No, I'm kidding. But doubleplus cool points to anyone who can tell me where that reference comes from. It's obscure, even for me.
But as of Christmas Eve, I have taken the leap no one, including myself, thought I ever would. I've asked Lindsey Grites for her hand in marriage, and she said yes. We're shooting for the Spring of 2009 in order to give us ample time to get our respective career situations in order.
It's with a heavy heart that I announce that I'm no longer associated with Cheap Date. This decision is the end result of 18 months of internal wrangling and a boatload of frustration. When it came down to it, though, the actual decision itself was one of the easiest things I've ever done.
I have not had many dreams in my life, simply because I don't put many artificial barriers in my way to doing the things I really want to do. But a dream that I have nurtured since the age of 12 was to be the lead singer of a rock band. Through middle and high school, there were several aborted attempts to make it happen, but nothing ever got off the ground. By college, I'd immersed myself in a bunch of other interests, and singing on the karaoke circuit was enough for me.
On February 18, 2005, however, the dream very unexpectedly and suddenly came true. I was recruited to be a singer/keyboardist in Cheap Date, a band I had been a fan of ever since I turned 21. From there, things took off. We spent the summer playing 3 gigs a week, in places from the Sovereign Bank Arena to the Jersey Shore to Philadelphia. We were drawing big crowds everywhere, on the verge of popping, and I had visions of leaving my government job to play out with my buddies for a living.
2006 came along and everything changed. Jeff (lead singer) and Billy (guitarist) left, both owing to pending fatherhood, so it was completely understandable. I took over as business manager and lead singer, we got two new guitarists, and I was poised to finally go full throttle with promoting the hell out of the band and doing whatever possible to make sure we made it. But the new lineup just didn't have the punch or the chemistry of the old one, and certainly not the longevity. We went through 5 different guitarists in 2006, and an 80s metal singer who refused to learn the words to our songs and had no interest in picking up new ones that weren't monster jams was somehow deemed a better candidate for lead singer than I was. Every single bit of momentum was lost, and we took three steps back in quality for every two we took forward. We went from playing 12 gigs a month to playing 2 at the most.
This all could have just been a storm to weather for me, though, but for the utter humiliation of doing business when I couldn't wrangle my men to act professionally. I got us into 12 new venues during my full court press as business manager, and not a single one would bring us back for a second gig. My bandmates would start the show 20 minutes late, play 40 minute sets and take 30 minute breaks. Our lack of drawing power and inability to get our friends out to the shows meant that we would sometimes perform for no one but the regulars at our venues. I was sued when a girl attending one of our shows broke her leg tripping over our equipment and the venue had no insurance.
Needless to say, as great as 2005 was, that's how bad 2006 was for the band. I truly wanted nothing more than to leave, when suddenly, Dave the 80s metal guy up and left, and I was again promoted to lead singer. Around the same time, we were booked to play at Lincoln Financial Field for the October 2006 Eagles/Cowboys game. It was the greatest show of my life, and one of my fondest memories ever.
A pattern began to emerge where every time I would think about leaving, something would happen that would convince me to stay a little longer and ride out the storm. But after another year of no forward momentum, Jeff returning to reassume the lead singer slot, and our gigs being reduced to playing in a single venue once a month, I've had enough. This is the prime of my performing life; in 5-10 years there is no possible way I will be able to compete with younger and better-looking frontmen for the premium spots. I need a project with guys as young and as hungry as I am, guys without familial commitments, and something with people who want to write original music and rise above the narrow regional niches that cover bands get carved into.
So that's that. I'm now officially a free agent in search of a new project. We'll see where I end up landing.
Bad news...my kickass, state-of-the-art cell phone that was the envy of all grew wings and disappeared.
Good news...Pack rat that I am, I still had the phone from before I upgraded to the doubleplus supercool phone, and Cingular was more than happy to transfer my account to it. So I still have a phone, as well as the same phone number, and if I ever find my beyond-all-previously-attained-levels of-coolness phone, I can switch the SIM card right back to it at no additional charge.
