the matthew show: News

Doing a show on the south side of Dallas at Opening Bell Coffee. Bob Simpson, a fine performer from way off in San Angelo, will be opening at 8:00, followed by the honky popper hisself. Check out Bob's stuff, it's quite nice:

http://myspace.com/bobsimpsonmusic
Venue info here:

http://openingbellcoffee.com/south_side
C'mon out, get some joe, & have your nerd nodes massaged.

I'll be appearing trio style (with Jason Jackson and Jeff Simms) starting at 7PM before the play, which is Johnny Simons' adaptation of H.G. Wells' The Island of Dr. Moreau. It's already gotten rave reviews:

http://www.star-telegram.com/entertainment/story/890135.html
The play cranks up at 8:15, and afterwards we'll rock out till whenever. It'll be a fine time under the stars out by Lake Worth:

http://www.hippocket.org/
UPDATE: Hurricane Ike has officially kaiboshed this show, dangit. We'll be back on October 11th, though...

Got a last-minute booking at the Fairmount in Fort Worth (my parents' second home) on Friday, August 22nd. I'll be opening for the inimitable Daniel KatsuK:

http://www.myspace.com/katsuk
It's a solo acoustic show in one of the great new Magnolia Avenue venues, populated by a good many MacHenry's refugees and assorted weirdos. Loads of fun, come on out:

http://www.thefairmountlive.com/

So the disc is being pressed as we speak, and we & our good friends at Wampus are getting geared up to shoot the things out in every direction once we get 'em in our hands.

But before we do, I'd like to ask you fine folks if you have any recommendations. What's your favorite podcast/college radio station/local rag/indie magazine, etc? Lemme know and I'll make sure they're on the list.

Thanks in advance for your assistance. More when I know it...

Got a last-minute booking at Fort Worth's venerable Hip Pocket Theatre, for those of you looking for a Saturday night diversion in the woods. August 2nd, 7PM is go time, until the play, Dreams Do Not Care by Johnny Simons, graces the stage. After the play, the music will continue until someone pulls the plug on me or my compatriots, the erstwhile Jason Jackson and the newly famous Jeff Simms, fresh from his appearance on Channel 8 News as "this man" complaining about his electric bill:

http://www.wfaa.com/video/?z=y&nvid=263320
Mark your calendars and come on out, it does a body good:

http://www.hippocket.org/

One of Second Life's most widely-read publications decided to lower their standards and interview a certain person, who of course rambled on and on for hours and hours, so they had to post not only an edited version for their regular PDF edition...

http://www.metaversemessenger.com/pdf/2008/07/MM20080701.pdf
...but also a longer version, WHICH STILL NEEDED EDITING:

http://www.metaversemessenger.com/stories/sound_bites_07-01-2008.htm
Will no one shut my ass up?

Thanks to Phoenix Psaltery for taking an interest, and for infinite patience. The virtual ink is appreciated.

Okay, so it may be that you went to the website after reading my recent post, clicked on the little doober, started listening, and then after a minute or so began channeling Fred Willard: "Wha happen?"

Yes, I put edited clips on there for a variety of technical reasons I shan't go into here. But by popular demand, great boisterous clamor even, I've stuck four tracks up in their entirety at what is in my opinion the best music site on the interwebs, Virb:

http://www.virb.com/thematthewshow
Right now the durn thing is done on my end and is on the way to Wampus for pressing and suchlike. I'll keep you posted on all postables as I find them postworthy.

May the Fourth be with you.

A month later, and my throat has finally grown accustomed to the absence of its old rowdy friends, the tonsils. Therefore, starting on July 9th, I'll resume my Wednesday night residency at Luxor Stage, one of Second Life's premier live music destinations. It's always a good time, and everybody knows your name, because it's floating above your avatar's head.

Showtime is 6PM SLT (Pacific time). It'll be great to see everyone again. Those in the know can bring your squid hats, and those out of the know can wonder what the hell is going on.

