I’m not sure what year it was, but everybody was young. The crowd was… well, let’s say the crowd was just one person. Me. I was front and center with a bag of popcorn, close enough to the footlights to feel the heat. The concert that changed my life was about to begin and all I knew was that I wanted to hear some music. House lights down, the curtain parted, somewhere in the building an idiot complained about the wrong-sized bread.

The opening acts were a classic rock revue- not the shit that classic rock stations play now. Van Halen is not classic rock; Eddie learned his moves from these guys. Steppenwolf, The Who, and The Guess Who played back-to-back short sets, reminding all that you can still rock without auto-tune or makeup. I was in high school, but these guys wrote these songs decades earlier. Once the drums had exploded, the roadies dragged them offstage and brought out the evening’s first headlining act.

Like a curveball nailing a batter smack in the ear, the concert shifted to Contemporary Christian music. I shit you not, Jars of Clay started off with that one song that got played everywhere. At this point I was in college and the popcorn was already half empty. Dan said thank you and made his exit, just as the man himself walked on with a guitar. He was three feet tall and smiling like some kind of weird celtic punk-folk pixie. The rest of the band took their places and Caedmon’s Call started their set.

They didn’t just play a few songs, they performed a strange drama right in front of me. The beginning of the set did something Christian music’s not supposed to do: it made me think. And it made me dance (I must have looked weird, all alone in that front row). The band realized their mistake, I guess, and started playing the typical praise-and-worship crap. Only the diminutive one seemed as disappointed as I by the change in mood. By the end of their set, the house was silent and unmoving. The band quietly disassembled their gear and walked off stage right, but Derek Webb exited alone, stage left. He’d be back later.

For a long time there was nothing. It was as though the stage manager realized they’d booked the wrong lineup and was scrambling to put together another show right then and there. When finally the stage lights went up again there was a tall skinny guy like me standing at the mic. Train played three whole albums worth of material while I watched. I didn’t mind, I was out of college and hated my job; I had nothing better to do. With Pat’s voice still ringing out in the theater, they performed a no-huddle play and switched to Jason Mraz. I got out a notepad so I could keep on top of the linguistic swordplay.
Read More…

Here’s four and a half minutes of awesome that make my nerd parts tingle.

Hey, Stephen Fry, you need to contact these people and do a pro-bono voiceover. The ROI would be six figures of badass, trust me.

The hardest part of living 3,000 miles away from the rest of your family is finding something to do with yourself come Christmastime. This year I really have to thank Peter and Melanie Zschau for treating me like one of their own boys. There was food, booze, and even presents waiting for me way out in the sticks of Western Massachusetts, even though I’m just an invader in their sector.

While nothing can make up for the fact that Mom and Dad are perched on an entirely different ocean than mine, the Zschaus made it a lot easier to spend the holidays away. Thanks, guys, it means a lot to me.

After a long, long wait (have I ever released one of these on time?) I’ve finally managed to kick Songs from the Vault, vol. 3 out the door. It really wanted to just stay and continue sleeping on my couch, eating my food, and playing Ratchet and Clank into the wee hours of the morning, but I felt it was time for it to start earning its keep.

Every track has been remixed and remastered. I’ve learned a lot about engineering since the last release, this one represents my best efforts to date! Also, thanks to Bandcamp, I’m now able to offer fully uncompressed audio to anyone who wants it! The physical CD isn’t ready for purchase just yet, but you can get the digital version with complete album artwork today.

Download your copy now at matthewebel.bandcamp.com

Members Get 50% Off!

My Matthew Ebel dot net members can download this album at half price from Bandcamp. Merry Christmas! If you want the coupon code, just log in and read the post over at Matthew Ebel dot net

Entourage and Robot Army

Once the physical CD’s are ready, you’ll get your framed, signed copies as soon as I can go get frames for them! In the mean time, you should be able to download the MP3 version in the Album Archive

After seeing this video on Mitch’s site, I’ve been a bit renewed in my efforts to be more productive. I know, I don’t go to an office, so I should already be covered on this front right? Not exactly. What hit me was the concept of interruptions.

I have the attention span of a finch.

I’m going to try a little something: disappearing. I won’t hit the Twitter or the Facebook or maybe even the IM’s until I’m ready for lunch. I don’t know why being off the internet feels like a novel idea, but we’ll see if it works. Perhaps spending some time without interruptions will realign my focus and turn me into super-awesome music man.

Or something like that. Anything close would be nice.

I had hoped to make this announcement weeks ago, but apparently Pandora Radio lists holiday albums under a different artist name and it took me until this morning to notice this. I don’t care, it’s in there and you can listen to it now. However, I don’t think they’re going to spin up the radio drama parts, so if you want to hear the whole adventure you’ll have to buy the album.