Bad news...With my defying-all-descriptions-that-adjectives-can-provide phone went my SIM card, which means I now have no one's phone number handy. And yes, I am one of those people who relies exclusively on electronic record retrieval, so I don't have anyone's number written down anywhere.
Bottom line...if you would like me to have your phone number or any means of getting in touch with you whatsoever, I'm going to need you to send it to me, either via e-mail or through a reply to this post.
So I saw Spiderman 3 in the IMAX theater at the King of Prussia mall Friday night. It was my first ever non-nature film/school field trip film experience in an IMAX theater, and let me tell you, I had no idea what I was missing. Everything just jumps right off the screen at you. As for the movie itself…wow. I have never seen a single film that swung back and forth on the coolness/cheese pendulum as this one did.
All in all, a single movie that should have been two. It tries to do way too much with what it has the running time for, very expertly holds it together for two hours, and then falls apart in the last thirty minutes. Its visuals are very impressive and the action sequences top-notch. If you’re anything like me, you will love the movie, but hate just about everyone in it by the end. Three stars out of five.
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - The SUV carrying Gov. Jon S. Corzine was traveling about 91 mph moments before it crashed, Superintendent of State Police Col. Rick Fuentes said Tuesday.
The governor was critically injured when the vehicle crashed into a guardrail on the Garden State Parkway just north of Atlantic City last week. He apparently was not wearing his seat belt as he rode in the front passenger's seat.
The speed limit along that stretch of the parkway is 65 mph.
The state trooper-driven sport utility vehicle was in the left lane with its emergency lights flashing when a pickup tried to get out of its way. Instead, it set off a chain reaction that resulted in the crash.
Corzine's list of injuries was extensive: He broke his left thigh bone, a dozen ribs, collarbone and chest bone. He also fractured a vertebrae in his lower back.
He remains in critical but stable condition Tuesday and doctors were assessing when he might be ready to breathe without a ventilator.
Doctors have said he doesn't have brain damage or paralysis, and is doing well for someone who sustained so many injuries.
After 66 years, Marvel has decided to lay to rest one of the most endearing symbols in all of comicdom by taking out Captain America. And I can't help but wonder if, in the end, it isn't just another symbol of the United States' slow descent towards the way of the Roman Empire.
NOTE: All non-comic book fans (closeted or otherwise) take heed: there's a lot of unapologetic geekiness about to be espoused (I think this may leave only Lynne to enjoy the exposition). But I'll get to my point sooner than you know it.
Captain America was unique among the realm of comic book characters not only for his longevity, but the fact that his character stayed exactly the same throughout the entire run of this publication without getting stale. To examine it is to understand why.
Among the Marvel universe, Captain America wasn't particularly special. He had no superhuman powers, he could get sick and injured just like any other man, and wore the single most conspicuous costume this side of Liberace. The Super Soldier Serum he took to become a viable candidate for service in World War II merely increased his size, strength, speed, and agility to the peak of human conditioning, levels he had to train religiously in order to maintain. And that is where his effectiveness always shone through.
Captain America's most valuable asset was as a symbol. He represented the very embodiment of devotion: to himself, God, and his country. He was the Nietzschean ideal of a man all wrapped up in the Stars and Stripes. In all of comicdom, there is no figure that inspires more awe and reverence among their peers. Captain America could inspire any living being with even a smidgen of goodness inside them to do just about anything. He led a strike force of all of Marvel's heroes against Thanos (who had attained power over all the forces of the universe) in the Infinity Gauntlet saga and came within a hairsbreadth of beating him. Thor, the freaking Norse god of thunder, deferred to his every order in the field. Throughout almost seven decades of plot contrivances, megalomaniacal villains, and universe-threatening crises, there was never a situation that was hopeless when Captain America was on your side.
And perhaps that is the exact reason why he had to die. Captain America represented unwavering truth and righteousness and a belief that with enough goodness in the world, everything would work out for the best. These ideals are completely lost on the 21st century and its moral equivalency, jadedness, and acceptance of social ills as a part of life. This was not Captain America, and it was never going to be. If he compromised even one of his values just once, he wouldn't really be Captain America anymore. His belief in defending traditional American values was so strong that he was willing to stand against the entire country when it went against them in the Civil War crossover. Nowadays, no one takes stands like that on principle anymore. All people do is compromise because they think that's how things get done.
