A Finer Smoosier Day on Monument Circle

During a recent glorious Central Indiana summer morning on Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis, renowned performance photographer Traci Gilland was in town shooting publicity images for a client, Finer - a new local rock band you must see live to fully appreciate. After perusing the architectural skyline of the buildings that surround the Circle, she pointed to the top of the classic 14-story Circle Tower, the building in which we had juiced up on various Starbuck's concoctions a bit earlier, and said half-jokingly, "I want to shoot up there."

Being the accommodating host and can-do kind of guy that I am, I replied, "Well, I am a client of Compendium Blogware on the top floor, so let me see what I can do." I proceeded up to Compendium's office and sought out my recently assigned customer service representative, Sarah Sedberry, to see if she could assist me. Sarah was more than willing to interrupt whatever she was doing to help me track down Ali Sales, one of the founders of the company along with Chris Baggott. Ali, despite heading out the door for an out-of-town excursion, took the time to personally escort me to the building's management office, where she introduced me to the Circle Tower Property Manager, Brenda McClarnon.

Ms. McClarnon has an obvious affinity for the the Circle Tower, and for good reason - it is a magnificent structure with marble walls in the hallways, a ton of history, and offices with a stupendous view of the Circle. She was more than willing, without notice, to escort our entourage of 10 up to the roof while she shared some stories about long-standing tenants in the building, including the legendary ghost in the basement. (Sorry, Brenda, if I was not supposed to reveal that.)

As you can see, Traci was able to take some excellent and unique shots of the band up on the Circle Tower roof, and for that I would like to shout out a big THANK YOU to everyone who helped make these images possible. This tale is the perfect example of Smoosier hospitality in Smaller Indiana, where a minor customer can walk into a vendor's office in the middle of a busy day, with an extremely inconvenient request that imposes on the time of many unsuspecting participants, and yet the responses we received from everyone involved - from Sarah to Ali to Brenda - were as if we were royalty every step of the way. We were all very impressed with the way we were treated. Having lived in Manhattan for a decade, I suspect this story would have had a much different ending had it taken place there.

Be on the lookout for Finer at a musical venue near you. Please support local musicians when you are looking for entertainment and local businesses that support Smaller Indiana, such as Compendium, when you need corporate blogware.