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Floppy Disk Backup, 2016 Floppy Disk, Spray Paint, Handset Vinyl Letters (Removed), Damask Wallpaper9" x 11" Ref. #: 2016.05.04

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IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK   A Collaboration Between Brennan’s & Kevin Kelly

Late last year, friend & collaborator Kevin Kelly took over the Bar Talk wall on the first floor of Brennan's for a little over a month. He produced a handful of original sayings created specifically for the wall as the beginning of an experiment: a short form writer’s gallery in a bar. He documented his original sayings by photographing the walls in their natural environment and light – producing a series of numbered, limited-edition prints showcasing the sayings.

Throughout those few weeks, the wall was the backdrop to countless scenes. It saw a few barkeeps serving beer, wine and spirits to hundreds of people. It saw friends reunited, friends reconsidered, breakups, two marriage proposals, and tons of "hey dude!" But most often, the board just initiated conversation.

We’ll be opening up our doors at the end of the month for an evening of photography, writing and music (from DJ Crucial) as we showcase Kevin's sayings and prints. We will also have a limited number of the prints for sale.

"If These Walls Could Talk" is the first step toward inviting more creatives and artists like Kevin to take over our bar talk wall from time to time. We hope to see you all there.

- Brennan's

RSVP on Facebook

Thursday, March 31 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM 4659 Maryland Ave. 

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My friend Chuck Crittenden came up with a great idea last year called Last in the American League that pairs local musicians with local artists in order to create a snapshot of the creative scene in St. Louis at a certain point and time. I signed up for the project with one stipulation, that I could choose the musical artist to be paired with. I chose Mvstermind. The first time I heard Muhammad Mvstermind Austin a.k.a. Mvstermind a.k.a Mo-Ham I couldn't believe that his music was coming out of STL. I've been aware of (and one point, performing in) the local hip hop scene for almost half my life and immediately thought he was the best hip-hop artist I'd ever heard from here.

In the spirit of full collaboration, I suggested that maybe we could work together on the song and artwork together. He graciously agreed and I ended up playing a few instruments in helping to create the final track that ended up on the anthology. The song, "Mo-Ham a.k.a Virgil Hawkins" is an auto-biographical look at growing up in the St. Louis public school system. Here's what Muhammad's vision of the song is meant to be: "Virgil Hawkins the name of the Super Hero "Static Shock" Who I grew up and looked up to to the max because, he looked just like me. Young, black teen with dreds. Rarely do you find black superheros with their own Tv show and all that jazz. This song tackles that point in life where I was in school, touching on issues, such as the desegregation program, and just purely on how kids act in school. I hope people are able to connect with my own experience as well as it also subtly brings light to issues in this city."

After listening to the song and recognizing how he was discussing his personal experience yet talking about larger city-wide issues in public school (many of which are still relevant today), I thought it made sense to incorporate Mo himself into the artwork. I liked the idea of him looking up to this super hero as a kid and how he's, in a way, becoming what he looked up to back then. I thought this weird blend of a comic book cover with an off-kilter, high-school portrait paid heed to his inspirations but also represents Mo as the powerful, positive music force he is today.

Tonight is LAB: Last in the American League at the The Luminary where Mo will be headlining and performing our song for the first time on stage. You can only listen to it tonight or on the record as of right now. – Huge thanks to Brian Cummings Stills & Motion for the photography, it wouldn't of been possible without his camera & lighting skills and knowledge. – TL;DR Made some music and art with friends and it was fun. Come to a show tonight.

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Looking Back at the Ferguson Unrest, One Year Later. Part 3 of 3

These photos were taken on Tuesday, August 12, 2014. Tuesday was the final night I went to Ferguson. By this point, the media outranked the protestors 2-to-1 and the vibe felt uneasy across the board. For three hours, my adrenaline was racing as protests and police demands were lobbed at each group back and forth. Press was allowed to stand here and protestors there, but of course the two groups mixed with each other interchangeably. Police performed militaristic-like extractions of people who were inciting violence by throwing water bottles into the line of cops. Eventually, even people who were loudly upset were getting pepper sprayed for general angst raising and fanning the already high tempers. It was an awful mixture of tension and force.

