Some conventions are for the über-social. Some for the geeks that rarely see daylight. Some are invite-only ski trips for those of us that are simply better than you.

If anyone asks me why I moved from Nashville, the Music City, up to the frigid northeast, this is my answer. This is what I live for when it drops below camping temperature. I’m just so glad that I have friends like these that enjoy highway speeds on thin planks of wood and fiberglass.

Photography by myself and RoninOtter, edited by RoninOtter.

Just a quick little update with some shiny things to look at. First of all, congratulations to Ian Boswell for winning my “I Blame The Spy” Video Contest. You’ve just picked up a free All-Access Pass for one year with this video:

And then there’s a little something I put together from Megaplex 2009. The venue had a camera on me the whole time, so I threw this up on YouTube to share with the world. Feel free to spread it around!

It’s that time of year… time to pick the first-ever Matthew Ebel dot net VIP Song winner! Congratulations to VIP Subscriber Tony Carcieri, he’ll be getting a custom-written song from Matthew sometime soon!

Download Video

I’ve been getting all kinds of email asking for permission to use my music in videos, post photos of me online, or for clarification on what my bootleg policies are. Maybe this is a good time to address this…

• If you want to post photos of me at a performance or convention, I strongly encourage it. All I ask is that you let people know who that guy in the photo is.
• If you’re videotaping or recording one of my live shows, I would love to see those recordings spread around. Just do me a favor- try to remind folks that they can get professionally-recorded live music at matthewebel.net. If you want more concerts, I need to keep paying my bills- subscriptions are the best way for me to do that.
• If you want to use my music in your project, just bear in mind whether or not it’s a money-making project. You want to put Everybody Needs A Ninja behind your kids’ martial arts tournament video? Awesome. Want to use it on a site that’s bringing in Google Adwords or affiliate link revenue? Talk to me first. I want to make things easy for you, but again… I have bills to pay. If I’m helping you pay yours, I’d appreciate some assistance.
• For anything you post online, try to tag things with either Matthew Ebel or matthewebel so Google and I can find it. And whenever possible, I always appreciate a link back to matthewebel.com as high up on the page as possible.

So there are some official policies straight from the musician’s mouth. Er, blog. The point is that I’m not some RIAA stooge, I’m not commuting to gigs in a private jet, and I’m not trying to break anyone. I want to see my fans get as excited about the music as I do, so if there’s anything I can do to help (or if you have any questions), just email me!