- You think you know music?

We'd like to introduce you to the greatest guitarist you've never heard of.

- And it's all thanks to a Central Illinois native, "You Gotta See This."

(playful happy music) - So the name Wes Montgomery, you probably don't know, but there are a lot of modern guitarists, great ones, like Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton- - I've heard of those.

- Yeah, who know him well, and that's because he came up with amazing techniques, almost accidentally on how to play the jazz guitar.

- But the cool thing is we get to learn about him from a Peoria native.

The filmmaker was born in Peoria, and graduated from Eureka High School.

And it's a great story he's telling, let's take a look.

♪ It's a good get together, yeah, we sing ♪ ♪ Well, that a good get together ♪ ♪ Ain't nothing left to do but sing ♪ - Wes Montgomery might be the greatest guitarist you've never heard of.

By 1968, the jazz virtuoso was on the brink of superstardom when he died at age 45.

Despite two Grammy awards and numerous other accolades, Montgomery never enjoyed much of a spotlight.

But that has changed on PBS, with "Wes Bound: The Genius of Wes Montgomery."

It's the first video documentary on Montgomery, thanks to producer and Central Illinois native Kevin Finch.

His film tells an unusual story of a dedicated family man, whose unorthodox playing style influenced guitarists, like Eric Clapton and Carlos Santana.

For those folks who are watching this, and they aren't jazz aficionados, like dyed in the wool, why do they wanna know more about Wes Montgomery?

What's in it for them?

- That so many different people that you listen to now were partly formed by the influence of Wes Montgomery.

So I'd say that's one thing.

And it's also just a good story about a good guy.

- Born in Peoria, Finch attended Eureka High School.

What do you think, what if you recall what you're listening to when you were a high school senior?

- I was listening to, Yes, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Genesis, Renaissance, Pink Floyd, bands like that.

- But at home, his folks played a lot of jazz, especially Dave Brubeck.

And did you back then first encounter Wes Montgomery, his recordings?

- Well, I took a jazz music appreciation course at ICC, under Rich Richardson, and that really started broadening me up.

'cause he showed us, for instance, some old film of Carlos Santana.

This is a jazz class, one day and he said, "Now listen to what this guy's doing here, clearly jazz influenced."

And then when I got to Indianapolis in 1990 for my career at the time a TV news producer, I heard that, "Oh, you know that Wes Montgomery's from here?"

Really?

- Finch's appreciation of Montgomery deepened as he learned more about him over the next two decades in Indianapolis.

However, his interest turned professional several years ago.

Finch, an associate professor at Washington and Lee University in Virginia, also creates documentaries through his company, Jukeboxer Productions.

Was there a long time desire to do a documentary on Wes Montgomery, or how did that happen?

- The slogan for the company is, "Telling Untold Stories."

I had finished up a documentary about a Cold War submarine incident, and I was looking around for my next project.

And I thought, "Well, you know, there's gotta be a documentary already done on Wes, and if there is, I'm not doing one."

And I kept looking and looking and said, "No, you gotta be kidding, there really isn't one?"

You know, this guy's huge.

- Montgomery's accomplishments were impressive.

Plus, "Downbeat Magazine," the jazz and blues Bible, repeatedly cited him as best jazz guitarist.

But Finch also was fascinated with so many elements of Montgomery's life story.

He would work a first shift job, grab a few winks, play a night gig, then go to after hours clubs to learn as much as he could from other musicians.

There's this really vibrant jazz blues scene in Indianapolis, but he's also working in different times, at different places, day jobs.

He's kind of up a lot, I mean, he's not like sleeping eight hours, but he wasn't a big partier, right?

- Right.

- He was just in that way a family man type, or at least he didn't get dragged into the unseemly side.

- That's correct, yeah, he was known, his nickname was Rev among some musicians, as in Reverend.

He didn't drink, he didn't do drugs.

He had his weakness, which is that he smoked quite a bit.

But that was about it, and he worked all the time.

And so his sense of personal responsibility was, "I'm gonna provide for my family."

And he had a day job, so he'd come home in the evening, and practice that thing.

And his wife said, "Okay, that's, you know, that's too loud."

And you know, he's turning the amplifier down, and down, and down.

And then he realized that by getting rid of the pick, and just using the thumb, that the meaty part of the thumb would naturally keep it quieter.

