Matt - ProfilesArchive

About Me

Where to start? I guess the beginning would be best.
I'm originally from Knoxville, TN, but I currently live in Lexington, KY, where I've been working on a masters in library science. I graduated in May, so real life is upon me. I'm hoping to get a job working in archives, but I would be willing to work in other areas of the library.
Aside from school, I live and breathe old time music. I'm mainly a banjo player and occasional fiddler, but I've been known to play other things as well.
That's about it for now. I'll add more sometime when I'm feeling inspired.

My Interests

Playing music, the outdoors, reading (now that I FINALLY have free time), etc. I'm very easily amused.

I'd like to meet:

Other like-minded people, especially other younger old-time musicians.

Music:

Anything that doesn't suck. My cd and record collections are fairly eclectic. String bands, singer/songwriters, punk, rockabilly, jazz, and the list goes on...

My list of musical influences is almost as long, so I'll just name a few (in no particular order): Roan Mountain Hilltoppers, Fuzzy Mountain String Band, Bob Dylan, Highwoods, Richard Blaustein, John Salyer, Jerry Garcia, Kurt Cobain, Gram Parsons, Fred Cockerham, Red Clay Ramblers, John Prine, Tom Petty, and so on... My biggest musical influence is my dad. Had he not left all those instruments laying about, I wouldn't have had the interest in becoming a musician.

Movies:

I really like mindless entertainment. A good comedy is hard to beat. Some of my all time favorites include, but are not limited to: The Big Lebowski, Office Space, Spinal Tap, Animal House, several Mel Brooks movies, and anything Terry Zwigoff has directed.

Television:

I should turn it off and unplug it.

Books:

I haven't yet remembered how to read for fun (but I'm working on it). I haven't cared much for fiction lately, although Confederacy of Dunces is one of my favorites. I've also read lots of murder mysteries over the years. Most of the books I've been reading recently have been about various aspects of folk culture--something very interesting to me.

My Blog

Certain of uncertainty

It's getting to that point in the year. When the days are shorter and the sun seemingly never shines. The gray winter afternoons started a few days ago. Like every year around this time, I think it...
Posted by Matt on Wed, 18 Oct 2006 04:31:00 PST

You better get it while you can...

This week has marked the anniversaries of the deaths of several of my favorite rock stars/songwriters. Monday the 18th was Jimi Hendrix, who is probably the best known among the general popualtion, a...
Posted by Matt on Sat, 23 Sep 2006 07:41:00 PST

The call of nature

Growing up, I spent a lot of time outside. Camping, hiking, or just running around in the neighborhood. When I go camping, the nighttime sounds of insects are soothing as I go to sleep. Being in th...
Posted by Matt on Mon, 11 Sep 2006 05:53:00 PST

Radio is the sound salvation

I try not to be a slave to popular culture. I don't keep up with the latest fashions. There is very little of today's television that I enjoy. And much of the current musical trend i...
Posted by Matt on Mon, 21 Aug 2006 06:35:00 PST

Some observations

I've realized the past few weeks that I'd much rather spend time around musicians than with people. I spent last week at the Appalachian String Band Music Festival in the giant metropolis of Cli...
Posted by Matt on Thu, 10 Aug 2006 06:19:00 PST

Musical phases revisited....or....Getting back to my roots

I've written previously about musical phases as they apply to the kinds of music I play. Tonight, I'm going to build on that by discussing some phases of the music I listen to. As my profi...
Posted by Matt on Thu, 27 Jul 2006 07:13:00 PST

Signs of the times

A short blog today.The past few weeks, I've seen some signs that almost made me wreck the car I was laughing so hard. And of course, I didn't have a camera handy. One of them is a permanent sign tha...
Posted by Matt on Wed, 05 Jul 2006 03:53:00 PST

New influences

No ranting today; only long-winded rambling about music.I stopped into the local independent record store yesterday and came out with a variety of cd's, like I always do--the third used Gillian Welch ...
Posted by Matt on Wed, 28 Jun 2006 08:11:00 PST

Today's Topic(s)

Today's discussion about news as entertainment is inspired by several things I've seen in the news recently. First is the nearly half page of the Lexington Herald Leader that was dedicated to documen...
Posted by Matt on Mon, 19 Jun 2006 02:03:00 PST

The beginnings of a rant.

Okay. Time for something completely different. Today's topic is stupid people, who unfortunately seem to be EVERYWHERE and rapidly growing in number. Today's specimen showed himself at the gas stat...
Posted by Matt on Wed, 14 Jun 2006 04:01:00 PST