned in 2022! In both 2020 and 2021, the folks who run Audiofeed tried to find ways to have the event, however ultimately held off both years due to local restrictions and trying to be as safe as possible for all of us who love this community...holding onto hope that one day we could come together again.
I had acquired a new camera in that time - a Canon Rebel T6s. It had a microphone input jack so I also bought an Audio-Technica AT8024 microphone to use with it. I also bought a Canon BG-E18 battery grip which one could use two batteries at the same time, extending the shooting time available. All of these combined for a better experience in capturing Audiofeed this year, however, I realized with some of the clips that I poorly chose my microphone settings, not realizing how loud it was and therefore having some audio peaking and distortion. My apologies for that. It turns out there was a learning experience to be had! This camera allows for 30 minutes of recording before reaching the limit and stopping the process. I learned this at a Flatfoot 56 show a few months earlier so I was prepared for dealing with this. I still would like to improve the steadiness of my shooting, even with the tripod, adjusting the zoom, the direction I'm shooting, or the focus tends to be a bit shaky.
I created introductory clips for each performance mostly using Motion 4 on my Macbook adding bad television and bad film effects in Final Cut Pro on my Mac Mini. I used the full lineup flyer of Audiofeed as well as the lineup card flyers for each day, drawing an underline under each artist. I typed in artists names in blank space on the daily lineup flyers for those acts who either played on the Front Porch or the Park (Kid's Zone). I made a mistake on both The Castros and The Uh Ohs sets at the Park by putting them on the wrong dates. I didn't feel like redoing this so I just left the mistakes. In adding the additional effects in Final Cut Pro, I also created it to have a transparent background so I could layer it onto the video footage.
For a promotional video clip for this entire project, I used Audiofeed's full lineup flyer and each day's lineup card flyer along with some short clips from each performance. These were the same clips I used in the video project I created for each day. In Motion 4, I used a motion path and zoom effect to maneuver the flyer and lineup card into place. I actually created it reverse of how I wanted it to appear. I changed the speed to make it faster and then reversed the file once I put it in place in Final Cut Pro. Initially, I intended to have all those clips continuing to play as each new one appeared on screen but I realized unless I scaled the clips down to a point that they would be nearly impossible to see, I was going to run out of screen space. I decided instead of having it all playing, I created a freeze frame once each lineup card was in place then layered the performance clips from each artist scaled down to 30% randomly throughout the screen. I set each clip to zoom out from the name on the lineup card. I allotted 15 seconds per day at which point the next day's lineup card was set in motion. As the next day's lineup card set into place, I faded out from the previous clips, set another freeze frame with the lineup card set in place, then set the next artist performance clips to zoom out from their place in the lineup card...repeating the process for each day. Again, I wanted this to have a transparent background so I could layer it over the other video footage. My idea was to set it in place over the footage of our arrival at Audiofeed while we waited for our wristbands and any other instructions.
As I have done since the projects I created for Cornerstone starting in 2007 and continued with festivals I've attended ever since (including the previous Audiofeed Festivals), I created a daily summary video with clips of the artists that were mostly 30 seconds (these same clips were used in the promotional video). There are some that were longer due to what was being said by the artists before or after the songs. Along with these performance clips is footage from throughout the day.
Thursday June 30th, 2022 was early access day. We loaded up with plans to leave Chicago for Champaign sometime between noon and 1:00pm. It ended up being closer to 1:30pm when we were able to head out. The trip is pretty much a straight shot down I-57. I-57 was one construction zone after another! It took a lot longer than we anticipated. I figured we'd stop at Audiofeed prior to going to our AirBnB but we ended up going directly to our AirBnB. Our arrival was over an hour later than I figured. Besides the many construction zones, most of the rest areas were also closed. The first one we found that was open wasn't all that far from Champaign. We took advantage of it. I captured a clip of a pay phone that was there...a relic of the past. I also captured footage of the rest area playground that they have in Illinois. As we approached Champaign, the GPS kept re-routing us due to a road closure. It turned out to be the interchange for I-74. I ignored the initial re-routing and once we found the interchange was under construction and we would not be able to use the ramp, I continued to the next exit as the GPS instructed. I did not follow its commands to head back north on I-57 but instead took the exit which was University Avenue and drove into Champaign by that road. We passed through the University of Illinois campus and arrived at our AirBnB. There were four Atlas Obscura sites in Champaign. Three were on the campus and the other was a couple blocks away from our AirBnB, however, we didn't visit any of them. I thought we might try after Audiofeed was over.
We checked into the AirBnB, unloaded all that we needed in there and waited on Skot and Rachel Shaw to arrive. Once they arrived and got unloaded, we relaxed a bit then decided to head to the fairgrounds to begin our 2022 experience of Audiofeed!
I used the song "Rock-N-Rule" by Emery due to the lyric regarding "driving around Chicago to Champaign"...it just felt right. After capturing and editing pieces of the drive, I chose to do a sped up clip of us driving into the fairgrounds and waiting to get our wristbands. I returned to regular speed as we approached the gate. I decided to also layer the title and intro clips on this footage.
Jim Eisenmenger greeted us and reminded us of how things work with parking at Audiofeed. It was all basically the same as it had been in the years prior. Once parked, covered in bug spray and sunscreen, and loaded with my camera and tripod, we headed in! It was so good to be back! First stop was at the Grave Robbers tents. The Sheehy's were asked to bring their ministry this year. It was set up as a place to relax and fellowship. They were set up near the front gates of Audiofeed rather than down at the bottom of the grounds where The Asylum would usually set up. In fact, there was nothing down there...potentially due to flooding in previous years. Having the Sheehy's and the Grave Robbers Ministry was a good and refreshing change.
From there, I headed over to the Black Sheep stage where Harry Gore was playing some tunes as part of the early access day shows. It was good to see and hear him again. I captured a cover of "Treasure of the Broken Land" by Mark Heard which ended his set. He gave Audiofeed a hearty "Welcome back!" I saw the Hamptons and their ORCS Leather merch set up...I figured I'd see them again throughout the fest weekend!
https://youtu.be/ylFRxPnmDao Though I had heard talk of Sanctuary being moved to where The Asylum had been, Sanctuary had their tent in the middle of the dirt track as has been usual and I headed over there next to catch Families. On my way over there, I captured a helicopter flying to the nearby hospital. I captured a new song by Families. There were technical issues going on so the last couple of songs including the one I captured were played unplugged in front of the stage.
https://youtu.be/2S5ZPPgHieo I started the grill to cook sausages for Elphie and me. While letting the fire burn for a bit, I went back over to Black Sheep to catch the end of The Wayside set. I captured "Ain't No Easy Way," a cover of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. It ended up being the last song of the set.
https://youtu.be/KDi_Fb_9Ces I went back to my grill and while talking with Pastor Dave Hart and slicing onions, I inadvertently sliced my finger pretty good. It bled a bit so I grabbed a rag from the trunk to wrap my finger. I finished slicing the onions and got everything on the grill then went over to see Parental Petulance playing by the port-o-potties behind Sanctuary. They decided to do their set out at the port-o-potties due to the issues with the sound equipment on the stage. I captured "Creepin' While You're Sleepin'." At the end of their set, Andreas Larsen climbed up on the port-o-potties and jumped off into the port-o-pit! I wish I had captured that moment and song!
I went to wash out my finger and it was still bleeding some so I went to the Road Dog Cafe to get see if Mama Linda had any band aids. She sprayed it with some bacteria spray and I got a couple band aids then returned to get the sausages off the grill so Elphie and I could eat. I spoke briefly with the Bradshaws and would catch up more with them later.