(gentle jazz music) So he did it at first as a matter of convenience.

And then he realized he'd stumbled upon something that gave him a very distinct sound.

And he was smart enough to have recognized, "Hey, I really like the tone this is creating."

And it was a buzz when he was alive, and he was getting interviewed by people all over the world, all these people on his European tour and others, "Wow, that sound, that sound."

A lot of it was just, what a sound.

- By the mid '60s, Montgomery was crossing over to pop tunes.

Tours were getting bigger, as was his name.

But before he could hit it really big, a 1968 heart attack took his life.

Do you think he today would be more known, more widely known, had he not died at such an early age?

- Oh, absolutely, 'cause he was, he hadn't even crested yet.

His trajectory was entirely upward.

Gold record, probably more gold records coming, these collaborations, he was poised to really hit the next level.

- I never knew about Wes Montgomery, and that's such a great story.

He's a family man, he's a musician, and you know what, it was a great story from a local person.

- And that there was no documentary on this guy before, blew me away.

Speaking of music, and maybe something you don't know about, in the middle of nowhere in Fulton County is a music store that people are flocking to.

- Well, actually I do know about it, it's called Shandi's Music, and they have everything there.

If you love an old LP, you love new music, he's gonna have it.

- And if you need to find something you've never heard of, check out the guy here, that's what he did.

In the middle of nowhere, you'll find everything.

In the middle of Fulton County, 11 miles west of Canton, on a typical Illinois country road, you'll find an average-looking farm.

But one of the outbuildings holds a hidden gem with a special distinction.

- The only music store in the world on a working farm.

- [Mark] Welcome to Shandi's Music & More, version 2.0.

This independent music store and its eclectic owner, Bob Long, have a long history in the Central Illinois music scene.

Bob worked at several co-op records stores before opening Shandi's in Downtown Canton in 1999.

Then in November, 2016, tragedy struck.

A natural gas explosion at the opera building killed an Ameren worker, and damaged dozens of businesses.

Bob occupied the building right next door.

- [Bob] This pretty much decimated our business.

I had an MMA gym in the back of the store, and the store in the front, lost both of 'em on the same day.

Been seven years almost, we finally decided to just give up and open it here.

- [Phil] Even though Bob's new store is way off the beaten path, it's just steps from his house, and a trot away from his other passion, more on that later.

Shandi's is a haven for music fans, and as you can see, there's a lot to take in, from the autographed guitars.

- [Bob] There's Mud Vein, W.A.S.P., and Lita Ford up there, the three black ones.

- [Mark] To the thousands of CDs, tapes, records, and collectibles.

Bob says he has something for everyone, and isn't worried that his newly-opened store is a little remote.

John Komaford drove two hours to find CDs you won't find in most stores.

- One I just picked up today, a copy of Jaded, it's a band that the new guitarist from Vixen started years ago.

Faster Pussycat, their singer, had a techno band called the Newlydeads.

I found like four of those today.

Come out, you're not gonna be disappointed, and you're gonna find at least something you want, at least one piece.

You're not gonna walk away empty handed (laughing).

There's plenty here, so.

- [Mark] Although your wife probably wishes you were empty handed or something.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, but she's at home, so it's fine (laughing).

- [Mark] You could say Shandi's is part museum.

There are too many autographed items to mention.

You can look at them, but they aren't for sale.

Some of the items were gifts.

Others, Bob got by working at the Peoria Civic Center, or numerous music production jobs.

Some of his favorite memorabilia includes three guitars signed by the band, Kiss.

And the name of his business comes from the 1980 Kiss song, "Shandi."

- I really got into Kiss, first the image, then the music.

And have loved music ever since, very much a passion, music and animals.

- [Mark] Now back to that other passion we teased earlier.

- [Bob] These are the turkeys.

- [Mark] Bob and his wife rescue and foster animals.

And not just dogs and cats, like Sunday here, their farm has more cats, chickens, ducks, roosters, and Hamilton the potbelly pig that got too big for his former owners.

- Buddy.

All of our horses are like big dogs.

They'll follow you around, and push you to pet them.

- Do you ever play any of your music for the pets, or the the animals?

- They hear it when we play it.

- Do they have any preferences?

- (laughing) No, they like everything.

