uglyredhonda

On Ticketmaster this morning (on sale later this week): Dec 11 - Ottawa, ON - National Arts Centre Dec 17 - Hamilton, ON - Hamilton Place Theatre Dec 18 - Toronto, ON - Massey Hall

It's a little bit confusing. One specific HM interview painted it as a suicide attempt, but then Matt later insisted it was just an accident, saying that he took more pills because he couldn't remember taking the previous doses. It became hard to tell if the the reporter was simply twisting the story or if it really was a suicide attempt (he seemed pretty specific about it being an accident).

And if you pre-order it from Amazon, it's normally better to order it from Amazon.ca regardless of where you live. Amazon's Import markup is a good bit more than their international shipping costs.

As of the time of this posting, there are more vinyls in the store. As always, no freaking out. Also... What's wrong with vibratto? Matt's voice is exceptional, and his vibratto is part of that. Is it that it's not "rock" or something?

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/Art....aspx?e=1717821 It cites the venue's website, so I'm thinking the 14th is probably the correct date. (I found another PDF on the Showplace's website that has it marked as the 14th.)

BC show is on the venue's events page (scroll down the right frame). According to the website, tickets go on sale September 18th at the venue's box office. Peterborough show is on the venue's announcement sheet for their Autumn/Winter schedule (PDF). However, the Peterborough sheet says it's actually on Dec 14th. An article quoting it said the 7th, so I'm not sure what's going on there.

A couple of dates have been announced so far: Nov 6 - Duncan, BC - Cowichan Theatre - www.cowichantheatre.bc.ca Dec 7 - Peterborough, ON - Showplace Theatre - www.showplace.org I'm assuming the whole tour will be posted soon (so maybe doing it piecemeal is kind of pointless).

/made by Matt in 2005

Anton hasn't chimed in yet, but if anyone does convert it to mp3, keep it off the boards. Matt would be furious (and justifiably so).

Just for no reason, a revision - I think there's an "are you" in front of it: "Are you smoking lots of grass and eating badly?" There's an exhale or one syllable something right before that, but that's way farther than I care(d) to get into it.

Okay, it's not a "reporter-sounding guy" - it's Matt. And, yeah, it's only in the US mix (at the 2:14 mark). I tried running a noise-reduction filter across it, and the best I can come up with is: "Smoking lots of grass and eating badly?" But it's too buried in the mix to pull it out completely. (It's definitely not "glad to be back?" though.)

I've now watched that bit ten times in a row (via a thirteen-year-old video tape) and I can't tell. It doesn't sound exactly like "Matthew Good Band" - it sounds more like "Matthew Bid Math" - she obviously mauls DMB before correcting herself. But play the odds. That episode aired in April of 1995. Most Vancouverites didn't know who the Matthew Good Band was in April of 1995 - if I'm not mistaken, CFOX didn't start playing "Alabama Motel Room" until that summer at the earliest. (I don't even think MGB had finished recording Astronauts by April of 1995.) And Courteney was living in L.A. taping "Friends" at that point. There's just no way.

The weird thing is that I checked ASCAP's database, and four people are credited with writing "Cry" - none related to MGB. Wow, did it take four people to write those lyrics? Off the top of my head, Geoff also has a credit for "Rico".

Did you remember to hire an acoustical engineer to work over your room first? Honestly, I'm pretty proud of what I've been able to accomplish with Cubase SE and a couple of SM-57's. (I should probably upgrade to Cubase 4, but I'm worried I'm too damn cheap. Have you had good luck with it?)

Unfortunately, I think they also only ship to the US and Canada. Jason - unless you go with Indigo/Chapters, I think you're stuck until either Amazon.ca or MapleMusic get copies in stock (unless you can find a copy on Ebay). All of the places I can think of only ship to Canada and/or the US (including the US-based "import" stores). Amazon.ca annoyed the crap out of me. I actually pre-ordered from there (they had the best price at the time). Yesterday, they simply changed the listing to "Currently Unavailable" - no email, no warning, all of the "Shipping on" dates for my order stayed the same. (I assume they just didn't get any in stock.) I cancelled it and reordered with CDPlus.

In order for May's deal with Dion to work (that a Liberal wouldn't run against her), she probably had to pick a riding that had an incumbent Tory and wasn't competitive for the Liberals. Otherwise, it's lose-lose for the Liberals. I have a feeling that any riding that met those two conditions would be all but unwinnable for a Green Party candidate. It's got to be weird going from national attention (with the positive notes she got after the debates) to complete political irrelevance within the span of a week and a half. Dion's a smart guy. He'd do well for the party if he could focus on their efforts in Quebec.

I think McCain's stuck with Palin. The only save for him would be her voluntarily dropping off the ticket (which, given her personality, I doubt she could be convinced to do). It would have to be portrayed as her decision. Otherwise, it's an admission that he made a mistake. The Democrats would rip him apart because it would call his judgement into question. And, honestly, I can't imagine anyone but Guiliani accepting it in such a scenario (only because I can't imagine him running again after his disaster of a campaign). Every other notable Republican wouldn't want to tarnish their reputation (ie, future running) by associating themselves with a campaign in this much turmoil. The other problem is that McCain would lose the super-conservative / wingnut part of the base, which he has to have to win. They've never liked McCain; Palin is motivating that group. Even if Palin dropped voluntarily, he'd have to find someone that appeals to the wingnuts and to the moderates. And, at this point, I really don't think that person exists. But, at the moment, Palin is "helping" to some degree. She's the one levelling the charges that the campaign wants to level but that McCain doesn't want to level himself. It's two-faced, and, fortunately, he's starting to get called on it.

