The Images of Dexter Peterson – August 2010 – 12.3MB ZIP

Download audio file (Ebel-Live-UStream-Aug10.mp3)
Matthew Ebel Live via UStream, August 2010 – 63.6 MB MP3

(Also available as individual tracks.) – 63.8 MB ZIP

It was cold in New York City, a welcome import from a Canadian storm that temporarily held the summer at bay. Dexter awoke to a sharp breeze blowing through his window as though someone tossed ice water onto his chest. Sitting up smartly, he looked about the walls of his apartment. The mirror he knew, the bedside table he knew. His leather-bound journal by the lamp on his dresser he knew intimately. Every scrap of peeling wallpaper and cracked plaster he recognized with relief. Dexter had been here before. Dexter was home.

Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he could feel the cold radiating from the hardwood as though the storm lurked between the floorboards. He braced himself and his toes, planting both feet down. Nobody else would shut the window for him, no matter how much his feet wished someone would. As soon as he closed the latch his alarm clock shattered the morning serenity with news of a hot sale on Mazdas. Dexter planned the day carefully and the alarm clock was his starting gun. One hour to get himself together and catch the bus, one to get coffee and write in his journal, and one to get to his appointment downtown. Planning beyond that made no sense to Dexter; he lived by the clock, not the calendar.

The Lives of Dexter Peterson v1.5, Pages 1-11 – 127k PDF

• Text Updates – Excerpts from any books, short stories, poetry, or whatever else I’m working on in a word processor.
• Video Updates – This one’s been around a while, but now that I’m releasing in-studio and documentary videos, this is where you’ll find them.
• Graphics – Illustrations, sketches, posters, and comic pages developed for the projects I’m working on.

Check your Backstage Area for new links to the new categories of stuff I’ll be delivering over the next year. Of course, this stuff will still be enclosed in the Podcast and RSS feeds, so tune in and download away!

Making Dexter Peterson – Part One – 42.1MB m4v

The robot revolt wasn’t through with me yet, however… I apparently overloaded my USB bus by running both UStream cameras and all my MIDI controllers on the same hub. Halfway through the concert, things started to go very, very wrong.

We all make mistakes, I guess, and these are some I can learn from!

Download audio file (Ebel-Live-UStream-July10.mp3)
Matthew Ebel Live via UStream, July 2010 – 54 MB MP3

(Also available as individual tracks.) – 54 MB ZIP

A little update for the subscribers. It’s short, so take a listen!

Right now I’m considering all that was discussed, so watch for some announced changes right here on the blog later today!

Take Me Apart (Sample)
Download audio file (Take%20Me%20Apart%20(Sample).mp3)

You can get songs like this every single month by Subscribing to Matthew Ebel dot net!

The second member of the Entourage gets her song this month. Like George, Sarah gets a custom song written just for her. This one’s about her somewhat insane husband. I think I’ll let her describe this one…

Geeks come in many different types. As it happens I’m a gamer. My husband is also a geek but he belongs to a much more ‘dangerous’ class. His particular subset of geek revolves around liking to know how things work, and he is also particularly fond of things that go boom, bang etc. Fixing things and taking things apart, even destructively, is therefore normal behaviour…

The song I’m looking for could therefore be best described as “the joys/perils of living with a geek”.

As well as the usual sorts of technology you’ll find round any geek, this house boasts (amongst other things) a scale model trebuchet in the garage (it throws golf balls or similar sized objects), a wastepaper basket filled with arrows in the living room… My husband has a flamethrower which basically consists of a metal pipe which you screw a bottle of butane onto. He uses it for killing the weeds on the drive.

Wow. Well, if I ever visit, I’m bringing a flak jacket. In the mean time, I hope they enjoy this tune! I didn’t so much write it as a cautionary tale (I’ve already done that once or twice), but more as a fictional plea from said wife to said husband. Rather than spend time (and endanger lives) with the toys, why not get to know how your loved one works instead?

Download audio file (Take%20Me%20Apart.mp3)
Take Me Apart – 4.9MB MP3

Remix This Song

All-Access and VIP members can download the individual parts of the song and create your own mix, play along with your own instrument, or sing backup!

Take Me Apart Remix Parts – 40.5MB Zip

Photo by donjd2

Lyrics:

Take me apart
and see what makes me tick.
Take me apart,
throw me up against a wall and see what sticks.
And when you put me back together again
I’ll be better than I’ve been.

Am I your favorite project or am I just a toy?
I look around at the strange, strange tools you employ.
Between the trebuchet and rocket-powered Chevrolet
I hope you’ve got some time today to play
with me.
Oh boy.

Take me apart
and see what makes me tick.
Take me apart,
break it down and get to work ’cause you’re my fix.
And when you put me back together again
I’ll be better than I’ve been.

You know Adam and Jamie wouldn’t do what you do.
Sure they’re all kinds of crazy, but they wear helmets too.
And just like DMB I wish that you’d crash into me,
I made a pot of sanity and tea.
Just tea
for two.

Take me apart
and see what makes me tick.
Take me apart,
baby give me all you’ve got ’cause damn we click.
And when you put me back together again
I’ll be better than I’ve been.