So, Captain America became a quaint relic, admired but dismissed as passe. Look how he was killed off: not in some grand epic battle with a supervillain, but quietly, from the shadows, from the distance, by a bullet from a sniper. Almost like the Greatest Generation quietly fading away into obscurity while the Baby Boomers perpare to flop themselves onto the public dole and become the the same loud, cranky, self-centered bunch they are now, but with the added benefit of Social Security cards. And it's a shame, too. If there were ever a time the real world could use someone like Captain America, a shot in the arm of old-fashioned concepts of truth, liberty, and the will to combat evil when it arises to take you on, it most certainly is now.
I was cruising the internet and came across this picture of a dead ringer for my old Bessie. I think Lynne, Becky, Casey, Kerrie, Laura, Lindsay, and Stef are the only ones on my friends list that remember riding around in my dearly departed companion before she left me two years ago to this day. I mourn her like a member of my own family. She was a great lady...got insanely jealous when I drove other cars and would let me know it, but when I treated her right, she always brought me home.
This guy is the single biggest disgrace of a district attorney to come down the pike in a long time. DNA evidence exonerates every single Duke lacrosse player and shows that the stripper had sex with three different men since her last change of clothes, and not only does he decide to pursue the case anyway, but convinces the medical examiner to not report it, all to garner the Durham black vote in an election. AND HE STILL HASN'T DROPPED THE CASE! The stripper gets her college education paid in full and will get a small fine for filing a false police report, and the three guys who had actual FUTURES get kicked out of college and will have that arrest and the stigma of being charged with rape follow them around the rest of their lives.
This would be funnier if it weren't so friggin' true. Disbar Mike Nifong now.
So I just scored the business deal of a lifetime: Cheap Date is going to be playing the big pre-game tailgate party at LINCOLN FINANCIAL FIELD for the biggest game of the year: the October 8th home game versus the Dallas Cowboys!
AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
I thought opening up for ZZ Top at the Sovereign Bank Arena was huge. Now we're going to be playing in the parking lot of the friggin' Link! Thousands of rowdy Eagles fans downing
Now, for all my South Jersey people, if you've wanted an opportunity to see what this new rock star lifestyle of mine is all about, I cannot stress enough that this is the best and most fun venue you could possibly show up to.
The party is being thrown by Smokin' Dave, a professional tailgate party organizer. This guy is at the top of the industry, and has been featured on many Philly-area TV and print news segments.
This party is going to be absolutely off the hook. You know you want to be there.
So I was freaking out earlier this week because I had a fever and sore throat that wasn't responding to my typical regiment of leave it alone and let my body's superhuman immune system that eliminates these things almost instantaneously handle it. Yesterday morning, my fever's gone, but my sore throat is more excruciating than ever, and all of the sudden I have these sores all over the roof of my mouth. Turns out it's hand, foot, and mouth disease. Yeah, that one. The one our parents all used to get when they were seven years old. Ironic, isn't it? The man who can't stand kids and spends as little time around them as possible picks up an infectious bacteria spread primarily by kids. But apparently, there's a rather significant outbreak of it in Mercer County right now, so there's a million and one places that adults who didn't have it as kids can pick it up. Because really, it's the impulse of any given child to TOUCH EVERYTHING, isn't it?
Lovely. So through no fault of my own, I get to be in blistering pain and not be able to swallow anything for a week.
People, it's time to unleash the cold hard slap of common sense. If someone calls your cell phone and you see that you have a missed call and a voicemail, LISTEN TO THE DAMN VOICEMAIL BEFORE YOU CALL BACK! Why would someone bother leaving you a detailed message if they could just give it to you when you see the missed call from them? I am so sick of having someone call me back and having the conversation go like this:
Me: Hey. Other Person: Hey. [pause] Other Person: You called me? Me: Yeah, did you get my message. Other Person: Nope. What's up? Me: [sighs and exasperatingly repeats what has already been said]
If it were just an annoying habit of one of my friends, I wouldn't think anything of it. But it seems like almost everyone I know does it. And I just want to slap and shake them sometimes.
