St. Charles guitar shop has a cameo in pop artist's video

The Jank Guitar Store owner Scott Corbin had a couple of reasons to be excited about pop artist Casely's recent music video.

The very beginning of the video for the song "Tick Tock" features downtown St. Charles, the same Main Street region in which Corbin operates his guitar shop at 217 W. Main St.

More importantly, Casely, who has worked with the likes of Pitbull, Flo Rida and other musical heavyweights, purchases instruments from The Jank Guitar Store for tours and studio sessions.

"He is also an adviser who assists in recording at the store to lend his professional hand to the novice guitar player," Corbin said. "His connection to St. Charles is his band Casely and the Jank."

The guitar store takes its name from the band that created the pop music subgenre known as Jank music, or "a guitar melting pot of genres to make one," Corbin added.

Check out the "Tick Tock" video on Casely's Facebook page. As could be expected, and maybe by design, the short part showing St. Charles catches the city on a fairly dreary weather day. But the song is a catchy tune.

For the families

As the debate about what to do at Charlestowne Mall rages on among the readers of this column, and those who chime in with posts on Facebook, one theme seems to surface a bit more than others.

People would like to see a facility that tailors to family activities to promote fun, education, development of the arts, and good health.

Batavia Depot Museum director Carla Hill looks at it from the perspective of a grandmother when noting her daughter is always looking for places the entire family can go.

With a movie theater already in place, other businesses like Build A Bear, Jump Zone, and Dave and Busters might make good fits, Hill said.

"Maybe even a children's museum, and sports venues like the batting cages or simulated golf could be added," Hill said.

If other businesses featured painting classes or pottery, which are growing in popularity, it could help the mall become a family center that could do well again, she added.

"There are restaurants and shops that would go along with these concepts," Hill said.

Protecting the code

While many readers related to my recent confession that an insurance company's "explanation of benefits" is far too complicated for me to grasp when determining what I owe for medical service, a medical professional wanted to point out a key misconception in my note.

I said the mysterious "code" behind these complex explanation sheets remains safe with the medical providers because I can't crack it. The medical professional said it would have been more accurate to say it is actually safe with the insurance companies, since they are the ones who engineer this process.

I would agree with that assessment, but either way, I rarely have a clue. And that was my main point.

That was fast

It's hard to believe that a school year seemed like an eternity when you were a kid. They fly by in nothing flat now. The past few weeks have taken most parents and their kids into the final sports events and school concerts, and the coming weeks bring final exams and graduation.

Virtual mattresses?

We noticed a couple of new mattress stores popping up along Randall Road, and my wife came up with a good one.

"How many mattress stores do we need?" she asked. "What is going to happen to all of these stores when mattresses go digital?"

dheun@sbcglobal.net