I’ve had a lot of surprises and extra commitments that have set me back on writing and recording new music, BUT I’ve written some great songs and a lot of new ideas just keep flowing. I’ll sit down to work on one, then another song presents itself, takes a life of it’s own and once it’s finished, I still have the original idea, ready and waiting for me to work on!

I’m looking forward to the new year when I can start recording and laying tracks for all these songs. I’ve also got a great guitar player I am collaborating with and we have some cool ideas we’re working on. It will nice to get back in the saddle!

What has really been humbling for me is to see the women in our neighborhood and her friends rally around and support her. This by itself has truly been a Godsend, and makes me infinitely grateful for all the love they have shown. But just as women do, they didn’t stop there. Without our knowledge, they began putting together a fundraiser for Lori.

About 2 weeks before it was scheduled to happen, I started to see some of what they had been planning. I helped them wrap up a few things but it wasn’t until that Saturday morning when we started setting up that I realized just how much they had actually planned. I was completely blown away. It was a humbling, uncomfortable and gratifying experience all at the same time that is hard to describe.

As the day unfolded there were more and more surprises. They had put together an elaborate children’s carnival with all sorts of games, prizes, treats, balloon animals and so on.

There was a bake sale that would rival any professional bake shop and all of it was amazing. They had a silent auction with hundreds of donations given from individuals and local businesses including a new Ipad2, Self-reliant shelving, all sorts of gift cards, passes, and the list goes on and on.

They had face painting, hair and feather extensions, and even glitter toes. They had an elaborate boutique, concessions, NYPD pizza, cotton candy, snow cones, the works.

Then they had a special appearance from Snow White! You should have seen these little girls glow as they got their pictures taken with her. She would have out done the real Snow White any day!

Finally they ended the evening with the movie Tangled on a big inflatable theater screen. The whole experience was surreal. It was hard to wrap my head around it and realize that people cared so much for Lori and our family, that they would selflessly do all this for her.

Because of all those that have shown so many acts of kindness (both big and small) to our family this year, I wrote a song specifically for them called “Thank You”. It was surprisingly difficult to write, simply because it is near impossible to truly express the intimate gratitude I feel for everyone. I found I could not adequately express how even the smallest acts of kindness miraculously softened even the most difficult experiences.

There is simply no way to say thank you enough. But I’m still going to try, and music is the closest way I know how. I’m working on getting it recorded now and I’ll give it away to everyone once it’s done.

Thank YOU.

Here’s a video on how I finished my basement for under 70$. Enjoy

I sat down to write lyrics for a cleansing, sobering song and melody I thought of a while ago. I figured my stress would work well for creating appropriate lyrics that matched the melody. But instead, it evolved into a totally brand spankin’ new upbeat song completely new and original all on its own.

So now I’ve got this totally cool new song AND the cool original one I still get to write later on. So it’s still on my “to do” list, (along with a bunch of other songs).

I’ve also reworked all the songs from the “Return from Broken” album into Ableton Live for a lot more control for improvisation in live performances. I’m now working on accompaniment and recording for some of these new songs (which in my opinion really take it all to a new level). It will be nice to have some of these done this summer so I can put them out for you. Just making sure proper priorities are first, and that’s what keeps life fun.

I was going to shave my head but she wouldn’t let me. Instead she dyed pink streaks in my hair (which happen to be permanent). I think I would have rather shaved my head, but then again, how often do you get a good excuse to dye your hair pink? Lol, I’ll take what I can.

Aside from everything else going on, I’ve begun making huge strides on new projects. Been integrating a lot more dynamics to live performances, working on getting quite a few new songs laid down and recorded and I’ll be bringing on another electric guitar player here too (As soon as I find a good fit). Life can throw at me what it wants but I ain’t stopping, it only adds fuel to the fire

I am still writing music and playing, (I’ve got some really cool stuff I’m working on) it’s just being done at a much slower pace than I’d like. (My baby needs me so the rest can wait)

So as far as the cancer stuff, we have been looking at all our options including some alternatives. She decided to have a lumpectomy done in February, since the growth was estimated to be about 5-7 cm in size.
They thought they had gotten it all but it was larger than they expected, and through the pathology report we later found there was additional invasion. They have scheduled a mastectomy a week from Friday to remove the rest and sample lymph nodes for metastasis (to see if the cancer has spread to other areas of her body).

To add to the ‘excitement’ we found we will likely need to move our family within a week and a half after the surgery next week. Nice. (That’s a whole other story in and of itself)

So what about alternatives? Well if you’re interested there are a couple protocols we have decided to follow along side the surgeries since she has decided go that route and chemotherapy is basically the only option conventional medicine has to offer (her cancer’s hormone receptors were triple negative).

Instead of listing details I’ll just provide links that have the details.

