Grindstone Productions

04/02/2024

The Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois is about 290,000 acres. A national forest is under the Department of Agriculture and part of their mission is resource extraction (logging, fracking). There's a initiative to redesignate the Shawnee to the Department of Interior, which is all about about education, preservation and recreation. They won't log or frack the Shawnee. Our goal is to make the Shawnee Illinois' first national park, and the nation's first Climate Preserve. It's proven that national parks attract much more tourism than national forests, and tourism is good for the local economy. This video highlights support for our initiative from local merchants in and around the Shawnee.

Southern Illinois business owners support the Shawnee National Park and Climate Preserve proposal

03/18/2024

Just highlighting one of the videos I produced utilizing my new 4k drone.

03/12/2024

The Shawnee in Southern Illinois is the place to be for the eclipse on April 8th 2024. Its in the path of totality, which means you will experience the full 4 minutes 7 seconds of darkness during this historic eclipse. The Shawnee is 290,000 acres from river to river at the southern tip of Illinois. There's a strong movement under way to make the Shawnee our next national park, and the first ever Climate Preserve. Here's a video I produced explaining why the Shawnee checks all the boxes to become our next national park.

Promoting the Shawnee National Park & Climate Preserve Vision

08/13/2022

Just starting day 3 of production at South Beach Symposium. Fortunate to have such a great team to work with. happy 20-year anniversary SBS!

05/05/2022

I was honored with a Mayor's Award on Tuesday night along with the Elgin History Museum for the production of Museum Moments, a 26-part series of two-minute segments that highlight Elgin history. You can check out the segments here: https://elginhistory.org/museum-moments/

03/06/2022

A Saturday afternoon happy hour with pro-wrestler & boxer Dan O'Malley, and 5x boxing champion Vinny Paz (center). We were in Columbus, OH at the Arnold Sports Festival for the 10th annual International Sports Hall Of Fame. Vinny Paz was one of seven inductees into the 2022 ISHOF. I shot the ceremony and will edit/post the ceremony videos in a week or two. Vinny delivered my favorite speech of the day. Fun guy to party with!

02/26/2022

The Gail Borden Public Library in Elgin has displayed "The Settlement" exhibit during Black History Month. This exhibit is based on the documentary, Project 2-3-1, that I produced with Ernie Broadnax and the Elgin History Museum in 2015. I visited the library last weekend and got to experience the exhibit for myself, and watch others as they interacted with the exhibit. Very cool!😎

02/11/2022

Just edited the official 2022 Inductee Announcement for the International Sports Hall of Fame. Grindstone produces all the content for the ISHOF. Looking forward to this VIP ceremony on Saturday, March 5th at the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, OH