OK, seriously now. This is Matt Weeks, straight from the heart here. Very rarely do I engage in any "help a brotha out" scenarios, since it's very rare that any "brotha" affords me ANY courtesy whatsoever when it comes to matters relating to women. But as a fellow website designer, I feel for this guy when his girl started questioning his innate knowledge of how stupid websites can generate tons of traffic while substantive ones with practical applications -- DrinkHunter.com -- go unheeded. So help this guy win his bet and fulfill the dream of red-blooded men everywhere, and who knows? You might get the chance to pull something like this off yourself some day.
The Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Six has been a very ugly one, to say the least. Life is finally back on track, or at least on some reasonable facsimile thereof. But it’s still a bumpy road moving forward.
I’ve faced difficulty and challenges before. It’s a natural part of life, and it always brings out the best in me. But never before had I begun to seriously question my self-worth like I had in the past month. Unemployment was a big part of it, but unemployment on its own would have given me no cause for depression. In fact, I was positively giddy when it happened. I reaped a huge cash windfall from it and had the time to accomplish a lot of things with my free time, including learning to play the bass and professionally edit video. What killed me was the fact that, for a month, I couldn’t get an interview anywhere. I know in the grand scheme of things, it isn’t that long of a period of time. But when I spent every day waiting for the phone to ring, it sure seemed like a lot. I can’t even imagine how guys stay out of work for months or years. I’d kill myself out of boredom and frustration.
As anyone who’s been privy to my friends-only entries knows, I’m now a single man again. I’d love to say that I saw the signs well in advance like I normally do, but the fact of the matter is that it hit me completely out of the blue. Similarly, I’d love to articulate my feelings on the matter in some grand biting string of wit culminating in a verbal thrashing to rival Beverly Garland’s dressing down of the giant space potato in It Conquered the World (yes, I am and will always remain a full-blown movie geek), but the simple fact of the matter is that, with the possible exception of how the end was handled, I can’t say anything against the lady. She was great to me, and now she’s not here anymore. That’s the whole of it. I don’t entirely understand it, but the circumstances are what they are, and unnecessarily concerning myself with them would not be helpful at all, so I try to do it as little as possible.
Internal strife in the band has caused our guitarist to take off. Whether he knows it or understands it, despite his offense not being against me, he too has rejected me by walking out. The past year as part of the band was without any hyperbole the best of my life. It’s become so much a part of my being that my personality is inextricably linked with the band.
All of these things on their own I could rise above. Piled on top of one another over the course of a month, though, it really caused me to question my worth. I felt useless on so many different levels that, for a while, I saw no reason to get out of bed during the day other than to use the bathroom. Even as a teenager I never got into that kind of funk. It was an entirely new experience to not have a purpose, as a man or as a laborer.
Fortunately, the band has a new lineup, and I have a new job (both of which I enjoy immensely). The woman issue hasn’t been resolved to my satisfaction, but as long-term students of the History of Matt Weeks are aware, I’m well aware of asexualizing myself for a very long time. I’m not entirely concerned on that angle. But the thing that has best served to motivate me lately came from a source entirely unrelated to any of those threads.
I recently caused a stir by wearing a T-shirt with the controversial Mohammed Bomber caricature on it to one of my performances. Everyone who commented on it loved it, but suggested that I ought to be careful who I wear it around. Why is that, exactly? Because the element of the Islamic culture that makes it onto the evening news are the savage and easily offended sects that have admittedly killed more than 45 people so far over the cartoon? Who really is going to pick a fight with me over my wearing a provocative image on my chest? Do I pick fights with guys who wear Che Guevara shirts (authoritarian socialism being the single most offensive of all ideologies to me) or women who wear those “Boys Are Stupid, Throw Rocks at Them” shirts (mocking my most fundamental of all beliefs that bludgeoning people with ballistic igneous missiles from God is NOT okay)?