See you at the show.

http://www.secondlife.com/

As you well know, everyone hates a liar. And for the past several months (years?) I’ve been promising to have tracks from the new album up for your listening pleasure, and then I conveniently change the subject when they don’t appear. Such behavior could easily be construed as lying, and for that I apologize. What I actually suffer from is a condition I invented just now called Circumstantial Frazzlement Disorder. Victims of this dread disease have their life’s circumstances swing in wildly disparate directions at unpredictable times, thus rendering any promises they may have made rather unreliable. Maybe if I say this often enough, I’ll start getting a check from the government.

BUT! You’ll be happy to know that the disease is not fatal, and merely results in a delay of the kept promise rather than its demise. Thus it is that if you visit, right this very moment, the Music link to the right of this message, you will notice the appearance of four—FOUR—brand new samples of tracks from the forthcoming album by the matthew show, picked with great care and without the use of child labor, apart from my son’s disapproving nods when I got a mix wrong.

So you see, I have actually been doing something all this time. And not just eating Ben & Jerry’s and playing with the kid’s rather large collection of tractors. So if you’re curious about the new stuff, go get a taste now, and in a couple of months, you’ll know what you’re getting. And if you’re a hipster, you can complain that it’s all right, but the early lo-fi stuff was better.

Okay, I’m done here. New Second Life shows to announce very soon, stay tuned...

Press release time…

It is with a great sense of officialdom (and probably pomposity) that I send this missive today, announcing the identity of the record label who has been conned into picking up the matthew show’s second album for release. The new album, February, will be a co-release of my own Naïve Music label and Virginia’s own Wampus Multimedia:

http://www.wampus.com/
Longtime fans may recall that in 2005, Wampus released Hurry Home Early, a Warren Zevon tribute album featuring my version of Mohammed’s Radio, along with other covers by many fine artists including Zevon’s son Jordan. Wampus owner Mark Doyon and I have kept in touch since then, and when I began to look for allies to assist with the promotion of the new record, he was on the short list. Him & Puff Daddy. (P, if you’re reading this, call me…)

Wampus is no spring chicken, which is a plus in my book. They’ve been releasing oddball records for two decades, from the brick-n-mortar era to the new digital hotness, and have kept themselves innovative, branching into e-publishing, internet marketing, and digital music distribution. They’ve remained staunchly independent, and if they’re releasing my ravings, they’re likely to remain so.

By joining the Wampus roster, the matthew show becomes part of an impressive musical family. Johnny J. Blair has fans as diverse as surf-rocker Dick Dale and frikkin’ Brian frikkin’ Wilson. Kowtow Popof is a longtime purveyor of what the Washington Post calls “preternaturally surrealist post pop.” The May Bees have great press out the wazoo, and have opened for bigass underground acts like Frank Black and Bettie Serveert. Add stalwart indies like tvfordogs, Cafebar 401, Casey Abrams, The Crowd Scene, and Alice Despard, and you have a label who puts quality before implants, so to speak. Not to say that none of us are attractive, it’s just...hey. My eyes are up here.

Wampus is announcing the signing tomorrow morning, so stay tuned to MTV to hear Kurt Loder tell you all about it. They’re gonna pre-empt Midgets Gone Wild for the press conference, seriously.

If I’ve left any doubt in your mind, this is a very happy day for me. For years I’ve longed to team up with a label who actually gives a shit about music, and to have it actually happen is a serious blow to my misanthropy. I might stop hating people for a whole week, even. Plus I have a couch to crash on the next time I roadtrip through the Blue Ridge mountains. Thanks, Mark. Now get back to work.

As for you fine people, I’ll be keeping you posted as the release date draws nearer. At present it’s looking like September, which is appropriate, since that’s when I released texas five years ago. Seems to be a better month for me than the one referenced in my new disc title.

Remember, dreams can come true. Though hopefully not some of the ones I had when I was on hydrocodone last week…

More soon,

matthew

In a fit of optimism now that my surgery's over and done with, I've booked a couple of shows out at Fort Worth's venerable Hip Pocket Theatre. Check the Calendar page for specifics, should be a hootenanny as always.

Operation went smoothly, and apparently my tonsil situation had worsened in the two weeks since I'd last seen the doctor, so I kinda just barely prevented them from swallowing my head whole.

