Just Look At The Lake! Studio Version!

I’ve been doing a bit of recording this week and I’m pretty close to being done with a studio version of “Just Look At The Lake!”

You can hear it on the little music player that is on the right side of the page underneath my photo.

You can also hear it on the music player on the Ukulele Sunshine page. The last thing I added to the recording late last night was the ukulele and I love what it does for the song! I’m not sure how many other Lake Superior songs there are featuring an ukulele but if it works for the ocean, why not for the Big Lake?

Enjoy the day!
Matt

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Just Look At The Lake!

I wrote a new song today about my favorite part of our still relatively new home of Duluth, MN.

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Positive Music Association

I’m thrilled and honored to be a part of a wonderful organization called the Positive Music Association!

From the Positive Music Association’s website:

“The Positive Music Association (PMA) is a professional trade organization dedicated to expanding and promoting all styles of music expressing universal, life-affirming messages.”

Since the theme of my music is, “The Fun Side of Life” and to me, that theme means enjoying yourself and living life to the fullest, I thought it was a good fit with the values of the Positive Music Association. Luckily for me, they thought so too! I feel very fortunate to be included and to be a part of such a great group of people and musicians!

So if you are looking for a fantastic place to find musicians from all sorts of genres creating, writing and performing music with wonderful messages, the Positive Music Association-(click) is that place!

Enjoy the day!
Matt

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My “New” Guitar

I’ll have a “new” guitar with me this weekend. It’s really quite far from new but I have never performed with it so in that way, it is new.

It’s a 1967 Gibson C1 Classical guitar. There is a wonderful story behind this guitar. Many years ago I was at my parents’ house and my dad had a friend over. They asked me to play a few songs so I did. My dad’s friend got quite emotional and said that his brother used to play. His brother had passed away several years earlier and he said listening to me reminded him of hearing his brother play.

He told me that he had an old guitar of his brother’s and he wanted me to have it. I was quite moved by his story and touched by the generous offer. I told him that if that’s really what he wanted, I would give it a good home.

That was a Saturday night. The following Monday he met me back up and my parents’ house and gave me his brother’s guitar. This super cool old Gibson! It was in pretty tough shape. The strings were of course shot, the finish was all checked, some of the tuners were (still are) bent and the bridge was coming off of the guitar.

I took it in and had it fixed up, got a new bridge and a new nut, had the neck reset and put some strings on it. It’s come with me as I’ve moved around over the last couple of years and every once in a while, I’ll get it out and strum a few songs.

Yesterday I pulled a pickup out of one of my guitars. I was going to try and sell the pickup when I came up with a plan. What if I put the pickup in the old Gibson? Could I play that on stage? That would be so great!

So today I got out my tools, poured some coffee and got to work. The install was a success and this old Gibson sounds fantastic! I spent quite a while with this guitar today, just thrilled to finally have him stage-ready! I feel like I’m finally doing this guitar justice and I’m honored to have it and I can’t wait to play it live! What a treat!

So there you have it! Just thought I’d share the story behind this great old guitar.

Enjoy the day!
Matt

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P90x = Surgery = A New Song

(scroll down to the bottom if you just want the song!)

My plans for the summer took an interesting turn this week. In March I started a workout program called P90x. They call it, “extreme home fitness.” And it is! Tons of pull ups, push ups, abdominal exercises, dumbbells and core training. Most of the workouts are about an hour long and then three days a week you add 15 more minutes of ab exercises, the yoga video is 90 minutes and you do this 6 days a week. On the 7th day you can either rest or do the hour long stretching video.

It’s a very difficult workout but the results have been or at least had been wonderful. I had just started my 10th week and I had lost quite a bit of weight and trimmed off a lot of body fat. I was continually delighted and surprised that each week I could lift more weight, do more reps and do more push ups and pull ups than I could the week before. In short it works and I highly recommend it! If you do what it says and keep doing your best, you will get in great shape.