I really wanted to use it for songs like The Good Life and this one, She Will Set You Free, but the plugin introduces so much latency that it’s impossible for my voice to stay in time with the music I’m playing.

Also, singing this thing at the very top of my range for a full 4 minutes is like running a marathon at full speed… By the time I get to the full-voice part of the song, there’s just nothing left to give. Ah well, it was worth a shot, hope you enjoy it!

(’Cause I doubt this’ll ever happen at a live show.)

Download audio file (She-Will-Set-You-Free-Live-Rehearsal-Test.mp3)
She Will Set You Free (Live Rehearsal Test)

VIP Members: You’re officially invited to the second annual Beer Bash! If you can make it up to the Boston Area on July 31, 2010, you can join the party at Matthew’s new studio! Details below…

(If you’re not a VIP, it’s not too late to become one! Just grab a VIP Pass here…)

Please Login or Register to read the rest of this content.
Any questions? Just Contact Matthew or leave a comment here!

This Empty Room (Sample)
Download audio file (This%20Empty%20Room%20(Sample).mp3)

You can get songs like this every single month by Subscribing to Matthew Ebel dot net!

It seems like one of the hardest things to do as a relationship gets serious is to stop thinking about your life, your stuff, and your way of doing things, focusing instead on your future with that special other person.

I imagine it’s sort of like moving into an empty house. You had all your stuff in its places back at the old house, but now you have to rearrange your entire life to fit the new environment. If my life was like an empty room, I’d want someone else to fill it with me.

Download audio file (This%20Empty%20Room.mp3)
This Empty Room – 6MB MP3

Remix This Song

All-Access and VIP members can download the individual parts of the song and create your own mix, play along with your own instrument, or sing backup!

This Empty Room Remix Parts – 38.4MB Zip

Photo by p0kp0k

Lyrics:

You and I got a lot to talk about
like all the useless things that we could live without:
The piles of books we never read but can’t throw out,
the magazines and faded jeans that lay around.
They build up like insulation in our homes.
They keep us cozy when we strike out on our own
but it’s time to cast all that aside.
All these things just give us someplace we can hide.
We could paint the walls with all our hopes and dreams we kept inside.
With all the things we’ve kept inside

We could fill this empty room
with furniture and promises for two.
With all our hearts and minds and time
together there is nothing we can’t do.
There is nothing we can’t do
to fill this empty room.

And all the years that brought us stuff to fill our lives
taught us both without these things we won’t survive.
The games and photo frames with one of us inside-
there is room for two if we could only try.
We could hang a whole new life up on these walls
filling in the space around as time goes on.
All the remnants of my past can move along,
we’ll have room for memories when those things are gone.
I can say goodbye to all the things that keep me far from you
and all the things you do.

You and I got a lot to talk about
like all the precious things that we can’t live without.

Moving (Sample)
Download audio file (Moving%20(Sample).mp3)

You can get songs like this every single month by Subscribing to Matthew Ebel dot net!

Download audio file (Moving.mp3)
Moving – 7.3MB MP3

Remix This Song

All-Access and VIP members can download the individual parts of the song and create your own mix, play along with your own instrument, or sing backup!

Moving Remix Parts – 31.2MB Zip

Photo by aka Kath

Download audio file (Ebel-Live-FAU2010.mp3)
Matthew Ebel Live at FAU 2010 – 80 MB MP3

(Also available as individual tracks.) – 80 MB ZIP

Just a few notes to my VIP supporters about what’s happening this month.

• I’m Moving! That’s right, we’re packing up all our crap and getting into a new house in New Hampshire, just north of Boston. Setting up the studio’s my first priority, so don’t worry about that.
• VIP Beer Bash: July 31? I know we voted on this, but that was before my room mates closed on their house and we found out we were moving in June. If you’ve got any objections to having the Beer Bash on July 31, 2010, contact me now!
• SHIRTS! If you haven’t already, double-check your shirt size in your Backstage Profile. The shirts are in, and they’re going out with the VIP goodie bags soon!

If anything, this is an apology to the planet. I may not have caused an explosion, but I could be doing more to make poisonous power sources seem unpalatable. Every time I fill The Birdmobile, I’m responsible.

Download audio file (Black%20Heart%20(Can%20You%20Save%20Yourself).mp3)
Black Heart (Can You Save Yourself) – 7.3MB MP3

Remix This Song

All-Access and VIP members can download the individual parts of the song and create your own mix, play along with your own instrument, or sing backup!

Black Heart Remix Parts – 33.2MB Zip

Photo by MarinePhotoBank

Lyrics:

I wish I could be impartial,
but I’m afraid it’s all my fault.
I was not the one that wounded you,
but I paid for the assault.

I’ve been drinking like a vampire
your dark blood in hopes to sate,
but my black heart is not broken.
It hopes that we’re not too late.

Can you save yourself?
Can you save yourself?
There might not be time
to wait for someone else.

It’s too late to just apologize.
Far too late for saving face.
I just hope that we can turn around
and not destroy the human race.

Black Heart (Sample)
Download audio file (Black%20Heart%20(Sample).mp3)

You can get songs like this every single month by Subscribing to Matthew Ebel dot net!