2. Loving You Means Everything To Me 3. Corn On The Cob 4. Brake Lights 5. Grocery Store
6. Thunderstorm
7. His Lips Are Sealed, Hallelujah!
After eating, we both went to Sanctuary to see Destroy Nate Allen! I captured the entire set. It was fun! Before heading there, I tried to catch some of Randy Stonehill. I did hear part of a song but he was talking for a while before the next song started and so I headed over to Sanctuary to be set up and ready when Destroy Nate Allen got started. There is a little bit of distorted audio on the video footage from this set due to not recognizing how loud it was in the Sanctuary tent and not adjusting the microphone accordingly.
https://youtu.be/POyN4ObLjUc Insomniac Folklore played after Destroy Nate Allen at Sanctuary and Elphie got asked to pass out candles for the last song. I decided that would be the song I would capture and it was called "Wholly, Holy" with bits of "This Little Light Of Mine" and the "Doxology" mixed in. I'm glad to have captured that performance. I wrote the title wrong on the caption that is embedded in the video.
https://youtu.be/uYEIWRbfz34 I returned to the Sanctuary to catch a bit of Angel Machine and captured "Awake" then wandered a bit around the grounds before hanging at the Grave Robbers tents with Elphie and others. Folks didn't seem to be hanging around very late but we thought maybe it was because it was just early access day.
It was definitely good to be back! It was awesome to see some friends we haven't seen since the last festival.
Back at the AirBnB, Skot and I hung out in the living room for a while drinking the Mead he had made. It was pretty good.
We woke up on Friday July 1st, 2022 and had breakfast and coffee at the AirBnB. We arrived back at the fairgrounds around 1:00pm. On my way to the Black Sheep stage, I captured a little bit of footage walking in. Guy Allen stopped me to show me the bicycle he bought from one of the vendors. I also captured a shot showing the Road Dog Cafe while someone (I didn't catch his name) was playing the Front Porch.
https://youtu.be/Cuos9nsxCOA The first band I captured was Moral DK. Moral DK consists of members of Undercover. I liked their sound. I captured "Pink Champagne." A guy named Eli Snow approached me about using my footage for some project he was doing for Undercover. I told him I would send the footage to him when I could after the fest. I'm not sure what his affiliation was or if he is just an enthusiast but I figure he can do whatever he may wish with the video...and hopefully is kind enough to credit me for my footage.
https://youtu.be/B_6KjztTqVM I wandered over to the Park which is where the children's activities take place. The Castros were playing a set. I captured a song entirely in Spanish, however, I couldn't recall the name nor could I catch it when Sara announced it.
Afterwards, I caught up with Elphie who was with Rachel at Guy's booth. Elphie was getting a strawberry lemon shakeup. Lee, the infamous mullet donning man who also is avid about recording live footage apparently, came up to us. I guess he recognized Elphie first. He indicated he had some DvDs he wanted to give us. He had apparently filmed the Flatfoot 56 set at Division Street Festival in Chicago a few weeks earlier. We had missed it due to being in North Carolina during that weekend. He wanted to give me a copy of his footage and to give it to the guys in Flatfoot as well. I pointed out Josh Robieson over in the children's area in case he wanted to give it to Josh. It was nice to catch up with Lee for a bit.
https://youtu.be/zB7VSKZwTxs I headed down to where I parked to prepare the grill and venison steak for our dinner. I got the fire going and put the corn on then headed back out to see Jeff Elbel + Ping play on the Front Porch. While preparing to capture some footage, it began to rain so I set up under the cover of the tent for Black Sheep. I am glad I did! The rain really began to come down...perhaps that makes this video that much more interesting. The band played on and I captured a song, then waited for the rain to at least slow if not stop completely so I could finish cooking our food! I left my camera bag at the car so I didn't have that as an option to protect my camera if I had gone into the rain! It was a fairly short lived storm so I was able to get over and finally get the meat on the grill. This delay sort of messed up my plans for a little while on seeing some bands. I missed Idle Threat, Jay Joseph, and American Arson unfortunately.
https://youtu.be/vCIuFKlZpqc I pulled the meat for Elphie and let mine cook a bit longer while I ate the corn. I headed over to Burningtown a little bit late after taking some meat to Guy to capture the Destroy Nate Allen "With Our Powers Combined" anniversary show featuring a full band with members of Coxey's Army and Must Build Jacuzzi. I ended up capturing "Great Idea." I left a bit early too so I could eat my food. I gave a piece to Stewart as well!
https://youtu.be/aDvNjutmObQ I went to Black Sheep to see Narrow/Arrow. I didn't have the microphone set up properly so the audio is a bit distorted during this clip.
https://youtu.be/mbwoYovxnRM I returned to Burningtown to see a little bit of the set by Teel Short. I was able to see a few songs before going to Black Sheep again. On my way to Black Sheep, M-Low was playing on the Front Porch. I meant to capture a song then but instead I just got a shot of the clouds illuminated by the sunset. David Eugene Edwards seemed to be getting ready to start the Wovenhand set and I didn't want to miss any of that so I get in the tent and set up.
https://youtu.be/wFALqZh4D1Q Setlist: 1. All Your Waves 2. Kingdom Of Ice 3. Outlaw Song 4. The Speaking Hands 5. Signs Of The Zodiac 6. Triptych 7. Hutterite Mile 8. Whistling Girl 9. As I Went Out One Morning 10. Horse Head 11. Deerskin Doll 12. White Bird 13. Horse Head Fiddle
I captured the entire Wovenhand set! It was awesome! Even solo, it was a show I am glad I didn't miss. Unfortunate scheduling meant that Leper was playing during the Wovenhand set...apparently Skot had some surprises planned for the set. Still, I was glad to see and capture the entire Wovenhand set.
https://youtu.be/6h7hs-3rubg I did make it to Sanctuary for one song by Leper. It was a sort of unplanned encore performance of "Il Modo Che Tutto Si Svela (The Way It All Unfolds)" and I was able to at least capture that.
https://youtu.be/gKqtXwz1iTE I went back over to Sanctuary for Grave Robber and captured "Rigor Mortis." I wanted to capture that song for a long time and glad I finally got the chance! I watched the rest of their set and headed toward Radon but found that Undercover was still playing so I went to see the rest of their set. It was their last song.
https://youtu.be/mQB9PGCSRd0 After they finished, then I went to Radon for the Eric Clayton and Friends performance. He told some stories as well as playing a few songs. This was the plan as listed on the announcement flyer. Members of Undercover were meant to be playing with him as well as Shawn Browning but since both of those shows just ended, they were a bit late to the party! I ended up capturing "Love Never Dies" and again the audio is pretty severely distorted due inadvertently to having the microphone on the wrong setting.
At the end of the night, Elphie and I hung out at the Grave Robbers Tents for a while again before heading back to our AirBnB. Again, most folks were not hanging around late into the night for some reason.
Back at the AirBnB, Skot brought out another batch of Mead and we hung out in the living room for a while once again...this time not realizing day was breaking!
Elphie and the Shaw's went to eat with Jennifer Mercy and the Geeseman on Saturday July 2nd, 2022. I decided to stay back and head to Audiofeed once I showered. I think I had misread when All Hallowed was supposed to start. As I got dressed, I realized that they were already starting. I tried to get ready the rest of the way quickly and catch at least the end of their set.
https://youtu.be/dWKTGsRU06o Once I arrived and got set up, I think All Hallowed played two or three more songs. I captured one and realized part way through I hadn't turned on the microphone. I continued to record anyway. I captured their cover of "Seven Nation Army" and realized part way through that I had the microphone set too hot. I switched the setting then ended up capturing "Kill" without all the distorted audio. All Hallowed was another band I learned about listening to the "As The Story Grows" podcast.
https://youtu.be/p4IjyrtwRrA M-Low played another Front Porch set right after so I was able to capture "Island Nut" from his set before venturing other places. I still needed to put on sunscreen and bug spray! Again, I had the microphone set too hot so there's distortion in the audio for that clip.
https://youtu.be/0vjFeJ04uGc After going to the car to apply the bug spray and sunscreen, I headed over to Burning Town for Kevin Schlereth's set. I captured a song he wrote during the Lenten season. Yet again, the audio is a bit distorted due to my lack of awareness of how hot the microphone setting was.
https://youtu.be/oUYuz8xvL2c I went over to The Park to see a little bit of The Uh Ohs set, and captured a song about Bees. I'm glad that I did because I ended up missing their Burning Town set later in the evening due to wanting to capture the Wedding Party set.
https://youtu.be/kBn5xedn1T4 I headed over to the Sanctuary for XDoulosX. I captured a song which was described as being about the struggle with addition. They scratched the old school hardcore itch!
https://youtu.be/nDHHR-RGC_o Back at Black Sheep, I captured the last song performed by SPACESHIPS for their set called "Parallel." I was glad I caught part of their set. Over the pandemic, I found their music once again due to listening to the "As The Story Grows" podcast, though I had heard of them before...I just didn't realize I liked it as I know now!
