TULSA, Okla. — For a century, Cain's Ballroom has been a venue for big-name musicians and up-and-coming artists.
One area cameraman documented and archived years of that history.
As he told 2 News, he's helping Cain's Ballroom honor its century of music history. Michael Terrance Peyton Jr. started filming the Tulsa and Oklahoma music scene in 1985. In the 1990s, he began working as a cameraman for Cain's Ballroom.
Throughout the years, he documented and met performers ranging from Leon Russell to Dave Grohl.
AGOURA HILLS, CA - AUGUST 20: Singer/piano player Leon Russell performs onstage at The Canyon Club on August 20, 2015 in Agoura Hills, California. (Photo by Scott Dudelson/Getty Images)
"I didn't think of it at that time — when I first started videotaping bands," Peyton said, "but after a while, I realized how important it was and how much of an honor it was to videotape all these absolutely talented people."
He spent years recording history. Now, he spends his time preserving it.
"Just because of all the video footage that I've collected over the years," he said, it made him realize "how important the history of music was here in Tulsa. And that's what made me become an archivist."
Now that he's retired, Peyton dedicates his time to digitizing his vast archive.
Video cassettes, disks, photographs, and concert posters fill his home. Since retiring, he transformed the space into an editing studio, archive library, and time capsule.
He has posted hundreds of live performances and music videos he recorded to his YouTube page called "VIDEO MIKE."
Peyton told us some artists in those videos, like the band Modern English, reached out to thank him for sharing those memories from years ago.
The former cameraman said he's honored to provide footage from his archive to Tate Wittenberg, who's creating a feature-length documentary about Cain's Ballroom.
"It's a labor of love," he said. "It's been going on for about 10 years."
The documentary, "The History of the Cain's Ballroom," is in post-production right now. The goal is to screen it in Tulsa sometime later this year to commemorate one hundred years of Cain's Ballroom.
However, they are still raising additional funds to complete the project.
"We have things like production costs that we have to do. We have music that we have to get approved from the record label to use on the film," Peyton said.
He said he's glad "people could see what it was like back in the heyday period when everything was jumping when Larry Shaeffer owned Cain's."
"It's a time that's come and on gone, that won't ever come again," he said.
For those wanting to help to the project, contact info@magiccitypictures.com about making a tax-deductible contribution to Tulsa Community Foundation. They said sponsors can get their name in the film.
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