Melissa Shatto Baltimore Bands Collection

The co-creators of this collection include:

Melissa Shatto is the creator and donor of the films. She is a visual artist and music enthusiast who has always felt compelled to document and record moments and events. "For a while in the 90's, I would shoot with a noisy little battery operated Super 8 camera at home, at friends, and at music venues. Baltimore had such a passionate, raw music scene then, often incorporating elements of performance art. The look of film seemed more appropriate than slick, glossy video, unfortunately my camera didn't have any sound. I was a starving artist, like everyone else, and never found a camera with audio capabilities at the thrift store."*

Joe Tropea has been the Curator of Film and Photographs at the Maryland Center for History and Culture (MCHC) since 2012 and was the initial custodian of the films. He started at MCHC in 2005, working part time in the Special Collections department while earning an MA in Public History from UMBC. He is also a filmmaker and musician. He began playing bass and guitar in Baltimore area bands in the 1989 and continued playing in bands until 2010. Tropea went to and played shows, and toured regularly throughout the 1990s into the early 2000s.*

Shirlé Hale-Koslowski was the founding member of Womyn Of Destructions (WOD), Baltimore's first Riot Grrrl Band (unknowingly so) in 1991. She has been a musician since a very young age, and attended Boston’s Berklee College of Music, playing alongside of Mary Lou Lord in the early 80’s where the two dorm mates were busking weekly. She moved to Baltimore in 1989 with her then band, False Face Society, then began WOD in 1991. In 1993, she started the three piece band, Gerty, named for Baltimores Gertude Stein (the first woman to attend Johns Hopkins University). She then moved to Chapel Hill, NC 1998 with her partner, David Koslowski where they created bands such as Ex-Members (with Melissa York of The Butchies, Team Dretsch, Amy Ray), and Free Electric State. They then moved back to Baltimore in 2012 to open a Record Store Cafe, Baby’s On Fire (named for a Brian Eno song) that they run to this day. Shirlé has been a personal chef for the last 21 years and is the executive chef at the cafe.*

Landis "Expandis" McCord is a multimedia artist that came to Baltimore in the 1980s to study painting. During that time, he founded the band, the All Mighty Senators and toured extensively as their lead vocalist and song writer while also being the drummer known for standing up while playing. He has been straddling the line of music and art ever since. Because of the All Mighty Senator's early success, he temporarily paused his art education, and in 2017 earned a degree in digital design. His education as a graphic designer gave him the skills necessary to create most of his marketing material and images, as well as those for other area bands and performances.*

Joana Stillwell is MARMIA's AV Archivist, the oral history interviewer, processing archivist, and finding aid author. Stillwell is a visual artist and a Master of Library and Information Science student at the Univeristy of Maryland. Processing this collection and conducting the oral histories informed her practicum project which fulfilled requirements for her to graduate in December 2021. This collection was chosen for this project based on Stillwell's interest in artist-made records.

*The interviewee biographies were sourced and edited from each individual's oral history agreement with MARMIA. Interviewees responded to "Biography (this could include professional history, personal history, or any information about your connection to the Mid-Atlantic's audiovisual history and the topics discussed in the interview)."