Returning to the Sanctuary, I captured a new song from Insomniac Folklore called "On To The Kingdom" which I really liked. They played a few newer tunes that will be recorded in the eventual future as well as a bit off the Everything Will Burn album. They also wore their stage make up and costumes they have used from the Everything Will Burn tours.
2. To The Unknown God (more technical difficulties)
3. Crystal River
4. Lamb
5. Bury The Dead
6. Raven's Warning
7. War Memorial
8. Omega
9. No More Night
I captured the entirety of the set by the Wedding Party...technical issues with the sound at Sanctuary and all (thankfully I didn't have audio issues with my recording!). The schedule wasn't exactly clear about what was happening during their set since it was a "dinner break" set combined with Pastor Bob Beeman's speaking time. I got set up and ready in case Wedding Party was playing first. I ended up missing the set of The Uh Ohs. I did end up with footage of Pastor Bob Beeman's message along with the Wedding Party set. As the set went on, things did improve sound wise. Eric Clayton made a guest appearance as well. There was a "Wedding Reception" planned at the Grave Robbers tents after the Wedding Party set was over. The food arrived before the end of the set since things had been delayed with the various technical difficulties and sound issues. I planned to head over to that a bit later.
https://youtu.be/9DJsnF4J_Y8 Listener was playing at Black Sheep so I headed over there to catch a few songs at least. I captured "There's Money In The Walls." I was near the back of the tent and decided to leave through the opening back there during the end of Listener's set and noticed everyone staring at the sky or taking photos. It turned out to be a huge rainbow out there! I captured some footage and shots of it myself! As I walked over to the Grave Robbers tent area to get some food from the "Wedding Reception" that rainbow began to turn pink with the sunset! While enjoying the food, I got to talk with Andy Whitten for quite a while. He was somewhat stranded for an extra day due to his vehicle breaking down as he arrived to play with Grave Robber! It was a good time talking with Andy.
https://youtu.be/3tiVszk8r28 I decided to head back over to Black Sheep to catch some of Rosie Thomas' set. Along the way, there were fireworks going off north of the grounds that I captured along with Michael Bridgewater's son playing his saxophone in his fancy outfit near the food vendors. Rosie talked about taking a break from playing music live and having children, giving some entertaining stories of all that. I captured a short song she played after a relatively long monologue.
I headed back over to the Grave Robbers tent, capturing footage of the food spread from the Wedding Reception. A guy dressed as a ninja came along, the only ninja at Audiofeed this year it seemed. He was talking about someone mentioning wanting a picture or video of him doing num-chuks so I decided to capture his num-chuck skills for a minute. While hanging out, Pastor Dave Hart performed a marriage ceremony for Eric and Kristin Clayton, even though they had been married during the pandemic in Germany. This allowed them to wed with friends as witnesses without masks and plexiglass between them.
https://youtu.be/vt5vLIJsB6g I went back to the Black Sheep to see Pedro The Lion and captured "First Drum Set." I ended up sitting down for a while when I saw a chair open up. I may have sat too long as it was a bit difficult to get back up! I guess I'm getting old. I enjoyed the Pedro The Lion set. Dave Bazan mentioned feeling "triggered" being in Illinois in a tent in summer after the many years of playing Cornerstone. I found it a bit odd in that he'd played Audiofeed previously but I hope he enjoyed his time even if he was triggered.
https://youtu.be/a8BrR6fsu7M I ended the night watching the 6'10 set in Radon. As they sound checked, Elphie and I hung around by the Tuned Up booth with the Castros. We filled out the Bingo Card and I got two Bingos! I got up to move more center in the room to capture some footage which ended up being "Hurricane."
After 6'10 finished up and we hung for a bit longer, Elphie and I then went over to the Grave Robbers tent to hang again for a while. Most folks were gone or in bed again. I captured K.Ick riding his motorcycle but out of focus along with the lights of the Grave Robbers tent and surrounding parking lots and hospital. We then headed out to our AirBnB.
On Sunday July 3rd, 2022, we got a later start than I had hoped getting ready and getting to the festival grounds. I actually didn't even start filming anything until reaching The Park where Insomniac Folklore was playing. I had captured "Mountains And Continents" but forgot to turn on the microphone so the footage is a silent film. I didn't include it in the project.
https://youtu.be/PhGO-RrbskM I quickly moved over to Burningtown where Good Saint Nathanael was playing. He asked me to capture his entire set...but again, I had forgotten to turn the microphone on so the beginning is silent. When I did turn on the microphone, I set it too high and alot of the audio is distorted, unfortunately. I decided to save a clip to share from the set where the distortion seemed minimal and sent Nate the file of the set because he still wanted it despite the poor audio quality.
For a much better experience, watch this footage that Jeff Summers captured! He's got a lot of other great footage too!
https://youtu.be/S1UuO4J3xvw At this point I hit the part of the day's schedule where about every stage had someone playing that I wanted to see. I started at Black Sheep capturing a clip of Spoken Nerd. While there, Nate Allen approached about wanting to indulge in a game of catch that we discussed prior to the festival online. I told him I'd be down to do it in a little while.
https://youtu.be/c9QMmKFxaVE I finished my running around at Burningtown to catch the end of The Castros set and captured "Pumpkin Pie." They had The Uh Ohs backing them. Marco took a bit of a run in the midst of the song!
After this, I decided to get a quesadilla from the food truck. After eating it, I got my glove and found Nate in the Road Dog Cafe so we could have our catch. It was fun! We had hip hop as a soundtrack!
https://youtu.be/jfS6G5JGi3Q After the catch, I put my glove away then headed to Radon to catch a bit of Max Simmon's set. When he finished up, I got a Strawberry Lemon Shake-Up and Deep Fried Oreos from Guy Allen! While waiting for my order, I met some of the dudes from Meco Club (Elijah and someone else I can't recall the name) who worked on the recent Flatfoot 56 music videos. It was cool meeting them and talking for a bit before going to Radon for more music!
https://youtu.be/6IJegftNMEo Back at Radon, I captured a song from hushpad and ate my Deep Fried Oreos while drinking my Strawberry Lemon Shake-Up. I saved some for Elphie who I was able to find before going to Black Sheep to see the Huntingtons.
https://youtu.be/pAEiQKy2w-c Setlist: 1. Intro 2. The Tones Of the Tombs 3. Surfer Brain 4. Misirlou 5. I'll Die Once, You'll Die Twice 6. Flesh Eating Covenant 7. Hava Nagila 8. Larus Infectis Mortem 9. Urushiol Tsunami Bub Walker and the TombsTones was one of the bands I decided I wanted to capture the entire set from. I got set up with plenty of time. It was a fun set! Tyler Hentschel played the role of Bub Walker once again! There was a point where some of the ladies took to the stage to dance. Anastasia Robieson was one of the ladies and she took on a mission of tossing beach balls back to the crowd. Both "Bub" and Andreas surfed the crowd on surfboards. All the shenanigans made it an awesome set to capture on video!
https://youtu.be/QAtOHA2183U Back at the Black Sheep I was able to arrive in time to see the entire Flatfoot 56 set! I decided not to capture it in its entirety but had a couple different songs I was thinking about capturing. The one I went with was "Hourglass" with Little Jessi Dills playing trumpet. As usual, they put on a great show. It was the last "theme show" that they are doing so I was glad to have at least some footage from it. I had captured their set at "Save The Rock-N-Roll" Fest in Chicago in April and it was a pretty similar set of songs.