However…..I guess I got a little extreme with my “extreme home fitness.” I found out Wednesday morning that i have an inguinal hernia. I know I’m certainly not the first person to hurt myself working out but it’s disappointing to damage my body doing something that was supposed to be good for me. But it’s not all that surprising. I had a doctor tell me during a physical years ago that I had some inherent weakness in this area and that there was a pretty good chance that I would have this problem somewhere down the line. But that was years ago. I had forgotten about it and I was busy pushing myself and since I kept getting stronger and leaner, I just kept right on going.

So now, not only do I have to give up P90x just 2 and half weeks shy of completing the program, an inguinal hernia doesn’t heal on its own and requires surgery to repair the tear and then about a 4 – 6 week recovery period with no lifting or strenuous activity. Bummer!

Certainly not the summer I imagined! I was super excited about our first summer in Duluth, spending tons of time outside, chasing Eric around the yard and around the various playgrounds. Hitting the bike and running trails and of course a busy summer of outdoor music.

Now what? Basically, I don’t know. I don’t know when I’ll have the surgery nor do I know what I’ll be able to do afterward. I know I won’t be able to lift much. I’m not planning on canceling any shows. I’ll use my little baby Bose system as much as possible (Bose L1 Compact) I might have to sit down and play and maybe get some help with set up and tear down but I’m hoping the shows will go on!

In thinking of all this it dawned on me that it is a perfect time to share this new song I wrote a couple of weeks ago. It’s called, “Rolling Along,” and it’s about realizing that things that seem bad can turn out to be good and things that seem good can turn out to be not as good. It’s about realizing that not everything needs to be judged and put into the categories of good and bad and sometimes it’s best to just roll along with life and accept that things are the way they are.

Hope you enjoy it! Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

-Matt

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Outdoor Music Season!

I feel like the outdoor music season is upon us! I'm down at the Barley Club in Eau Claire tomorrow night at 6pm and to me, the Barley Club always means summer! Then it's Memorial Day weekend and the outdoor music kicks into high gear! I"m not wearing pants until October! I do promise to have shorts on though! :)

Enjoy the day!
Matt

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Spring is Here!….Wait, It’s Snowing!!

For two weeks in a row there has been a day in the upper 60’s if not lower 70’s where I was grilling out in shorts and flip-flops only to have it snow later in the week! It’s nuts!

In honor of those going through this weird spring/snow cycle, I posted another new ukulele song on my ukulele page called, “A Sunny Place.”

Visit the Ukulele Sunshine page (Ukulele Sunshine link in the menu bar above) to hear it and here’s wishing everyone a sunny place!

Matt

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Another Day, Another New Ukulele Song!

I’ve added a couple of new ukulele songs to the .mp3 player on the Ukulele Sunshine page!

It’s fun to hear these again. I started recording these songs when we were in Northern Virginia but stopped almost a year ago when we found out we were moving here to Duluth. With the move, the house, the summer schedule, Eric, a trip for the holidays, my Florida tour, etc. recording got put on the back burner until now.

The first one I posted, “Ukulele Sunshine,” I started from scratch. The other two, “Walk With Me Through Forever” and “Somewhere In The Sun” were done in Virginia and just needed a few things here and there. Now I’m not saying they are done yet but they are getting close enough to come out in public! 🙂 Hopefully there will be more to come soon.

Enjoy the day!
Matt

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New Ukulele Page!

I haven’t had as much time to work on the new site as I had hoped but it’s coming along. I’m learning a lot about web site building/design and Word Press. It’s a lot of fun!

I just created a new page today that will be completely devoted to the ukulele. I started playing the ukulele in December of 2009 and it didn’t take me long to add it to my live shows but it’s too new to show up on any of my CDs.

I have enough songs for a new CD so I guess it’s time to get to work! I started yesterday and recorded the first song I wrote on the ukulele called “Ukulele Sunshine.” That’s sort of my ukulele theme song!

If you look at the menu bar above you’ll find a page called Ukulele Sunshine. If you visit that page you’ll be able to hear some rough mixes of some new songs as I finish them.

Enjoy the day!
Matt

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New Website!

Hey There!

I’m going to be redoing my website over the next couple of days, weeks, months…. so there will just be the basics, contact info, tour dates, etc. until I get up and running.

Meanwhile, you can always find me on Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and my favorite, my Fun Side of Life Video Page!

More to come!

Enjoy the day!

Matt

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