Remembering Matt Brown

On Wednesday April 25th, I received the devastating news that I had lost my close friend and longtime bandmate Matt Brown. For the better part of a decade, we played and toured together in the Two Dollar Pistols, worked studio sessions and performed in various groups. Though our musical lives had taken different turns in the last few years, it was always a joy to see him and we would pick up where we left off like no time had passed. He was like a brother to me.

Since his passing, not a day goes by that I don't think about the music and laughs we shared over the years. I think about all of the crazy gigs we played (that community center in rural Holland with the fog machine?), the long hours spent traveling in the van made much more than bearable by his company, and the occasional harmless prank to pass the time either waiting to play or return home to our loved ones.

I think about that time Matt nearly got thrown off of an international flight for accidentally ringing the service bell too many times. I think about that time he was introduced at the Grand Ole Opry as Matt "Baby" Brown, which made his new nickname official. I think of that smile he'd give you across the stage just before he'd kick off a tune. And, of course, I think about the absolute power and dynamic precision of his drumming following that 4-count--you could feel it right through the stage like you just hopped on a freight train.

Most of all, I think about how unwaveringly SOLID he was--as a drummer, absolutely, but also as a friend, husband and father. Matt was the anchor. He would not let you down and he always brought his best.

I cherish the time that I spent with Matt and all the music we made. I'm going to miss him terribly.

Soundtracks For Your Dressing Room

Dressing rooms are always too quiet and vanilla, or is that just where I shop? Here is some cool work from DDB Singapore for StarHub Music Store in Singapore--sort of like iTunes. It combines music and fashion, making use of RFID chips on clothing in a store to trigger songs in the dressing rooms that work as a unique soundtracks to that garments. 10,000 songs were used, from 16 genres, for 8 clothing brands in 42 stores. Texts were sent to the customers with an offer to download the song playing. Songs weren't just given away--this work actually boosted paid music downloads at Starhub by 21%.

I wonder how they dealt with all the songs being triggered at once in a busy suite of dressing rooms?