After this, I captured a little bit of footage while wandering around. The celtic folk were once again having a late night jam session which we captured what seemed might be the very end of it. Over in Road Dog Cafe there weren't too many people hanging around so we went back to the Grave Robbers tent area and hung around there until quite late. The eastern sky was beginning to light up as we left.
On Monday July 4th, 2022, we somewhat overslept and had to rush a bit to get out of the AirBnB on time...well at least not too terribly late! After loading up and trying to make sure we left the AirBnB in decent shape...and also making sure we didn't forget anything, Elphie and I headed back to the fairgrounds to see who was still around. I made a quick stop at the Circle K to get some of their exclusive Mountain Dew variant called Purple Thunder. It is supposedly Blackberry and Plum flavored. My understanding was it was only available in the fountain so that's how I got it. Apparently it also comes in bottles. I'm not sure if that's really what it tasted like but I didn't really care for it. At the fairgrounds parked by the now vacated Grave Robbers tent. The Larsen's were still around at their RV next to the Grave Robbers tent so we hung with them for a minute. Lee also was driving around in his "Mulet2" car. We chatted with him a minute before he headed off for home, I suppose. We walked over to see Guy as he was tearing down his booth. While there, we learned that the corn sculpture toppled over on Sunday, that the vice president of the fair board had passed, and that a child had hit his head on a fan blade in the Road Dog Cafe! A rather unfortunate series of events during the fest. Thankfully for the child, the hospital is just across the parking lots!
The Castros drove up while we were there talking and told us that they were heading into Champaign for coffee. We also got to see the Hamptons for a bit as they were working on post-festival cleanup. We walked over to the Road Dog Cafe to see Mama Linda, Tara, Tony, and the rest. They were pretty much loaded up and ready to go. It was good to see them before they headed out.
We headed back toward the car, seeing the Hamptons and Guy again along the way and then hung around at the Larsen's RV with the Allen's for a bit. When we decided to leave, Jim Eisenmenger mentioned how it was nice having "happy goths" this year. I definitely agreed with him! It was a refreshing change from previous years where drama centered certain members of that group.
We left the fairgrounds and met with The Castros downtown to get lunch at Signature Grill. It was an interesting spot serving Indian food. I got some sort of a Chicken Quesadilla. The Castros had originally thought about staying in the area a bit longer but storms coming made them change plans and head back to Ohio.
We decided at this point to start heading back toward Chicago. We didn't end up visiting any of the Atlas Obscura sites. Perhaps next year...
As we drove, I decided to pull off at the first exit with a sign for Casey's General Store so I could try their Mountain Dew variant called Overdrive. I got it from the fountain, again, with the understanding it was the only option but I am learning now it also comes in bottles. This one was like a fruit punch, similar to the Southern Shock at Bojangles. I liked it a lot more than the Purple Thunder variant from Circle K. As I was paying, the clerk was talking about the severe weather that was expected to hit soon. The clouds were quite dark...and they were in the direction we would be driving.
Sure enough, a pretty significant storm hit shortly after we left while on the highway. We had to take it very slow for a while but eventually got through it and continued on our way toward Chicago. While stopping for gas I learned of a mass shooting that occurred in or around Chicago. I decided to look up information to find out where so I could know about any detours we might have to make and learned it was not really close to where we needed to go. I wish I had stopped at the exit before the one I took because the gas prices was considerably lower. We had to get through the edge of another storm before getting into Chicago. While driving in the southern suburbs, we saw a rainbow form! We arrived in early evening...just in time for the neighborhood fireworks to hit their peak!
I felt this year the neighborhood fireworks weren't quite as impressive as in the previous years. Perhaps folks were hit by the inflation or choose to spend the money on things other than fireworks. Maybe it was because I didn't really participate as I did the last couple of years without Audiofeed. All I had left were some bottle rockets which I used up. I did capture some footage of the fireworks and hung around outside much of the evening to watch whatever there was to see. I tried to capture some video footage of an airplane coming into Midway through the fireworks but I didn't quite achieve what I would have liked. Lightning began to creep into the skies as did some wind...I came inside a few minutes before another storm hit. I went to bed shortly after.
Again, I was very happy to be back at Audiofeed...not having that community in real life for that long was way too long! It was understandable why it had to be this way, the safety of the community is important and necessary. I hope it can continue moving forward and folks who are still with us make their return next year along with lots of new people! The music was RAD and the community was awesome!
I created this blog to reminisce on my experiences with mewithoutYou. Included is a playlist of video I captured over the years. Also included is some other footage that captured important moments as far as I was concerned.
This weekend, mewithoutYou will finish off their "Farewell" tour with two hometown shows titled "The End of The End" which will thankfully be live streamed and available to watch for a month after. I am glad for the extended viewing time as not only can I not attend the shows, I have other shows I am going to during the time of the broadcasts! I will certainly be watching several times no doubt during the duration of having access to the live streams.
I was fortunate enough to catch the very first show of the "Farewell" tour at Thalia Hall in Chicago. I captured the opening song and the entire encore on video. They opened the set with "My Exit, Unfair" and the encore included "Torches Together," "In A Sweater Poorly Knit," and "Son Of A Widow."
My friend and mewithoutYou documentarian Paul Harrison was also at that show and captured the entire set! He has a lot of other good footage on his YouTube channel called "Christian Rock And Metal Nostalgia" including a lot more mewithoutYou content. It is interesting looking through his stuff and seeing so much that I also captured...sometimes from eerily similar angles!
I saw mewithoutYou for the very first time in the spring of 2002 I believe. They were on a tour with Norma Jean who had recently changed their name from Lutikriss. I recall stickers cut up and rearranged to spell out Norma Jean rather than Lutikriss. This show was in a garage in the back of a youth center called the Escape Zone (if I am recalling correctly) in Mount Vernon, Ohio where I attended Mount Vernon Nazarene University (I believe it was still a college that year). I also recall having been reprimanded at another show in that space for simply holding hands or having my arm around my then girlfriend as it was entirely too much PDA for such a setting! During that show, mewithoutYou were dressed in beatnik style and Aaron would jump between microphones because they were intermittently cutting out. Even with the technical difficulties, mewithoutYou stood out to me as something special. I bought the "I Never Said I Was Brave" EP that night and listened to it a lot. Toward the end of 2002, that girlfriend I mentioned ended up cheating on me with some other dude (or dudes?) and the lyrics of that EP and "A => B Life" seemed to echo how I felt in a way nothing else ever could.
I would catch mewithoutYou many times over the next few years when they would play in Ohio...quite often at the Lime Spider in Akron. I also caught a set at Purple Door Fest in Pennsylvania in 2003.
As healing came and I continued my trajectory toward ministry in the church, I found myself questioning things I'd see in the American church...along came "Catch For Us The Foxes" which again, lyrically, seemed to reflect the state of my life at the time.
I believe in the summer of 2004, mewithoutYou played Akron at the Lime Spider then in Columbus at a small venue whose name I can't recall in the Short North on a back to back nights on a tour with Noise Ratchet...I went to both shows, going back to Mount Vernon to work during the day in between.
2004 was also the first year I attended Cornerstone Festival in Illinois. I caught the mewithoutYou set there, of course. I brought a camera to record whatever I could but its battery lasted no more than an hour so I was unable to capture that experience.
