Mr. Blotto was born in Chicago as an off-night vehicle for musicians who loved each others playing but were in different bands at the time. The only rule was that they would only play what they loved. That philosophy continues today and has led Mr. Blotto into unique musical situations.

Mr. Blotto takes the Jam band asthetic into areas unfamiliar to the standard Jam Scene. They have been known to cover entire albums by Led Zeppelin and the Who as well as perform entire shows of Country and Reggae. Artists as diverse as the Grateful Dead, the Flaming Lips, Willie Nelson and The Velvet Underground have seen their material interpreted by Mr. Blotto in the 2000+ shows the band has performed in the last 15 years, yet covers only pepper the bands hefty catalog of original material stemming from five studio albums and other unreleased crowd favorites.

Stereo Genius is a collective of musicians based out of Chicago led by drummer / composer /producer Justin Boyd. While on a plane ride over the Atlantic Ocean he got the idea to start his own group. The name of the band can be broken down into two segments that compliment each other. The first being that before laptops, iPods or any other mobile device music had to be listened to thru a stereo. So in a sense having a stereo whether in your home or car was essential to consuming music. The second segment is Genius, which describes the bands commitment to music education. We hope to inspire future generations of musicians, artist and creative thinkers. The band has recently released their first EP entitled “Miracle Year” that can be downloaded at all of the standard mediums. Our mission is to combine jazz, soul, hip-hop, funk and world music seamlessly. So by the end of our show we hope that you’ve had an amazing experience.