Not sure why this was bumped (I assume davidw needed some NF$), but "All Together" was officially released on iTunes as the bonus track on In a Coma. If anyone actually bought the track there (seemed like an easy choice - $25 for "All Together" on iTunes or $25 for the bonus DVD of videos at the store), they never shared it out. Matt intended for it to appear on the hard copy of In a Coma, but he realized it wouldn't fit once he'd finished the recordings for Rooms (disc two). I tried asking him after the Kitchener show in June if he could put "All Together" on iTunes as a separate track, but I'm not sure I got the words out right. (I assume he'd have to get Universal to do it, if they'd even be willing.)

I was a little bummed when I received my signed In a Coma from MapleMusic. It was the MG, but it looked like either the pen was running dry or it'd gotten smudged off inside the package. It didn't look much like an MG. I was still psyched, though, only because I figured I'd never have the chance to meet him. (More than that, I never thought I'd see him live, given how flat-broke I was at the time.) Since then, I've lucked out and caught him at the bus after shows a couple of times. I asked him to sign an AOB booklet (from a limited edition) in Kitchener this year. I got the MG again (he was in a hurry given how many people were waiting), but it was better. (I'm still kicking myself for not grabbing HM out of the car before looking for the bus in St Catharines last fall - barely any people found the bus, so there was more time to hang out.) I really prefer the in-person signing - relating the story of how and when it was signed is a great bonus. The most illegible signature I've ever gotten was from the lead singer of Everclear (Art Alexakis). It's his whole name, but it's almost impossible to recognize a single letter of it. (It looks like back and forth scribbling.)

iTunes doesn't do it to try to force you to buy the album. All songs over ten minutes in length are "album only" on iTunes. (Most other tracks marked "album only" on iTunes are bonus tracks.) I like that the iTunes preview of "Strange Days" has "shit" in it.

And it was. But live albums aren't counted as "albums" in most major label contracts. Neither are greatest hits. Most contracts are something like "seven albums, plus a live album, a b-sides album, and a greatest hits". (That's exactly what Pearl Jam's was with Sony/Epic, which they fulfilled to the letter. They never renewed it or renegotiated it, which is actually unusual for major label acts.) Keep note of Radiohead's recent best-of - it was part of their contract, despite the fact that they had already released In Rainbows on another label. Radiohead had already finished their last EMI album - and EMI didn't need their permission or involvement to release the GH. (Radiohead had a live album on EMI: I Might Be Wrong - Live Recordings.) I'm not saying categorically that Universal is releasing this. For all I know, it could be MapleMusic (or another indie label), and they simply don't want to cannibalize CD sales. It's just my own observation: the delay suggests that someone else has a say in its release. It seems like it if it were Matt making the call by himself, it would be released in its entirety worldwide on the same day, and the limited edition CDs would be released later. (While I'm making that assumption - that doesn't mean I'm right.) I can't imagine that most indie labels would care enough about selling CDs to force the pre-sale, and I doubt Matt would, either. It just feels like a major label move. It may not be. It just seems odd, is all.

I'm starting to wonder if this is actually a Universal release, perhaps a remaining piece of the old contract. (A lot of major label contracts in the US stipulate x number of albums plus a greatest hits and a live album.) The iTunes differences is what's throwing the flag. Matt controls international distribution of his Universal albums, which is how he's been able to make them available worldwide through iTunes. (BM in the US is messed up because of the deal with Atlantic.) I wouldn't think he would mind having it coming out early in its entirety on iTunes, especially since he was talking about an online-only EP. I don't know - maybe its an indie label wanting to guarantee that some CDs get sold. But it feels like Universal's back there somewhere. (Artists choosing not to be involved in the mixing process of a release often whispers "contractual obligation", but that might not be the case here. The reasons Matt gave for staying out of it make sense as well.)

I understand his deleting the mp3s, but I almost wish he'd leave the dialogue up. (Or maybe save it up and repost it once the album's done.) The process of his songwriting is interesting, with or without the files. (At the moment, the "Dam Broke" article is still in Google's cache.) Was this just up last night? I think it's the first one I didn't get to hear - I've been lucky thus far that he tends to post them in the mid-afternoon. (I caught the other three versions of this song.) After reading his posts, I almost wonder what would happen if he had the chance to nurse his songs for a while. (Not that I'd encourage that - I think I like the fact that he writes quickly.) I tend to let my songs gestate for long periods of time (mainly because I have no impetus for recording them), and I'm always surprised by the nuances that arrive between the first scratch recording (just so I don't forget the song) and months (if not years) later when the song is actually finished. I could really relate to this part of the "Dam Broke" post: "And then I had a bit of a revelation, of a melody not present that had been in my head [but] not translated properly." Not that he regularly has problems with that, but translating songs from head to guitar (or piano) is easily the most frustrating part of the process for me. The worst part is not being able to find it, then realizing that you have to be somewhere - and that you'll probably forget the song before you get home. (Fortunately, the good ones seem to come back again and again.)

This is the wrong way to get a song on the MG Tribute.

Ahh, Christ. He rewrote the post and expanded on it. What the hell is wrong with those people?