I do have some footage from Cornerstone 2005 of mewithoutYou I captured on that old video camera. A neighboring camper had a converter so I could charge it up! I have footage of every Cornerstone performance after that until they stopped coming after 2010.
https://youtu.be/apvKxyR6Vzs One moment that really stuck out to me from a mewithoutYou show was the mainstage performance at Cornerstone 2006. I had captured three songs from that set...a song from each album. "Brother, Sister" was coming later in the year and they were playing new songs from it. I had done the same during their set on Tooth And Nail Day in an Encore Tent. The moment, however, was not one I captured but one that the Cornerstone media team captured, edited and put out. The entire set was something special. They ended it with "In A Sweater Poorly Knit" and invited anyone to come on stage to sing and dance if they wanted to. Timbre played harp (it was the first time of many since seeing her perform). Something about that song and that moment felt otherwordly...to me and my friend Greg who was there as well. When the song ended and the band left the stage, the usual murmur of the crowd seemed absent even as we left the area. It will always stick with me as a special moment. As great as that song is, nothing including other performances of that song has ever come close to that feeling of that moment. Some of that feeling returns each time I watch the clip!
https://youtu.be/IOXxdUa3G7w I captured Norma Jean performing Memphis Will Be Laid To Waste from their Cornerstone 2006 mainstage performance as well and included it in the mewithoutYou playlist because Aaron did his guest vocal. While I don't think it quite lived up to the video of the performance from Furnace Fest some years earlier, it was still a lot of fun! Josh Scogin also came out on that song to do additional vocals.
Cornerstone performances were all pretty awesome! I already mentioned the collaborations that happened...but often Aaron would get scheduled to speak on another stage. Usually he'd say something about how he's inadequate to speak on anything...or he wasn't aware of being scheduled but here we are. At least one occasion became a potluck jam session. You never really knew what you might be getting at these events!
When "Brother, Sister" was released, once again the lyrical content seemed to be relatable to where I was in life. I'm not so sure the albums after that necessarily were as relatable however, I still really enjoyed each one. Even with the albums I like the least, I still like them a lot! There are very few artists that I feel can achieve that!
As the years went on, I kept going to mewithoutYou shows where ever I could whenever I could. Through 2012, it was usually somewhere in Ohio. From 2007 through 2012, often it was in the vicinity of Cincinnati. The Mad Hatter in Covington, KY was host to a good number of shows...some occurred at the Madison Theater. I recall at least once travelling to Columbus because I wouldn't be able to attend the Cincinnati area show of that tour due to work.
From 2012 until 2015, I lived in Pittsburgh I believe I only caught one show in Pittsburgh which was the Catch For Us The Foxes Anniversary. I traveled back to Cincinnati at least once for a mewithoutYou show during those years because of a scheduling conflict either with work or possibly with Audiofeed. Marco Castro and I traveled up to Detroit for the Underoath farewell tour and saw mewithoutYou there as well. I caught at least one mewithoutYou show in Chicago while still living in Pittsburgh. I happened to be in town visiting with Elphie prior to our marriage.
In 2015, I moved to Chicago and consequently most mewithoutYou shows I have attended since that time were in the Chicago area. I went to a show in June 2015 in Chicago at the Abbey Pub then had to leave for Cincinnati immediately after for our wedding and preparations ahead of time! I did travel to Indianapolis for a show due to scheduling conflicts with the Chicago date on the A => B Life Anniversary tour. Often Paul Harrison would be at those shows as well and it would give us a chance to hang out a bit. While at these shows I typically only would capture a song to share, he'd capture the entire sets!
MewithoutYou is a band that seemed to transcend typical genre boundaries and friends from so many different "scenes" liked them. It was something I could share with most people I knew. I am grateful for the time they have given us. They gave us many years...more than most! I will hope for a future where they play again, however, if they don't...I am thankful for what they gave.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCAA69C0A61832935 I compiled all the footage that I captured over the years into a playlist organized newest to oldest. The Cornerstone footage is all broken up by song. At the time, I wasn't able to upload video longer than 10 minutes so I decided the best thing was to break up full sets I had captured by song. I hope it is still in order of the set list for these full set shows.
Looking back at the playlist I created from the footage I captured of them over the years, it is much less than I thought I captured. I guess a lot of the time when they were most active was before I had an iPhone on me to be able to use if any moment felt it should be documented. While I brought a camera to Cornerstone, I was less likely to be burdened by one at regular shows. The idea of even capturing the Cornerstone experience on video was prompted by the "Ladies And Gentlemen: The Chariot" DvD.
These days it's commonplace seeing phones up to capture a moment and as such these moments captured digitally is likely over saturated. Nonetheless, I hope to share these moments with friends still, even if I'm one of many doing so. I am glad to have done so with part of the time that mewithoutYou was present.
Once again, thank you, mewithoutYou! You have given so much!
Spring living in Chicago in 2022 included a couple trips, a bout with COVID-19, celebrations for birthdays and anniversary, some new local Atlas Obscura discoveries and a bunch of shows. I created the intro once again using Motion 4 taking some photos that highlighted the various things we did...adding in title text on the last photo as well.
04.04.2022 During lunchbreak on Monday April 4th, 2022, a leak developed in the ceiling right outside my office! It was an unexpected and strange occurrence.
04.05.2022 Driving into work on Tuesday April 5th, 2022, it was extremely foggy...more so that I recall happening previously. I decided to capture it with my CrossTour CR-900 and sped up the footage of the drive into work that morning.
04.07.2022 Driving home from work on Thursday April 7th, 2022, there was a car with a Batman emblem and modified brake lights. A poor man's Batmobile I guess.
https://youtu.be/7Xde_fevFRA On Friday April 8th, 2022, I encountered an accident on the northbound lanes of Lake Shore Drive. A little bit further south, there was a police car that was a bit late arriving and stuck in the subsequent traffic. I received the Canon BG-E18 battery grip for my Canon Rebel T6s which I purchased more for the reason of being able to put two batteries in the camera and extend the time I can shoot live band footage. It also allows for shooting sideways easier with the additional grip. I have been quite pleased with this purchase and definitely recommend it for anyone trying to shoot video for long periods.
Later that evening, I went to see Richie Ramone play Reggies. I decided somewhat last minute to attend this show. Kyle Bawinkel was there as well. I captured "Teenage Lobotomy" with my iPhone 8 early in the set while Richie was playing drums. He fronted the band most of the rest of the night while going back to the drums for a few songs later. This is likely the closest I'd get to seeing a Ramones set. They played a number of Ramones songs and a few other covers along with some originals. Public Nature, The Reaganomics, and Capgun Heroes were the opening bands.
https://youtu.be/u-rx0uKZvsk On Saturday April 9th, 2022, we went to Cabela's so I could use a coupon that they sent in the mail. I bought a few more broadheads and bolts for my crossbow as well as another replacement string to have on hand in case of another break. On the way back home, we encountered another accident.
That evening, I went back to Reggies for the D.R.I. show. There was a trend of older punk and hardcore bands coming through Chicago in the early part of this year and this was another one of those shows. None of them were excessively expensive either. There was quite a bit of stage diving, including a young girl that looked a bit like Little Jessie Dills. Intent, The Suffering, and Battle Royale also played. I got a talking to from one of the security guys for capturing a clip with my iPhone, stating that no photography or video is permitted and if he saw me do it again, he'd throw me out. After talking to someone else as well, he then went somewhere else for a minute then returned to apologize as he had a misunderstanding of the camera policy for the night. I respected that...no real issue in the end.
04.15.2022 We drove to Pennsylvania to spend Easter weekend with my family on Good Friday April 15th, 2022. Along the way, we made a stop at Albanese Candy Factory. The Easter bunny was there. We took a bit of a detour heading back to the interstate and found we could have paid 10-15 cents less on gas than we did as well. The drive was pretty typical...nothing out of the ordinary happened along the way.
04.16.2022 Elphie wore her bunny ears that she got from her mom last year. My parents cat, Charlie, was intrigued by them...Elphie ended up hitting the cat with the ears causing her to jump a bit on Saturday April 16th, 2022.
04.17.2022 On Easter Sunday April 17th, 2022, we had dinner with the family and my mom gave out Easter baskets. We made one for her as well! I decided to walk into the woods in the evening. I wanted to set up some wood around a spot I tried to hunt last year in hopes it will be more fruitful for me this next hunting season.
04.18.2022 On Monday April 18th, 2022, we drove back to Chicago. It was rainy but otherwise uneventful drive. We captured some nice footage as the sunset as we neared Chicago.