1) One alternative is Bill Henderson’s Protocol http://www.beating-cancer-gently.com (with the exception of not entirely removing whole grains, which have gluten, from our diet). This protocol is primarily a combination of some complimentary effective cancer treatments and diet alternatives that have been most successful.

One thing we discovered through this protocol is the ability to test your progress to see if what you’re doing is working for you, through tests such as a cancer specific HCG urine test available through  the Navarro Clinic: http://www.navarromedicalclinic.com

2) To prevent the increased risk of metastasis which is known to occur during surgery itself, we are also following Life Extensions protocol surrounding the surgery/s:

http://www.lef.org/protocols/cancer/cancer_surgery_03.htm

These are precautions she is taking to limit the potential spread of cancer cells in the blood stream and other areas during and after the surgery.

I would imagine the next post I’ll put up regarding the cancer will be the results of her next surgery and if they find anything in the lymph nodes. We’ll see. Either way, I’m sure it will be ‘eventful’ .

Matt

It’s been amazing how much I’ve learned about cancer and treatments in the last couple weeks. Given our experience with relatives who have had cancer and the surprisingly poor results of traditional treatments (chemo, surgery, radiation) we’ve decided to aggressively pursue alternative cancer treatment options before going under the knife which could happen in as little as 3 weeks.

I will post specific things we are trying over the next few weeks as well as our progress and results.

This is my only blog so even though it’s not specifically about music, I hope my experience and results will help others who end up facing something similar. Besides, I’m sure some good music will come from this too.

Thanks,
Matt

According to the studies, music has had an effect on conditions ranging from depression to Alzheimer’s disease, from pain to nausea during chemotherapy. The modern discipline started with amateur and professional musicians playing to patients suffering from physical and emotional trauma in veterans’ hospitals after the two World Wars.

“Eventually, the results could result in custom prescriptions for music that is more effective at treating emotional and physical pain.”

The project is sponsored by Britain’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council which is a joint endeavor of music psychologists and audio engineers.
“The impact of a piece of music on a person goes so much further than thinking that a fast tempo can lift a mood and a slow one can bring it down. Music expresses emotion as a result of many factors,” said project leader Don Knox, an audio engineer.

Though I don’t know the science behind it, in my experience it can absolutely effect treatment, recovery, depression or whatever. Though I have to admit, it would be pretty funny to have a doctor prescribe something like a U2 album or Barry Manilow for treatment. Depending on your taste in music, it might be a ‘hard pill to swallow’. In my case, country music might actually make my condition worse -Matt

References: http://www.gcu.ac.uk/

http://www.gcu.ac.uk/newsevents/news/bydate/2010/1/name,13379,en.html

http://www.epsrc.ac.uk

Though I’m not an avid rap fan and more of my influences are rock (Muse, Switchfoot, NIN..) I have liked quite a few of Eminem’s songs before the “Recovery” Album but this was great to hear something I can entirely relate to. Anyway, I’ve got to list my favorite songs on this album:

Not Afraid – Yes its a been one of the songs on MTV a lot but its a great song and poignant lyrics. Love the beginning lines “Yeah, It’s been a ride…
I guess I had to go to that place to get to this one,
Now some of you might still be in that place,
If you’re trying to get out, just follow me, I’ll get you there”
Going Through Changes – Well put together, like the progression and has some cool Ozzy sampling in it too.
Space Bound – One of my favorites on the album. It can seem a little soft and out of character but he’s obviously evolved and it shows real character to do that.
Love The Way You Lie – with Rihanna – These two work great together and I like the feel of the song with the subtle acoustic guitar sound in the back.
You’re Never Over – Colorful (as always) but its a nice melodic positive type song to close off the album.

Eminem Recovery – Track List
1 Cold Wind Blows
2 Talkin’ 2 Myself(featuring Kobe)
3 On Fire
4 Won’t Back Down (featuring Pink)
5 W.T.P.
6 Going Through Changes
7 Not Afraid
8 Seduction
9 No Love (featuring Lil Wayne)
10 Space Bound
11 Cinderella Man
12 25 to Life
13 So Bad
14 Almost Famous
16 Love the Way You Lie (featuring Rihanna)
17 You’re Never Over

Adding his raw feel to recovery music definitely placed him in a higher respect level in my book. As I said, I could do without the vulgarity (Maybe its cause I have kids or I’m getting old, but hey, you can always buy it at Walmart for the edited version .

Hats off to you Slim.

I’ve got a new song I’m working on which I’m pretty stoked about. It will probably be called “Happy to feel it”. Talking about the trash we get slammed with in life but the good that comes from it.

I’ve been stretched to my capacity in a lot of ways in the last year but I’ve gotten so used to it I’m starting to just enjoy and appreciate the experiences. I guess I am still masochistic in a healthy twisted kind of way now .

I’ll probably put an acoustic version of it in the Insiders Area for you once its done. So many ideas, so little time!