- [Mark] The money Bob makes from Shandi's goes directly to vet bills and food for this menagerie.

Many of the animals have been abandoned, abused, or just have no place to live.

- We work with a couple of different rescues.

Sometimes we have to drive and pick a dog up.

We'll bring a dog back, and we'll go to Chicago and drop a dog off.

They'll drive it across Wisconsin, and drop it off to somebody else to get it to its new home.

- [Mark] Since Bob has three more full storage sheds of music and memorabilia, and there are plenty of animals that need help, you can expect his music store/farm to keep crowing, I mean growing.

(rooster crowing) - This next gentleman is 26 years old.

He's very young, but he's blazing a trail through the entertainment industry.

Did you know he's from Bloomington?

- And he's sort of a coworker.

He does all these creative things for PBS.

- He does, especially, "Donkey Hodie," check it out.

♪ Our pal, Donkey Hodie - Yee haw!

- Hey, how you doing?

Nice to meet ya.

Oh, what, I'm on television?

Wow.

- So I'm Melvin Campbell.

- All right, you got me on?

All right, cool, how you doing?

Hey, WTVP, the big time, baby.

(laughing) Yeah.

- So I'm a puppeteer, a writer, composer, producer.

Yeah, I think that's about it (laughing).

(gentle music) I'm dating myself.

Back when we still had a Blockbuster, I had rented like this, "Best of the Muppet Show" DVD, 'cause I was curious, and that set me up for everything.

I just was enamored with the whole world of Jim Henson and the Muppets.

And then very shortly after, I attempted to start making my own puppets.

Started from socks and eventually gradually got a little bit more complex with it.

And from there, my church was actually really instrumental, because they allowed me to start the puppet ministry at our church, just 'cause I was so interested.

So that's me with the first Gossamer.

This is back in 2012.

(gentle music) My parents were so encouraging, (laughing) getting me, you know, hot glue guns, and sewing machines, and of course my first camcorder so I could start working on editing and filming.

Honestly, Facebook has been a huge asset, because that's how I was able to kind of engage with other young creatives like myself, including my friend who got me the job with "Donkey Hodie."

My journey was very quick, and I think of it as a fluke a lot of times because what happened was when "Donkey Hodie's" co-produced by Spiffy Pictures, and Fred Rogers Productions, and it just so happened that I had a friend that was working at "Sesame Street," who happened to be in the room around the time David Rudman, one of the producers of Spiffy Pictures, he was saying, "Yeah, we'd love to get some local guys on this."

And my friend literally just namedropping, he was like, "Oh, I know some guys from the area."

And literally I woke up one morning, a Saturday morning, from a text saying like, "Hey, Spiffy is getting ready to do another show, you want in?"

And that literally has set up my entire life for the last four years.

And you can see kind of the setup of how we work.

Here we're playing behind some of the set pieces.

You can kind of see us, we're underneath.

So I was originally brought in as an assistant puppeteer.

And so a big part of what I've done, when the main performer's doing the character, you usually have your right hand in the head, that left hand is doing their left hand.

And then my job would be to manipulate the right hand.

On top of that, that also means that a lot of the responsibilities for minor characters have also been thrown my way.

So when you're watching "Donkey," typically if you see a mouse, a penguin, (laughing) that's usually me scuttling in the background.

- [Donkey] Penguins are prancing with pickles.

- I'm usually the one doing the squibbiting.

- Squibbidit, squibbidit.

- I am also, I did the voiceover for the Funder Podcast, so whenever you hear that, "Donkey Hodie has been brought to you by," that's me also as well.

So they're really cool in giving you opportunities to do a lot of different types of performing on the show.

(happy music) - Ah, yeah, (laughing).

- Towards the end of season one, I was brought on as a writer, and actually one of the episodes that just aired for season two I wrote, "Wish Upon a Fish."

♪ And over again and again ♪ And again and again and again and again ♪ (whistle chiming) - That's been a great ride as well too.

(happy music) - It was so funny when I went in for my interview, and we were just talking about puppetry stuff, and then the producers were like, "Oh yeah, and we saw," I guess they had looked me up, "We saw that you do music too," which just kind of threw me off.

And they were so gracious to give me the opportunity.

And I did my first song for them, which was a song called, "Bobski Bounce."