04.20.2022 On Wednesday April 20th, 2022, I decided I wanted to see the ruins of the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church which was destroyed by a fire on Good Friday. It was to be torn down so I wanted to see it before it was gone. I also figured I'd check out the Pilgrim Baptist Church as well...it also had been destroyed by fire. Both started during restoration work on the roofs of the buildings. We drove to Pilgrim Baptist Church first. Two of its outer walls remain standing with scaffolding to support them. There's a sign about it being the future home for a National Museum of Gospel Music. We then drove over to Antioch Missionary Baptist Church and got to see it though demolition had somewhat begun. I captured this footage using my Canon Rebel T6s but hadn't charged up the batteries so my video capture was a bit more limited than I planned. I didn't want to hang around too long or be disrespectful to the situation but I definitely wanted to see it and capture it if I could.
04.22.2022 On Friday April 22nd, 2022, I captured some sort of demonstration going on at McKinley Park. I also captured the clouds sitting a bit low covering part of Chicago as I made my commute home.
https://youtu.be/iAoEPRH7pZQ On Saturday April 23rd, 2022, we headed to Joliet a bit early for a show. We stopped at the Joliet Prison and walked around the outside of it. It was on Atlas Obscura. We were too late to take a tour. Part of the prison is used as a haunted house. We drove to the Joliet Iron Works site (also on Atlas Obscura) that has been turned into a forest preserve. I didn't realize where the entrance was on a one way street and tried to turn around to get to it only to raise the ire of some of the other drivers. We walked around it for a bit and even found a piece of iron to take with us. I captured some footage of the former steel mill remains.
Afterwards, we headed to The Forge to see Wednesday 13, Grave Robber, Leper, and Nystrodamus. I took a bunch of photos as well as video using my Canon Rebel T6s. I captured "Cadaverous" by Wednesday 13, "The Beast Within" by Grave Robber, and "13 Peilearan Airgid (13 Silver Bullets)" by Leper. It was a good show and a great crowd. I think the footage I was able to capture turned out pretty well too.
Later, we went to Metro for Nocturna. We ended up sitting in the balcony for most of the time that we were there.
04.25.2022 On Monday April 25th, 2022, Elphie and I drove all around the southside into the south and southwest suburbs to try to find the litterbox supplies for Stein's Breeze Litter System. We also hit a car wash because I had a free one on my Speedway App. After that, we tried to hit a Taco Bell to get my free birthday Baja Blast Freeze. The first one I tried wouldn't show up to let me order on the app. The next one was closed. We found a third one and placed the order and got the Freeze.
04.28.2022
On Thursday April 28th, 2022, I noticed a lot of police activity, media, and bikes near Lake Shore Drive. I'm not sure what the situation was. When I got home, Elphie had baked some chocolate cherry brownies and bought some birthday balloons to celebrate my birthday!
https://youtu.be/ZwYtu_VSJuE Friday April 29th, 2022 was my 42nd birthday. On my way into work the Buckingham Fountain was on! How nice of the city to turn it on for my birthday! Skot and Rachel Shaw gave me a small print of the Swanson Pyramid Of Greatness which I hung at work. I got a Falco's Deep Dish pizza, Hawai'ian style for dinner and taste tested the Flamin' Hot Mountain Dew. It was ok. It sort of reminded me of Mexican candy with the chili pepper added. It also reminded me of Orange Slices candy but with extra spice. That evening I watched the last game of the season for the Pittsburgh Penguins - a win over the Columbus Blue Jackets!
https://youtu.be/QVqPuGHQPRE Saturday April 30th, 2022, Elphie made pancakes to continue to celebrate my birthday! They were good!
That night I went to Save The Rock-N-Roll Fest at Liar's Club to see Flatfoot 56 with Splatter Pattern, Squared Off, and The Rip Ups. I tested the limits of the battery grip on my Canon Rebel T6s as well as the recording limits during the Flatfoot 56 set by trying to record the entire set. I found that the recording limit is 30 minutes at which point one must hit the record button again. I reached that limit in the middle of the song "Hoity Toity." Everything seemed to work out fairly well. I noticed that somewhere around the 18 minute mark, the camera would blink a lot. I'm not sure what that means but it didn't seem to have too much of an effect on the files. During the editing process, I had to run one of the files through a second time as it stopped at around that 18 minute mark but whatever that issue was seemed to resolved when I processed it the second time. Again, there is a separate blog for the footage I captured at the Save The Rock-N-Roll Fest with some more details.
05.01.2022 I didn't feel particularly interested in any of the bands on the bills for Save The Rock-N-Roll Fest on Sunday May 1st, 2022, so instead of going to those shows, Elphie and I took Kaylynn and Tim driving around the Chicago to various spots that seemed they may be interesting dependent on what they said they wanted to see. While picking them up at the hotel, there were news crews outside and we wondered what may have happened. I think someone joked about a murder...unfortunately, that's exactly what had happened inside the hotel that where they were staying.
We drove on Lower Wacker due to its use in The Dark Knight and Blues Brothers then stopped by the ruins of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church before heading to the 95th Street Bridge where the Blues Brothers jumped their car. It's is also where the Calumet Fisheries are and both are Atlas Obscura sites. We got out and walked onto the bridge here.
Next, we stopped by Reckless Records on Milwaukee then got lunch at Devil Dawgs before going to the Lincoln Park Zoo. We got to see the lions in their new exhibit as well as visiting the apes and monkey houses. We also got to see the Polar Bear before closing time. We did not get to see any of the birds...we would find out later it is due to the birds being in quarantine due to the bird flu.
I wasn't feeling the best...I was beginning to have a bit of a cough and congestion. I was thinking it was likely some allergies but would find out a week later, it was COVID-19. Not realizing it, I worked through the week while having the worst of the symptoms.
05.03.2022 On Tuesday May 3rd, 2022, after three overtimes and losing their backup goaltender to injury and having to use their third string goalie, The Pittsburgh Penguins won the first game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Unfortunately, things didn't continue to work out quite so well and the Penguins would lose the series to the New York Rangers in seven games.
https://youtu.be/h7IfUQ8Tk0Y On Mother's Day, Sunday May 8th, 2022, I went to Cobra Lounge to see Agnostic Front, Sick Of It All, and Crown of Thornz. Agnostic Front always puts on a great show. Sick Of It All was ok, however the vocal seemed a bit off. I captured "For My Family" by Agnostic Front. I tried to be careful at this show as I had a nasty cough all week, in case of it being COVID-19 but the cough was mostly gone by this point. Once again I saw Kyle Bawinkel at the show!
05.09.2022 Despite having no more symptoms, I tested positive for COVID-19 at work and was sent home to quarantine for the next 10 days. I had unfortunately spread it to one of my co-workers as well. As I was feeling better, Elphie had her symptoms occur which were different than mine. Both of us felt fairly good on Monday May 9th, 2022, but nonetheless I was not permitted to be at work. It was a nice day so we hung out in McKinley Park to feed squirrels and geese We kept our masks on if any people came near us to do our best to not spread it to anyone else. Some military helicopters flew overhead.
https://youtu.be/hyQT-b5zKis On Tuesday May 10th, 2022, mewithoutYou kicked off their "Farewell" tour in Chicago at Thalia Hall. I did not want to miss this likely last chance to see one of my favorite bands so I decided wear my mask and keep my distance as much as I could from any friends who would be at the show. I did end up seeing a few such as Kyle Bawinkel and Paul Harrison. I captured the first song of the set, "My Exit, Unfair" and the encore, "Torches Together", "In A Sweater Poorly Knit", and "Son Of A Widow" from their set. The Opening band was Tiger's Jaw and I captured "Cat's Cradle" from their set. It has been a pleasure seeing mewithoutYou every time I saw them over the entirety of their career. I hope it wasn't the last time to see them live in person, but if it was...Thank You!