In the mean time, though, take a listen and create your own holiday station at www.pandora.com/music/artist/matthew+ebel+holiday

Now that the big conventions are all out of the way for a couple of months, I’m really trying to focus on the world(s) of Dexter Peterson. One of the things I love the most about writing is the experience of jumping into another person’s life for a while. It’s the cheapest vacation you’ll ever experience, trust me.

Right now I’m trying to become the Dexter Peterson that almost had his head blown off in France. I’m not a military guy, even though everyone in my family has enlisted in some form or another. One of my best friends from high school is still flying C-130′s over the desert and a local friend has been to Iraq a couple of times so far.

Yet here I am, a lifelong musician trying to write 20 pages about life in World War II. Given the nature of the story, it actually makes a bit of sense. Dexter gets no training and no shakedown before jumping into the next life, so he’s as clueless as I am. Every so often- while making a cup of coffee or taking out the trash or something -I’ll stop and think to myself, “what would happen if I turned around and suddenly found myself in a machine gun battle?”

I wonder if regular musicians writing love songs ever have to do this kind of abstract thinking. Shit, how many alt rock albums actually require library research and references?

In the back of my mind I can see crowded theaters and conventions where people waited in line in the cold to see me in concert… Yet I know that I won’t get to that point until I can place myself behind a filthy hedge row somewhere in France, ducking bullets and running like mad for a farm house a few miles away. If you need me, hit me on the radio and make it snappy- I may need to blow something up relatively soon.

As someone who makes his living by expressing himself, usually vocally, censorship is a real concern of mine. I’ve been watching more than one site address the issue of censorship lately and I’m consistently amazed at what some people decry as a violation of the First Amendment.

When a website shuts you out, it’s not a First Amendment violation. When they enact a policy that prohibits certain subject matters, it’s not a First Amendment violation. When a site prohibits certain content because it could put them in legal jeopardy, it sure as shit isn’t a First Amendment violation.

Let’s review what the US Constitution actually says, shall we?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Read the first five words again. The only thing the text implies is that our federal government doesn’t get to decide what’s alright to say and what isn’t. Our right to free speech isn’t guaranteed by site admins, shop owners, or our bosses, it’s only covered by the federal government. And it’s not a right to say what you want wherever you want, either. It’s just a restriction on what kinds of laws Congress can pass.

If a site bans you for posting something that they don’t like, suck it up and start your own damn website. If that coffee shop kicks you out because your anti-religion poetry reading offends the owner, you have every right not to buy your coffee there any more. In fact, the First Amendment gives you the right to make an entire blog devoted to how intolerant that coffee shop owner is, encouraging the masses to take their business elsewhere.

Your idea’s lack of popularity doesn’t mean it’s being censored, it just means it’s unpopular. When a law is passed preventing you from saying such things in public spaces or on your own website, then you’ve got a problem.

Of course, it’s easier to just whine about “censorship” when you realize just how difficult it is to keep a platform like that coffee shop or that popular website running. Never mind the fact that someone who has built something popular has to concern themselves with the sensibilities of their paying customers. If you’re going to cost them business or put them at risk by your self-expression, you’re the one violating their rights.

You can always start your own website. You can always print your own newspaper. You can always open your own bookstore or coffee shop. The First Amendment doesn’t guarantee you the right to use other people’s spaces for your self-expression, it just means that Congress can’t tell you to shut up.

Otherwise, talk about censorship just cheapens the term when it really applies. Move to Iran or China if you’re not sure what censorship really means.

Running with the whole General Ebel thing here, I wonder what my army would be like if I actually had to organize it like an army. I can’t afford an Airborne wing yet and I really shouldn’t have Special Forces until I figure out what my forces are to begin with.

So if you’re a fan that’s helping to spread the word- one of my Ebel Minions -what battalion would you be assigned to?

 Loading ...

I often say that I have the best fans ever invented. I’m not joking around, everything I do is a direct result of the cadre of awesome that surrounds me. Right now the fan that comes to mind is Alan “Isfacat” Farris, someone that’s lit me on fire on numerous occasions.

No, that’s not a euphemism, he totally kicks my ass in TF2. And I’m very flammable.

Aside from being a Matthew Ebel dot net member for a while now, he’s recently volunteered his services as video editor. As I’m working on The Lives of Dexter Peterson, I’m trying to shoot as much documentary footage as possible. I’ve spent entire days just editing a five-minute segment before, so I’m not exactly that well versed in this kind of work.

He is. In fact, he’s awesome. So if you’re enjoying the stuff that I do with my music, please thank your local Isfacat for saving me a whole lot of time.