The Epic of All and Sundry

“The universe is playing one song.
We are all just different instruments.”

The Epic of All and Sundry is a sprawling, multi-act live rock opera performance that spans the evolution and cyclical nature of humanity, technology, and the environment. It explores how human ambition, creativity, and hubris intertwine with advanced AI and alien observation. The show blends surreal theatrics, elaborate choreography, and a diverse musical palette—from folk and doo-wop to heavy metal, jazz, electronic, rap, and soul—all composed from recurring riffs, motifs, and chord progressions that echo subliminally across acts, connecting humans, robots, and aliens musically.

The story examines creativity, ethics, warfare, ecological responsibility, and the enduring question of what gives life and music "soul."

This short diorama film offers a visual and musical sketch of The Epic of All and Sundry — a story that spans cavemen, machines, aliens, and the long arc of human ambition.
Using handmade sets, recurring musical themes, and symbolic imagery, the video introduces the world, the tone, and the ideas behind the live show: creation, hubris, collapse, renewal — and the strange beauty that lives inside the repetition.

This is not the full story.
It’s a memory of it.

Who or what is "Donk-e-yote"?

Donk-e-yote is a collective of musicians, artists, and performers based in Taylor, Texas, dedicated to creating original, large-scale rock operas that blend live music, theater, and speculative storytelling. The name carries a double meaning: a nod to Don Quixote—the archetypal dreamer chasing impossible visions—and the humble backyard studio where it all began, affectionately known as the Donk. As founder Ben Sands puts it, “Much like the main character of the book, our group has delusions of grandeur, and we believe ourselves to be capable of things that may be beyond our grasp, to a fantastic degree.”

Originally formed by Andy Sanchez, Conoley Reinhardt, and Ben Sands as an instrumental progressive rock band, Donk-e-yote’s trajectory changed after recruiting vocalist and theater artist Melissa Burrow. After hearing the group’s unconventional music, Burrow offered a pivotal insight: “well I do love to sing, but I'm much more into theater, and your music is asking for it.” The very next morning, the group met at a local coffee shop and, within half an hour, outlined their first theatrical production. That collaboration led to The Blackland Chemical Experiment, a psychedelic video-game-inspired rock opera performed four times at the Black Sparrow Music Parlor. Reflecting on that early work, Sands notes, “the Blackland WAS AN EXPERIMENT — All and Sundry is a prototype.”

Following Blackland, Sands wrote the original screenplay for The Epic of All and Sundry, a sweeping, cyclical story about humanity, artificial intelligence, and the unintended consequences of solving climate change through machines. About a year later, the project reignited when Reinhardt connected new music Sands had written to the dormant script. “That was the inspiration to just go ahead and do this thing,” Sands recalls. With a newly expanded band and crew, Donk-e-yote completed the music and staging for The Epic of All and Sundry, premiering the work April 24th and 25th at the Black Sparrow Music Parlor—bringing their most ambitious vision yet back to the venue where it all began.