Holy crap, it’s April? I was just coming to terms with the fact that it was February.

As I sit here caffeinating I’m very conscious of the passage of time. The last three months flew by in a whirlwind of technology and meat. The former because I’ve spent a nauseating amount of time redesigning both my dot com and dot net sites. Seriously, that task alone took up the better portion of… well, honestly, all of January. With some of it spilling over into February.

The latter is a reference to my new partner in crime, Runtt. Moving from a robot to a meat-based drummer was a lot more work than I’d anticipated. Sure, I knew I’d have to rehearse with someone else for once, but I didn’t realize I’d have to re-learn all my own tunes. You just can’t play the same way as a band that you can when you’re solo. A lot of piano subtlety gets lost under the flying lumber and you have to simplify your arrangements to avoid stepping on each other’s toes. With FWA as our debut deadline, we had a lot of work to do and very little time to do it.

And now it’s frickin’ April. And there’s snow on the ground. Dammit, there is fresh snow. All over my van.

Anyway, now that my website is in order and I have a 90-minute show worked out with Runtt, I have nothing planned for April except working on The Lives of Dexter Peterson. No concerts booked, no appearances, no speaking gigs, no road trips, nothing. If I can do this without going broke, I’d like to sit in my studio all month long and finally get the novel up to draft three. And while I’m at it, start releasing full draft-one songs to my hardcore fans. Since I just signed with a booking agent, I’m hoping I can rely on her team to make me busy this summer while I stay busy in the studio.

Don’t know where that relationship will go just yet, but it’s off to a slow start. Maybe that’s a good thing, I’m not sure, but anyone who knows me knows I’m perpetually impatient. Having just survived another birthday, I’m reminded of how fast time can slip by.

Holy crap, it’s April already? I better get back to work.

Buy the DVD for just $9.99!

I’m thrilled to announce the launch of my best (and firstest) DVD I’ve ever released. This disc is hands-down the most awesome video disc I’ve ever released, taking the #1 slot in a field of… well, one.

Regardless, if you missed the fun and excitement at FWA 2010, you can now own a small piece of that through the magic of television. I initially planned on trying out the filming thing as an experiment, but by popular demand it’s now been turned into a concert you can own and cherish and use to keep your cold drinks from staining your wooden tabletop.

The video was pieced together by volunteer editor Aaron Zschau entirely from donated footage. That’s right, all those people with hand-held cameras in the audience? They’re now official cinematographers (and awesome). Since this was an all-volunteer effort, I’m putting this DVD in the store for just $9.99!

Last weekend I played a show for the awesome crowd at FWA. There’s something about the convention that puts everyone into a fun-loving, energetic mood. I really want to play more conventions like this, even make a tour out of them if I can.

I Need Your Help!

Because I spend so much time releasing two new songs and a live recording every single month, I really don’t have much time left over to email conventions and festivals repeatedly.

If you want to help out, you can do that for me! All you really need to do is:

1. Pick your favorite geek conventions (comic, anime, furry, sci-fi, whatever) and track down the people in charge.
2. Then send them emails or call them up and try to get them interested in booking me as a live performance. Send them MP3′s, point them to my live performance videos, whatever it takes. Just keep emailing/calling them until they tell you NO or they want to get in touch with me.
3. Don’t worry about things like payment or travel, once they’re interested in the music I’ll deal with them directly. The hard part is getting their attention in the first place and getting them interested in booking a show!

What I Don’t Need

I don’t need a list of websites to check out or names of conventions I should contact. Like I said earlier, I don’t have the time to follow up on every suggestion people throw at me. What I need are people to get in touch with these conventions directly and have them contact me.

I don’t have a “my people” to contact “their people”, you are my people. You are the only people that matter. If you’ve got a favorite convention you go to every year and they need live music, then I need you to take action and get me out there.

I’m counting on you, just as I always do. Thank you.

Okay, so this isn’t the only post I’ll be making about FWA last weekend, but it’s certainly the first. Until I have the time and sanity to go into further detail, here’s a little candid clip courtesy of Robby Davis…

In case you missed the concert at FWA 2009, I have released the entire concert recording to my subscribers at Matthew Ebel dot net. That’s over an hour of one of the best live shows I’ve ever played, to one of the best crowds I’ve ever seen. If you want the whole recording, just sign up for any of the passes at matthewebel.net before it’s too late!

As a bit of a teaser, I also just released one of the live tracks to the podcasting world. If you’re interested, check out Night Train – Live at FWA 2009 at matthewebel.com/podsafe.

I never really have a problem with being filmed during a concert… I think it’s great that people want to keep the moment going long after the show is over. Fortunately, most of my fans post their vids online when they’re done.

I debuted She Will Set You Free at FWA last weekend, and Marcus Noble was there to catch it. Check it out!

Last weekend was the best convention experience of my life. Without question.

First of all, I understand that being named Guest of Honor will definitely skew my impressions towards the positive, but after hearing so much feedback from other FWA attendees I know I’m not off-base. This convention was well-planned, well-executed, attended by amazing people, and in a hotel that seems built entirely for massive nerd gatherings.

Before I duck behind a cut to save people’s loading times, I want to remind everyone who attended to please tag your photos/videos etc. with FWA09 wherever you post them. I’ll be looking on Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, and other sites for evidence-gathering purposes, so please make your stuff easy to find!

If you’ve posted any pictures or videos of me in or out of costume, please tag them with Matthew Ebel or matthewebel. If you’re feeling nice, put a link to http://matthewebel.com at the top of the description. I always appreciate the traffic!

And now, on with the show…
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