Jared Bartman and Friends is my favorite local band, they span genres, perform amazing original music and a cover here and there, they have the occasional string section and a six month old baby that wears noise-canceling headphones - what's not to love about this band?! I met the lead singer and his wife through Numéro and I've designed two album covers for them. Friday night they played at the Contemporary Art Center downtown and they were fabulous, if you ever get the chance to see them live, do it. I'm partial to their version of "Paperback Writer" by The Beatles and "Born Too Late" by the Ponytails. After the show I hopped over to May Street to visit another new artist spot as a part of CIAO first fridays--local artists open up their galleries for viewing and sometimes showcase live music and food. CIAO first fridays reassure me that Peoria is moving in the right direction as far as the arts go. Some people wonder why some of us artists stay in Peoria, given that the scene is not as developed as the bigger cities, but to that I say, if no one stays then nothing is going to get any better. There is a lot of diversity here, you just have to put forth the effort to support it.
You know, years from now when the scene is more developed, you guys will be referred to as the "pioneers"! There are a lot of artists in Detroit right now that are doing the same thing, and slowly seeing change. And Detroit is a tough nut to crack.
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