And from there I've pretty much been regularly writing music for the show, and that opened up the opportunity for me to compose music for "Sesame Street" as well.

There's a song, season 54, called "Color of My Family."

So it's only about a year old at this point.

♪ I love my skin, I love my brown skin ♪ ♪ Light brown, that's the color of me ♪ ♪ Whoa, whoa oh oh ooh - I feel like I'm really living it now (laughing).

It started off as just the assistant puppeteer thing, but now I'm writing on the show.

I'm also composing music for the show.

I've been a fan of Spiffy for years and years and years, even before I was really claiming to be a puppetry fanatic.

And it's really been cool to be a part of that Fred Rogers Spiffy family.

- I did, Donkey.

- Thanks for helping me make my wishes come true.

- Oh, anytime, Donkey.

- Now come on, let's go join this prancing penguin pickle parade.

- Hey.

- [Donkey] (laughing) Yeah (laughing).

- [Phil] Sam Hutchinson wanted better food and treats for her dogs.

So she came up with her own healthy pet recipes, as well as a new career.

She gave up her accounting job to start Bear's Bites, which makes dog and cat food in East Peoria.

- Okay, well, welcome to my shop.

We are now into Bear's Bites headquarters, is actually what I started calling it three years ago.

So I was like, "We're gonna be all professional."

But this is the shop, so welcome.

(playful music) - [Phil] Hutchinson and her husband live in West Peoria, where they long have had dogs.

A few years back they had a pair of pooches, Sarge, a pit bull, and Tank, a pit and French mastiff mixed breed.

Each though had the same problem, they were allergic to chicken.

- So I spent about six months researching, and found five dog foods on the market that didn't have chicken in 'em.

Still the same five dog foods on the market that don't have chicken in them.

- [Phil] Switching brands solved part of the problem, but she encountered the same allergy trouble regarding dog treats.

So she began experimenting in her kitchen.

- So I got one of those little white Ronco dehydrators, and started making organic sweet potato and bananas.

And the boys loved 'em.

- [Phil] Eventually, old age took Serge and Tank.

That's when the couple got another French mastiff, Bear.

Hutchinson decided to experiment further, this time for dog food, and to find something healthier than what's on the market.

- So I found a local farm that was doing all hormone free, steroid free, and organic meats, how they were raised.

And we started doing beef liver, and Bear loved it.

- [Phil] She wondered if other pet owners might like her products.

A successful accountant, Hutchinson weighed the pluses and minuses of changing careers.

- And I told my husband, I was like, "Babe, I'm gonna start a business."

And he looked at me like I was nuts, which I get that a lot, still to this day.

And he's like, "What are you gonna do?"

I was like, "I'm gonna make dog treats."

I knew if I was having a problem finding good ones, so was everybody else, and I was right.

- [Phil] She named the business after her pooch, Bear's Bites.

Sales got so brisk that Bear's Bites had to move to a commercial spot in East Peoria.

Her husband, who works as a maintenance mechanic, helped set things up, and Hutchinson enjoys the work.

- Our dog food process is pretty fun.

We start, my husband got me the machine I wanted, which is a mixer grinder, and I throw big chunks of everything into there, and then it gets pattied, and then goes right into the freeze dryers.

So it is not a hard process, but it's a lengthy process.

- [Phil] None of the dog food or treats uses processed ingredients.

- There's ground sirloin, ground beef heart, beef liver, beef kidney, ground pork loin, spinach, pumpkin, and sweet potato.

- [Phil] Hutchinson, who has training as a pet nutritionist, says the whole foods in Bear's Bites boosts pet's health.

- It really changes, like their coat looks better, their skin looks better.

If they've got allergies, then the allergies start to go away, and ear infections.

There's so much, eye goop, it all starts to go away when you start adding whole food into their diet.

- [Phil] Though some of the treats are made of veggies, others come straight from the animal kingdom.

- Duck heads, duck feet, chicken wings, chicken feet, beef trachea, pig ears and pigs feet.

- [Phil] Did you say duck heads?

- People buy 'em to creep out their friends, because I mean, they are kind of gross looking.

And then they find out their dogs love them.

- [Phil] How does Hutchinson know what dogs find tasty?

That's where Bear pitches in.

- So Bear's my taste tester.

He is actually the chief tasting officer with the business.