05.11.2022 I drove to work on Wednesday May 11th, 2022, to let a copy of my office key be made so that some of my responsibilities could be dealt with while I was in quarantine. On the way home, Elphie and I decided to drive around Graceland Cemetery and see if we could find the glass encased statue of Inez Clarke and so Elphie could see Eternal Silence. Just as we got to the cemetery, I got a call that the copied key wasn't working...I had apparently given the wrong key! I returned so another copy could be made then we returned to the cemetery to see these sites from Atlas Obscura. During my previous visit to the cemetery, I had not seen the Inez Clarke statue so we made a point to find it first. I knew generally where the Eternal Silence was to be able to visit it after. We did find the Inez Clarke statue. We also encountered a headless statue along the way...apparently damaged somehow. After visiting Eternal Silence, we decided to just drive down Western Avenue to get home. We also decided to stop by a Meijer to get some groceries we would need since we'd both be home a bit more. Along the way, we captured footage of the giant Puerto Rico flags near Humboldt Park near the intersection of Division and Western. I got another call from work to take care of some documentation before I was able to get home which was frustrating.
05.13.2022 On Friday May 13th, 2022, Elphie celebrated her birthday. I gave her a card I drew and brought in the balloons that were still floating from my birthday. I apologized there wasn't much more we could do. We got food at Chop Suey City as well to celebrate.
https://youtu.be/UuuM4172nIw On Saturday May 14th, 2022 we went to Metro to see Front Line Assembly with Rein and Choke Chain. On our way, we saw a Divvy bicycle leaned against the divider in the median of Lake Shore Drive. It was a strange sight. We masked up and tried to keep distance at the show again though we figured to be mostly clear of COVID-19. We chose to go to the balcony and because we got there so early, we were able to secure spots on the railing and it made for an interesting view different than what we usually get there.
05.15.2022 On Sunday May 15th, 2022, we went to Andy's Custard to further celebrate Elphie's birthday. We weren't able to go bowling as originally planned...we didn't want to potentially infect anyone else even though we both figured we were clear of COVID-19. On the way back home, we encountered a wreck on Archer Avenue.
05.16.2022 We officially both tested negative on Monday May 16th, 2022. I was still regulated to quarantine from work but we decided to go to the Lincoln Park Zoo for the day. While we were there, we learned that the birds were in quarantine due to the bird flu. It explained why there weren't birds out on our previous visit a couple weeks before. We were able to see pretty much everything else though! We learned we had just missed a show with the seals. We did see the lions eating.
As we left the zoo, we ended up driving passed Oz Park. We figured we should come back to see that sometime! We ended up in Lincoln Square visiting with The Castros as they finished up some work at Oromo Cafe then headed up the street to Barba Yianni for Greek dinner! We hung out there for quite a while. We told The Castros about Atlas Obscura and found that Merz Apothecary was nearby. It was basically across the street! Elphie and I got a shot of it before heading home for the night.
05.17.2022 On Tuesday May 17th, 2022, after Elphie got done with an appointment, we stopped at Home Depot to get supplies to fog our apartment. We then decided to find a couple southside Chicago Atlas Obscura sites. To get there, we passed the Garfield CTA station we had visited a couple years ago. We also passed a M*A*S*H vehicle as we got near University of Chicago. At the University of Chicago, we found three Atlas Obscura sites all relatively close to each other. After taking a minute to get parked, we began to look for the first I had marked to find. It was a couple of Cosmic Ray Detectors that had apparently been in space! The address listed was a bit off so we made one wrong turn into the wrong alley trying to find it before going the other way and finding it behind a day care center. I think it was listed well enough on the site, I just didn't take the time to read it thoroughly enough. Part of what helped piece together where to go was the buildings in the background of some of the pictures people posted from their visits to this site! We visited a monument to Nuclear Energy next...again using the pictures as a guide to find exactly where it was as the street address was a large building. Our final Atlas Obscura site in this area was a car encased in concrete called Concrete Traffic. It is parked at street level in a parking garage which also houses a bowling alley where the Obama's apparently would go on dates.
We left the University of Chicago to see a couple sites along Lake Michigan but not too far away. One of those is the Shipwreck of the Silver Spray. Unfortunately where it is located, there wasn't a spot to pull off or park. We continued to Oakwood Beach where we walked to the Secret Mermaid. Elphie wasn't with me when I found it in 2021 as I had gotten up early to shoot the sunrise on the Summer Solstice last summer. While we were there, we walked closer to the lake. While the water was quite clear, there was debris collecting near the seawalls which had an interesting look. We decided not to walk to the shipwreck site and headed back home at this point.
05.19.2022 I captured the hazy city on my way in to return to work on Thursday May 19th, 2022. Coming home that evening, I captured a street preacher with a sign near Buckingham Fountain along Lake Shore Drive.
05.20.2022 On Friday May 20th, 2022, I captured the Buckingham Fountain at full flow as I returned from work.
05.21.2022
https://youtu.be/vLLmaegw7Xg On Saturday May 21st, 2022, we went to the Aragon Ballroom to see The Offspring. I captured "Gotta Get Away" from their set. They played a good mix of songs and it was a good show. We intended to get Poke at Pokiology but it was closed so we got Sonic instead.
Afterwards we went to the building where the Double Door is meant to be, eventually...possibly. The Castros tipped us off that there was a show going on in there. Apparently it was something that's been happening regularly but on the down low. We got to see the inside including the basement where there is a vault and some apparent tunnels underneath. The building is an old bank. It reminded me a bit of when we first began renovating Top Cats to become The 86 (before it became Top Cats, again).
After this, we visited The Castros van called 'Remmy' and got to see how they are living these days. They made a comfortable space, it seemed. We also hung out at J.P.U.S.A. for a while that evening.
05.25.2022 On my way into Uptown to go to work on Wednesday May 25th, 2022, I captured a sign in protest of Cedar apartments not paying a standard wage to construction works while raking in massive profits.
05.26.2022 On Thursday May 26th, 2022, as I left the neighborhood to go to work, I captured a burnt van loaded up on a flatbed.
05.27.2022 On Friday May 27th, 2022, we headed south because Elphie had nephews graduating from high school! We captured the usual footage leaving Chicago, going through Indiana, passing the windmills, going into Ohio, passing through Cincinnati, and arriving in Northern Kentucky to stay with the Sheehys. There's also a clip shortly after our arrival at the Sheehy's house while hanging out a bit with them.
05.28.2022 On Saturday May 28th, 2022, we left to finish our trip to North Carolina, passing the Florence Ya'll (which I just realized was on Atlas Obscura!) and entering into Tennessee. The rest area was decked out in American flags I suppose for Memorial Day. I captured shots of the weird amusement park rides along side the highway and the large cross by the adult store. We made a stop at Bojangles, of course and I got some Mountain Dew Southern Shock. I also captured the going through of the tunnels once in North Carolina. I captured a van with kayaks as well. I kept footage of an apparent accident as we passed it then a shot of King's Mountain as we continued east. Shortly after our arrival, we drove to pick up some Krispy Kreme donuts (because it was founded there) and some pizza for dinner with Elphie's family.
05.29.2022 On Sunday May 29th, 2022, there was a pool party to celebrate the graduates. There was some great food and the kids seemed to have fun in the pool. There also was photo shoots of the graduates in their gowns. It turned out Elphie's brother caught COVID-19 and wasn't able to be there...we didn't really get to spend any time with him due to his quarantine.
05.30.2022 On Memorial Day Monday May 30th, 2022, we visited with Elphie's mom and took her to see Top Gun: Maverick! We also went grocery shopping with her where I purchased a bottle of Mountain Dew Uproar from the Food Lion and Mountain Dew Maui Blast at Dollar General. We took Elphie's mom to Poke Bros. for dinner before catching the movie. After dinner, we witness a gaggle of geese crossing the main street through town and doing so successfully!
05.31.2022 We hung out some more with Elphie's mom on Tuesday May 31st, 2022. I taste tested the Mountain Dew Uproar. It is a Strawberry Kiwi and it's ok. We also had dinner with her neighbor. Elphie and her mom made a strawberry cheesecake that they bought at the Food Lion on the day before. We were told a bit about the fire at the church down the road from Elphie's mom's house as well.