Come on. That was funny. Admit it.
It did get me to thinking, though. Why do I feel compelled to provoke like that? Why do I ask feminists if they want to trade soufflé recipes? Why do I engage in racial banter with my State Trooper friends? Why do I ridicule the notion that children have any intrinsic value whatsoever?
The simple answer is, of all the things I love in life, right at the top of the list is taking people and concepts who take themselves or are taken way too seriously and knocking them down a few pegs. I’m an iconoclast, through and through. Of all the things that may change about me in my jobs, girlfriends, or artistic achievements, I’ll always have that basic core of my being.
You have to do what you love in order to be fulfilled in life. You will never see me apologizing for taking that philosophy to the extreme, no matter whose delicate sensibilities it may offend. Unfortunately, I’ve been putting that element of my personality on the backburner for a while. The good news is, it’s never too late to get it back.
Enter the Whiskey-Fueled Iconoclast. I thought it sounded good...
Here's why I never put faith in academicians. I wrote an e-mail inquiring about picking up two courses that I sent yesterday morning:
Dr. xxxxx,
I was one of the 62 employees of the Governor's Office laid off by the incoming administration. I suddenly find myself in the position of not being limited in the amount of classes I can take per semester, and have come to the conclusion that it would be best to pick up two more classes and graduate now rather than in the summer or fall. I have already taken:
Public Policy Formation Economics and Public Policy State and Local Public Finance Mass Media, Public Opinion, and Public Policy Data Analysis American Social Policy
I am registered for Negotiation and Conflict Resolution and Ethics in Public Policy already this semester. With Negotiation counting for my Analysis and Evaluation course, if I pick up:
34:833:525. Decision Making for Public Policy 34:970:501. History and Theory of Planning
Will that be sufficient for me to graduate?
Read it carefully, count up the number of courses...
Here's her e-mail back:
Dear Matthew --
In reviewing your file, if you took the courses identified below, your credits accumulated would equal 27. The MPAP requires 30 credits. Did you take Ethics in fall '05? Did you take two or three courses in the fall?
So she either can't do simple math or couldn't be bothered to give anything but a cursory glance to my e-mail. I'm not even going to write her back; that's just either rude, sad, or both.
Oh yeah, and I'm newly unemployed. Not sure if I can or should talk about it publicly, so if you want details, IM me.
This is my letter to Rumple Minze's parent company regarding possible sponsorship for Cheap Date. Something about it just doesn't give me the usual satisfied feeling I get when I write a letter though. It needs improvement somewhere, and I can't for the life of me figure out where.
Curious about how I spend my nights but don't have the time or the inclination to actually come out and see for yourselves? Here's a nice 8-minute clip of Cheap Date in concert at the Speakeasy Bar in Belleville, NJ. The sound quality is really rough; I still have to pare it down significantly. But I know you all want to see it anyway.
1) Was 2005 a good year for you? Without a doubt, the greatest year of my life
2) What was your favorite moment of the year? On February 18th, I joined the rock band Cheap Date, fulfilling a dream I've had since I was 10 years old. The experience of being a part fo the band has been all uphill from there, but nothing will top that moment of receiving the invitation.
3) What was your least favorite moment of the year? The confrontation with Marc Anthony Palombo, when Ireceived my first official serious death threat.
4) Where were you when 2005 began? Katmandu
5) Who were you with? The infamous New Year's Girl and her cohorts, one of whom has since become a good friend
6) Where will you be when 2005 ends? At Nancy's friend's house party
7) Who will you be with when 2005 ends? The lovely Nancy and her colleagues
8) Did you keep your New Years resolution of 2005? Nope
9) Do you have a New Years resolution for 2006? I have vowed that Cheap Date will put out an original album by the time we go on tour this summer, even if I have to finance the entire thing myself. We currently have 4 songs written, with 7-8 to go.