Recovery is a rough thing, given that I can't breathe through my nose for two weeks, and during that same two weeks my throat is on fire. But I've been extremely lucky in having no nausea from the anesthesia, marking off at least one medication from being swallowed down the pit of flame. And yes, applesauce and yogurt are my friends. As is Lortab. I've been thinking of making it my personal lord and saviour, actually.

Anyhow, just thought I'd let you know that all my drama queening was unnecessary, and that it would appear that I am indeed on the right side of statistics from time to time.

More when I know it...

matthew

Surgery tomorrow. I hope to stay on the right side of statistics and see you all very soon. This world is beautiful, ugliness and all. Isn't that strange?

So the people at our local NPR affiliate are exercising poor quality control again and have allowed certain honky ramblers back on their airwaves.

Thus it is that during Friday the 16th's Morning Edition, KERA 90.1 FM in Dallas will broadcast a new commentary of mine, chock full of the sort of complaining and pointlessness that you've come to expect from the matthew show. Those outside the DFW sprawl-o-plex can stream the station here:

http://www.kera.org/audio
Here's to irresponsible programming...

UPDATE 5-23-08:

Here's the audio link for your use and amusement...

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kera/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1278589

Many of you are aware that I've been having chronic throat and sinus problems for quite a while now. Despite all efforts for a peaceful resolution of the problem, however, it appears that we will now have to pull out the big guns.

The last week of May, I will be having sinus surgery and a simultaneous tonsillectomy, providing what I hope will be a knockout punch to my microscopic tormentors. I'm not entirely sure when my voice will be back up to speed after that, but barring complications, there will be a resumption of matthew show services in late June or early July.

The timing is fortuitous, since later this year I will be doing a lot of performing in support of my forthcoming second album. Better to get this crap taken care of now so you fine people don't have to listen to the new tunes accompanied by a chorus of mucous nodules.

In the couple of weeks before the operation, however, I will be doing two shows in Second Life to take my mind off the impending slice-n-dice. Check the calendar for dates and times, and come out to get a last listen, just in case my voice emerges from the tonsillectomy sounding like Bonnie Tyler.

More when I know it...

I'll be playing a special 2-hour show at the Relay-Palooza on Saturday the 10th. It's part of the Second Life Relay for Life, benefiting the American Cancer Society.

Come out, donate, hear some angsty tunes, and buy your virtual self a t-shirt.

http://www.slrfl.com/

A few more details to fill in, some of them rather alarming, even to me: At last, after 17 years of trying to get someone other than me to give a flying shit about releasing something I've created, I'VE FOUND A LABEL.

I know, it's freaking me out, too. When I sent the new album in for consideration and received the comment, "you have a perverse disregard for expectations," and it was a COMPLIMENT, I knew I'd found a home. But because of said perversity and also to generate what we in the industry call "pre-buzz", I'm keeping the label's identity a secret for the moment. However, I can reveal that it is an independent label with many years of experience and its own perverse disregard for mass tastes.

What I can also reveal is that the album will come out in 2008, though the specific date is uncertain. It will be a co-release with my own label, Naïve Music, and will be available everywhere you can find my previous album, plus a few more places, I'll wager.

As far as the album itself is concerned, it's largely done. The recording is finished, as is the mixing, and it will be going to mastering very soon (we're moving house, or it'd already have gone). After that, I send the sucker to the label and wait for the arrival of a heavy box from the UPS guy.

Because I'm a picky sonofabitch and because I actually have a listener base this time around, I'm not putting up samples from the new record until it gets back from mastering. I want you to hear the finished product, with which I believe you will be very pleased, bearing in mind the aforementioned perverse disregard for expectations. Wait'll you hear my duet with Jay-Z on the third track. Actually, I think I may have just dreamed that...

More soon, thanks for hanging in there.

