Photos by Sandra Greek

Some things aren't always what they seem.

Take a street, for example. What we see of it is only on the surface - the pavement, sidewalks, storefronts, and the facades of soaring buildings around. These are the images that fill our eyes, the ones that we can see, feel, and touch without even trying. These scenes come together to dominate our senses.

Walking around our cities, we can feel the solid ground beneath our feet, the wind whipping in and around the alleyways we pass by. Not a second thought is given to them. Though they may be filled with graffiti artists, painters, and taggers, what do we really care? We're just passing through. Our eyes, even when closed, can feel the bright lights dancing over our heads, telling us to stop and go, eat and drink, and indicating the arrival of that ride we've been waiting for. Through these glimpses of magic our thoughts rarely sink below the surface. Rarely do they ever navigate into the very root of things.

But sometimes the most important things are subterranean.

Local Hard Rock Café sings a sweet song

Their landlord told them that they would close within a few months.

But before long there was a line out of the door.

After settling in to a comfortable level of success, a package comes in the mail. In it was a guitar and a hand written letter. It read something like this, “I love this place and I want everyone to know that this is my seat. Hang this guitar above my barstool.” The author was Eric Clapton. That was the first piece of memorabilia that Hard Rock Café ever acquired.

As the story goes, a couple of weeks later another letter came with another large parcel. This time it was Pete Townsend’s guitar. “My seat is just as good as Eric’s. Hang mine up too.”

Now, 41 years later there are Hard Rock Café’s all over the world. There’s even a memorabilia vault in Orlando, Florida, full of museum quality instruments, clothing, setlists and love letters.

Let’s go back a little.

It all started from a craving of home.

Big Gigantic, MainX24 Festival, The Dirty Guv’nahs, and The Chattanooga Market

The air is tearing at my face, determined to rip the skin from my skull.

Around me is a vast sea of nothingness. The clouds are several thousand feet below and I have no control over what is to come. A slap at my hip tells me to pull my knees closer together and arch my back more. Free falling from 18,000 feet conjures questions, so many questions. The madness that lies inside has been given full reign to run amuck, but the shear amount of adrenaline has even him wrangled. For miles around, the earth is still. A gentle calm seeps in, reminding me that if this is in fact the end, if these are my last minutes, breathing in might not be such a bad idea.

As the earth rushes closer, and the terrain becomes clear, mountains cut with beautiful sparkling lakes envelope my furthest line of sight. The beautiful city of Chattanooga, Tennessee lays before me in every direction. For a moment, there is nothing else. Into the wrist-mounted camera I shout, “This is awesome.” There are no other words, intricate and beautiful, well thought out and crafted that encompass this brilliant explosion of life. For the first time, in a long time, I am just that, alive.

There's a new production company in town.

And after one look at the marketing plan of Loch & Key Productions, it’s plain to see that its members have minds are as steady as their hands.

Loch & Key is a Knoxville based video production company that got its start in May of last year when founding members Andy Feliu, Sean Mantooth and Eli Hechner, discovered a missing niche in the Knoxville market, and decided to branch out from the production company they were working for at the time.

Feliu recalls the decision to start Loch & Key was an easy one.

“Originally the idea is that we would acquire some gear as a collective that we could use to go on freelance shoots with, and more and more people were wanting you to have your own equipment. But once we bought the gear we realized it made more sense financially to start our own company. We started getting more and more opportunities, and things steam rolled from there.”