06.01.2022 We finally got R.O.'s Bar-B-Que on Wednesday June 1st, 2022. We went for lunch and Elphie's mom joined us. At dinner, we got Sake Express with Elphie's brother (a different brother than the one with COVID-19). We had some good conversation time. The waiter even refilled our drinks since we hung around so long!
06.02.2022 Elphie took her younger nieces and nephew to Kate's Skating. On our way, I taste tested the Mountain Dew Maui Burst. It is pineapple and NO coconut therefore I liked it! Her mom decided to join as well...unfortunately she perhaps got over confident a bit and fell. We'd learn later she broke a bone in her foot or ankle. The strap on my roller blade broke as well and I had to do a little creative work on it to be able to skate. We went to Cookout later with them then to a park to end the night.
06.03.2022 On Friday June 3rd, 2022, we took the graduating nephews to Carowinds. The amusement park is build on the state line of North and South Carolina so we visited both states during our day there. We rode one roller coaster - The Intimidator, one kid's roller coaster that was like a Scooby-Doo type (different because of copyrights) and Elphie and I road the bumper cars. The nephews played the basketball game to win a free basketball. We ate some way overpriced Chick-Fil-A. Unfortunately rain moved in and didn't appear to be ending so we left having only gotten in the few rides. We tried to then take them bowling but all the alleys were booked. We did see a rainbow though!
06.04.2022 The graduation was on Saturday morning June 4th, 2022. Way too early! It was outdoors at the football stadium and a relatively short service! We had a celebratory lunch at El Patron. Elphie's family were headed to the beach for a vacation. I took a little nap then we went to The Captain's Cap for dinner with Elphie's cousin. It was good! After dinner and hangs, we drove to South Carolina to get cheaper gas at the Hot Spot before buying some sodas to bring back north.
06.05.2022 On Sunday June 5th, 2022, we began our journey home, once again stopping in Cincinnati. I captured the usual footage on our drive back through North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky. We got a chance to get dinner with Chris Human at The Anchor Grill in Covington, KY. It had a "Show Box" with a doll band which included a Barbie doll that "played" Shania Twain's "I Feel Like A Woman." It was a good time catching up with Chris. It has been a few years since we had a chance to do so between the busyness of life and pandemic. We hung outside with the Sheehy's for a while afterwards.
06.06.2022 On Monday June 6th, 2022, we made the rainy commute back to Chicago. We stopped by The 86 where I purchased some more coffee to get a few more months through the year. Chris had to head out but we got to catch up with Gabrielle who was working. It has been a long time with her as well. I picked up some Ale-8-One at Meijer before heading north. I captured some storm shots along with the windmills and some guy called Bubba at Meijer in Highland, IN prior to heading into Chicago. I captured the clouds and sunset as well.
06.07.2022 On Tuesday June 7th, 2022, upon returning to work, I captured the cloud cover over Chicago again as well as on my way back home.
06.08.2022 On Wednesday June 8th, 2022, Elphie shared some video of Stein purring loudly while cuddling. That evening, we could hear a cat fight going on. I went outside just as it broke up I guess...there was chunks of fur all over the driveway where the fight must have occurred.
06.12.2022 On Saturday June 12th, 2022, Elphie and I held a bowling get-together to celebrate our birthdays and anniversary at Diversey River Bowl. It was rescheduled due to COVID-19 in May. A few friends were able to come out. We bowled quite a bit in the block of time we reserved. I bowled a couple times right handed for fun. I think I even got a strike! After bowling, we got dinner at Portillo's then headed to Romeoville for a public suspension day with Disgraceland Wasteland Suspensions. At the end of the evening, there was a slight mechanical problem where equipment got tangled up in the pulley so they had to get a ladder and disassemble the pulley while someone was still suspended. It was a sort of funny moment.
06.13.2022 Our anniversary, June 13th, 2022, fell on a Monday this year. It also happened to be a stormy day with tornado sirens going off in the city, which is rare. It all started happening as I got home from work. I decided to hang around outside as the storm approached. It was interesting to watch as the cloud movement changed completely to the opposite direction and seemed there could be some rotation of sorts as well. The lighting was mostly flashes rather than seeing bolts but some of the thunder was extremely loud. It took a while to hit but once it did, it hit hard and moved through fairly fast I think. The storm came ahead of some high temperatures. We didn't really end up doing anything on our anniversary due in part to the storm.
06.14.2022 As I drove to work on Tuesday June 14th, 2022, I captured a couple clips of storm damage in the neighborhood.
06.15.2022 On Wednesday June 15th, 2022, as I was coming home from work, I saw the temperature showing in the car at 101 degrees! It definitely felt like a hot day!
https://youtu.be/0x3bs-mK3rk On Thursday June 16th, 2022, we went to the first of several shows for the summer season at Tinley Park's Hollywood Amphitheater. I had to leave work a bit early to make it on time. We had lawn seats so we prefer to get there early to try to get the best viewing spot that we can. The show featured Tears For Fears and Garbage. I captured "Wicked Ways/Personal Jesus" by Garbage and "Head Over Heels" by Tears For Fears. I thought about capturing "Mad World" but I think "Head Over Heels" worked out better. Both bands played great sets and sounded good too!
06.19.2022 On Sunday June 19th, 2022, we decided to visit the Shrine of Christ's Passion in St. John, IN. Folks are able to walk the prayer stations and it has statues depicting each moment along the way, along with a narrative one can listen to if they choose. The church behind the shrine also was fairly interesting. It was pretty cool to walk through. There was also a new part which is Moses at Mount Sinai with the commandments. In the narrative one can play there, the "voice of God" is accompanied by lights flashing in part of the rocks around Moses. There is also a shrine for Our Lady Of Guadalupe and I believe it's a large Virgin Mary statue near the parking lot entrance. There's quite the gift shop there as well. After we left and went to get our groceries, we saw an old Volkswagen Beetle in the parking lot at Meijer.
06.20.2022 On Monday June 20th, 2022, I taste tested the new Mountain Dew Baja Gold. It was pineapple. I think it was just like the Maui Burst from Dollar General that I taste tested while we were in North Carolina. It was good! I was once again glad that there was no coconut flavor to it...especially after buying several cases of it!
06.25.2022
https://youtu.be/gDh8DMJnnbs On Saturday June 25th, Nocturna had its 34th Anniversary event at Metro. French Police also played and Kaytee Thrun did some poetry during the evening. It was a fun event and good to see some folks again as well.
06.26.2022 On Sunday June 26th, 2022, Elphie and I went to a middle school graduation for Bob and Nora's son Bobby. It was fun. Jon Pratt was there as well so it was good to catch up with him for a bit about fireworks, amusement parks, and other shenanigans! There was some good food too!
https://youtu.be/gintjfmt0PY On Tuesday June 28th, 2022, we had tickets for Billy Howerdel at Metro. Elphie met me at work and I did a taste test of Mountain Dew Mango Gem. I liked it! It allowed me to be entered in the Treasures Of Baja Island sweepstakes to get a special flavor if I win! We went to Pokiology then headed to Metro. We had to park quite a ways away due to a Cubs game. After parking and walking to Metro, we found a sign that the show had been moved to Bottom Lounge. This was very frustrating. We had just purchased the tickets on Friday! It seemed there should have been some notice about the venue change. As I investigated while walking back to the car, I found nothing except a new event page had been created later in the day on Friday (when I got the tickets). Once back to the car, I entered Bottom Lounge into my GPS and it seemed we could likely still arrive before the show started so we drove over and parked the car...again. We did arrive before any of the bands had started. I think maybe the venue delayed the show a bit for poor souls like us who went to the wrong place!
Billy Howerdel played a good set. The openers were Vowws and Night Spice. All the music had a lot of synth in it and I enjoyed the show. When we got home, There was a helicopter flying around the nearby neighborhood.
We spent the next evening preparing for our return to Audiofeed!