10) Did you fall in love in 2005? Nope
11) If yes, with who? N/A
12) If yes, do they know? N/A
13) Are you still in love with them? N/A
14) You regret it? N/A
15) Did you break-up with anyone in 2005? I'm always the dumpee, not the dumper
16) Did you make any new friends in 2005? Oh my goodness, this has been a wonderful year for new friends.
17) Who are your favorite new friends? The boys in Cheap Date, the wonderful Miss Teresa, the venerable Sue, and the lovely Nancy
18) What was your favorite month of 2005? June, Sovereign Bank Arena show...nuff said
19) Did you travel outside of the USA in 2005? Never have
20) How many different states did you travel to in 2005? Pennsylvania for gigs and New York City
21) Did you lose anybody close to you in 2005? Jimbo Malone...RIP
22) Did you miss anybody in the past year? Yes
23) What was your favorite movie that you saw in 2005? A History of Violence
24) What was your favorite song from 2005? Weezer - Perfect Situation
25) What were your favorite albums from 2005? Collective Soul - Youth and Nine Inch Nails - With Teeth
25b) What was your favorite book from 2005? Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk
26) How many concerts did you see in 2005? Andrea Bocelli at Madison Square Garden and way too many local band shows to count
27) Did you have a favorite concert in 2005? The Hurricane Benefit concert at the Ivy Tavern, produced by none other than Yours Truly
28) Did you drink a lot of alcohol in 2005? Less than 2004, to be sure
29) Did you do a lot of drugs in 2005? No drugs ever
30) How many people did you sleep with in 2005? Less than I'd care to admit
31) Did you do anything you are ashamed of this year? Of course
33) What was the worst lie someone told you in 2005? "I have a very high alcohol tolerance." -- Inquire for details
34) Did you treat somebody badly in 2005? I'm treating someone badly right now
35) Did somebody treat you badly in 2005? Many, but it rolls off the back at this point
36) Favorite quote of 2005? "Dean, where are we going to find a midget at this time of night?" - Me
37) How much money did you spend in 2005? Surprisingly little...a lack of girlfriends will do that...
38) What was your proudest moment of 2005? Playing at the Sovereign Bank Arena in front of 3,000 screaming Titans fans
39) What was your most embarrassing moment of 2005? Actually falling for the perpetrator of the answer to Question 33
40) If you could go back in time to any moment of 2005 and change it what would it be? Never getting involved in the business that brought about the answer to Questions 3 and 33
41) What are your plans for 2006? Writing music, getting my Master's, finishing the DrinkHunter database
Go to your Calendar and find the first entry for each month of 2005. Post the first line of it in your journal, and that's your "Year In Review".
january - "So I ended up going to Katmandu last night, and it was definitely worth every penny of the admission price."
february - "This probably won't interest most of you, unless you're fans of my writing to begin with."
march - "Yargh. So thinks aren't quite working out like I had originally thought. On many counts."
april - "I just want it on record right here and now that if, God forbid, I'm ever in a medical state where I require constant artificial means to sustain my life, or if I ever suffer brain damage the types of which leaves me incapable of managing my own affairs, not only would I want to not have my life artifically extended, but I want my death to be hastened if at all possible."
may - "This started out as a comment in one of my friend's MySpace profiles, and got to be so long and convoluted that it turned into a draft for a column."
june - "A HUGE amount of thanks to everyone who came out to see us, many for the first time, at Da Bar in Levittown, PA this weekend."
july - "Here's to those who observe strict cocktail hours, from 5 p.m. sharp until last call. Thank you, Happy Hour heroes."
august - "Vintage 1982. No one uses these things anymore, but it means I don't have to be stationary on stage."
september - "A German woman laid waste to her family home by setting fire to it as she tried to kill spiders in a garage with a can of hairspray and a cigarette lighter."
october - "I have swords of all lengths and weights: tanto, wakizashi, epees, katana, and claymore. But nothing like this."
november - "In this rare Saturday night sober state, I've come to the realization that the only women who've been attracted to me in the past couple of years have been drunk at the time."
december - "Go to your Calendar and find the first entry for each month of 2005." =)
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