The night carried on into the late hours as the cops continued surrounding the mass of protestors, media and shit-disturbers into a smaller and smaller group. At one point, a couple hundred people were stuck inside of a small area as the cops continued to shrink the line. Even the cops were confused as to what exactly the point of this might be. Finally, the tension broke and all media and protestors were told they could only stand within a parking lot of a local business.

I left, confused about what had just happened and unsure of my safety (and camera gear) as I walked back to my car that was tucked a few blocks off West Florissant. 

View Set 1  View Set 2

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Looking Back at the Ferguson Unrest, One Year Later. Part 2 of 3 I’ve been sitting on these images ever since I posted my first set of Ferguson photos. There was so much media coming out at the time that I became a bit discouraged from sharing any more photos of what was happening. It took me 100 days to finally getting around to sharing my view from Thursday, August 14th. And now, one year later, it seemed that I had better get them out now or never.

This set of images marks the evening of that Thursday where the protests led to a sort of strange party atmosphere. The police stepped back from their heavy-handed treatment from the previous five days and the decision was made to let people express themselves late into the evening. Honestly, it felt pretty damn strange since the media had started to come in at full force. There was a weird mixture in the air of media coverage, anger, sadness, excitement, chaos and individual opportunism.

It also marked the only day that remained relatively calm throughout the entire unrest.

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David Huber hit me up last month about shooting a poster for tonight’s LIFTED featuring Ellie Herring. He sent me some images of what he was looking for and even though I had never shot anything like this, I was excited to try it out and figure out the process. It turned out, like most fun things, to be really sketchy and potentially causing bodily harm – yet I was pretty happy with the final photograph/poster we made. He reminded me of something I said on the StrangeHouse Podcast about not shying away from collaborating with others. This little piece of art reminded me to: 1. Always keep trying new things and 2. Stay creative.

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Saul Williams at 333 Beaumont last night; a benefit for Jail Support and Bail Fund of the Don't Shoot Coalition in solidarity with the continued mobilizing efforts in Ferguson MO.

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Ferguson Part 1 - Thursday, August 14th, 2014 - Daytime & Dusk It's been 100 days since the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. We're on the unknown eve of a grand jury decision with leaks of an innocence verdict for officer Darren Wilson and for some reason, I finally decided that I should share my images from that first week of protests and uproar. I pulled up to Ferguson on the first Thursday following the shooting. I had been watching the protests and ridiculous response from the authorities for five days now and made a decision; I just couldn't sit and watch world news from my computer screen that was actually happening right down the highway. That Thursday ended up being the first day of peace and relaxation from police presence as the media on the scene were hungry for something to happen.

These images show the day protests that eventually morphed into a  strange "partest" or party atmosphere as the night went on. It was tense with tempers flaring, yet there was no indication of any confrontation set to happen that day or night. And none did. Also, I visited the actual scene of the shooting with my friend Adrian, but the mood was beyond heavy and I didn't feel like I should be taking many photos there. I only have one from that place in this series (there are a few more on my instagram account). I'm not sure why it took me this long to go thru and edit out my shots from my two times in Ferguson. But at this point, it feels like a necessary reminder for those who have been in the midst of things since day one. 

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MME opened for Chance the Rapper at Chaifetz Arena on October 4th. Despite the lack of decent lighting and their set being cut short, the MME boys had a memorable performance for them and their new fans; they blended their collective energy, passion and activism to give the younger crowd a look into a more real St. Louis music scene. 

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YouFest: Capturing the Crowd of LouFest. Sometimes the crowd of a music festival is just as interesting as whatever band if playing on stage. Here are some moments from the crowd at this year's LouFest.

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I had the extreme pleasure of photographing Outkast at LouFest this year. To say they exceeded my expectations would be an understatement. The first three songs, starting off with "Bombs Over Baghdad" floored me; the bass was so loud my eyeballs were vibrating inside my skull and adrenaline was coursing thru my veins. It's highly doubtful they will ever play in St. Louis again and this is very likely their final tour as a group. Here are the photos I managed to capture somehow.

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This is me.