- [Phil] She admits that once in a while, she'll taste a pet product, but not all of them.

- And I've never tried the beef liver, 'cause it's gross.

My parents made me eat it growing up, I'm a hard no.

- [Phil] The product line now also includes cat food and cat treats.

But other pets also munch Bear's Bites.

- So we have customers that are ferrets.

I know zero about what ferrets can eat.

We have a customer that's a parrot, so there are other pets out there, it's just, I don't market to them, 'cause I don't know anything about them.

So the pet parents are the ones that really have to know their stuff on that.

- [Phil] Hutchinson's company is a one-person operation, and she's too busy to run a retail shop.

But Bear's Bites products can be ordered through the company website, bearsbites.net.

They're also available at a dozen shops locally, and 250 shops nationally.

She soon plans to announce new plans.

It's all hush hush, but she says the business will need more room.

- We have some big things coming up.

- [Phil] Meantime, the mission of Bear's Bites remains the same.

- Oh gosh, our favorite thing is just helping pet parents, and their pets live a healthier life.

(playful music) (dog barking) - [Julie] Lester Lindsey was leaving his job at The Pancake House.

The next minute, he was waking up in a hospital.

In between, he was rescued during a cardiac arrest, thanks to a passerby.

- She's an angel (laughing).

Makes me feel really, really blessed and proud.

I'm glad she was there.

- [Julie] The good Samaritan's intervention was no accident.

She was alerted by an app called PulsePoint, which notifies users about emergencies nearby.

- This is how you, as a layperson, can be a hero, can be a lifesaver, you know, and help somebody in need.

- [Julie] For decades, Lester Lindsey has been a mainstay at the original Pancake House in Champaign.

- I go around pour coffee, assist people at the tables, help the waitresses and hostesses out, bring out food to the customers like that, and just go around, and make sure like everybody's happy.

- [Julie] One day last fall, a cousin picked up Lester from work.

As they were driving away, Lester was laughing and joking, but then suddenly slumped over and became unresponsive.

The cousin pulled into a shopping center parking lot, and asked someone to call 911.

That's when Shannon Walter entered the story.

Shannon had undergone CPR training from OSF Healthcare.

She was across the street getting lunch, when she got an alert from the app saying someone nearby needed CPR.

- And when I pulled into that shared parking lot, I could actually see somebody pulling somebody who was unresponsive out of a vehicle, and onto the ground.

- [Julie] That was Lester, who was in cardiac arrest.

Shannon did chest compressions for around 3 1/2 minutes, until the first responders arrived.

She made the difference between life and death, says Eric Faulkner, Lester's friend and boss.

- I believe that is what ultimately saved his life, and crucially saved brain function.

- [Julie] Lester later got a pacemaker, and went through OSF rehab.

His survival spotlights the value of PulsePoint, which can also be downloaded for free.

The app points out emergencies in need of CPR, as well as AED devices.

To find a class in these life-saving skills, see the websites for the American Heart Association and Advanced Medical Transport.

- It's important to never be caught in a situation where you don't know what to do.

(gentle music) - Say what you want about Central Illinois, but all of those stories were about people here who are doing amazing things throughout the area.

- So many interesting people, so many interesting places.

One thing about places, this place right now, it's cold (laughing).

- It is, maybe we should get in the van, and we'll see you next time on, "You Gotta See This."

(happy music) ♪ Whoa ha (beeping) I mean, that.

- They did.

- Oh, okay.

- Oh (laughing).

- La la la.

(beeping) - Three, two.

♪ One (laughing) I don't know what I'm doing.

(beeping) - I've done that, I've done that, and more of that.

(beeping) Have you ever, blah.

I think my lip's already frozen, whap whap whap.

(beeping) - Ah ah, ah ah ah ee ee.

(playful music) ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa ah ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa ah ♪ Wha, hey, whoa ha ♪ Wha hey, whoa ha ♪ Yeah, yeah yeah yeah oh, whoa ho, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Ho oh oh ♪ Wha ho ah oh ♪ Ha, whoa ha ♪ Hey, whoa ha ♪ Hey, whoa ha ♪ Yeah, yeah yeah yeah oh, oh oh oh oh uh oh ♪ ♪ Whoa oh ah oh ♪ Whoa ah hey, yeah