Though the details remain a tad murky, I am told that sometime between noon and 4PM on Saturday, April 19th, I will be playing onstage at a rally for Barack Obama in Fort Worth's Water Gardens downtown. If you like cranky acoustic pop with your politics, or if you like Mr. Obama, or if you don't like him but do like starting fights, this will be a perfect event. My old accomplice Jason "Shithead" Jackson will be there, and the Main Street Arts Festival will be in full swing right outside the gardens, so you really can't lose. Unlike certain other candidates. See? Think of the fun.

Mixing: Done

Mastering: Next

Looking at a summer release, I'll keep you posted...

Who doesn't like treehouses? Come enjoy the fine virtual treehouse/music venue at Artemesia this Thursday the 6th at 6PM SLT (Pacific time). Bring your own marbles, 'cause I ain't sharing.

http://www.secondlife.com/

My journey through the Second Life music scene has been varied and interesting. Along the way, I've been fortunate enough to find pillars to help prop my little cartoon computer guy up during my learning curve and keep me playing regularly, and from late 2006 to early 2007, Old Salt's Pub was the strongest.

I met many good friends and colleagues at Old Salt's, and learned a lot about the inworld scene. Sadly, I arrived one day to find it gone, a fate that descends upon many SL venues in this period of early adoption and envelope-pushing.

But lucky me (and you), for one day only, owner CaveCub Milk is going to rez Old Salt's for a very special reunion show this Sunday the 24th, and I've been invited to be on the bill. Expect to see some great players throughout the day who have since become SL mainstays, and don't forget your friend matthew's set at 3:30 PM SLT (Pacific time). IM Matthew Perreault or CaveCub Milk if you need a teleport to the venue, we'll be happy to help.

See you there.

http://www.secondlife.com/

In these dark days of winter, what could inspire someone to leave the comfort of their hobbit-holes?

O what?

How about good coffee and hot nerd pop?
Both will be on offer on Friday, February 15th at the venerable White Rock Coffee in Dallas. My dear friend and fellow cantankerous bastard Jason "Shithead" Jackson will open the proceedings at 8PM, followed by a certain honky who will take the stage from 9PM till whenever they kick him out.

Details here:

http://www.wrcoffee.com/
See you there.

(Okay, so technical difficulties sunk the SECOND appearance as well. New date is below, third time's the something or other...)
For those of you who haven't yet made the foray into Second Life, Thursday the 7th will be a great opportunity to peek in through a window.

I'll be making an appearance on the Second Life Cable Network that night at 6PM SLT (Pacific time), performing a half-hour set. The network broadcasts live from Second Life onto its website, where you can watch the show on your browser:

http://www.slcn.tv/
It'll be fun, and a good chance for you to see what you're missing. If you're inworld already, come out on Wednesday to my weekly Luxor show at 6PM SLT, it's a hoedown.

See you on the teevee.

Just a little send-off for 2007:

http://thematthewshowarchive.com/Letters/Letter1308.htm

I'll be doing a DFW radio double-shot this holiday week:

On Sunday the 23rd, the matthew show makes a return trip to the Good Show on Fort Worth's KTCU 88.7 FM. There'll be music, humbug, and fun for all ages, provided those ages are too old to be in bed by 7:30 and too young to be offended by newfangled nerd pop. I'll likely be on sometime between 9PM-11PM, Central time. If you're in FW, listen on the antenna, and if you're everywhere else, you can stream it:

http://www.ktcu.tcu.edu/
In addition, KERA 90.1 FM here in Dallas obviously hasn't learned their lesson, because they're letting me back on the air, this time for my cranky Christmas Eve commentary.

Not sure of the specific time, but it'll be during Morning Edition, which tends to run between 5AM & 7AM, repeating from 7AM to 9AM (Central time). If you're in the Dallas megalopolis, you can tune in the old fashioned way, or if you're elsewhere, you can stream it here:

http://www.kera.org/radio/
If you lean pro-Santa, you might want to cover the little ones' ears...

There you go. Total media saturation. I feel like Don Imus, only without the hoes.

UPDATE 1-2-08: The Good Show's got audio of my rather lengthy appearance up now:

http://goodshow.net/archives/002121.html
UPDATE 1-3-08: KERA's got my commentary up for your downloading convenience:

http://tinyurl.com/3cowmx