ghost notes, riddled phantasms and, "'Curiouser and curiouser!' cried Alice...

...(she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English); `now I'm opening out like the largest telescope that ever was! Good-bye, feet!' (for when she looked down at her feet, they seemed to be almost out of sight, they were getting so far off). `Oh, my poor little feet, I wonder who will put on your shoes and stockings for you now, dears? I'm sure I shan't be able! I shall be a great deal too far off to trouble myself about you: you must manage the best way you can; --but I must be kind to them,' thought Alice, `or perhaps they won't walk the way I want to go! Let me see: I'll give them a new pair of boots every Christmas.'

~ From page 7 of Lewis Carrol's "Through the Looking Glass"

Video for the song "And You Give" from the album Ghost Notes that made it's US release on April 14th 2009. Directed by Alexis Taylor and Matthew Barber.


I thought I would add this, as the hours and minutes tick away until we get to see Matthew perform in Athens, GA at 8pm at the Farm 255 on May 15, 2009 and then at 5:30PM at Criminal Records for an in-store performance in Atlanta, Little Five Points.

This is what Matthew himself has to say about "Ghost Notes" a name that now strikes me as uniquely tied to my own E-Zine online Magazine's name "Riddled Phantasms". Spooky and similar eh?

"Ghost Notes is my first record in two-and-a-half years, and it marks somewhat of a turn away from making rock records, and towards embracing more folk, country and bluegrass influences on my singing and songwriting. The record is rooted in vintage rock and roll production values, but it dabbles with traditional elements in the way The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Dylan, Neil Young, Springsteen, Petty, Van Morrison and the Band do without ceasing to be acts that have aimed big and sought popular appeal. I produced the record myself with the help of engineer Ken Friesen at the legendary Bathouse studio in Bath, near Kingston, Ontario. Ghost Notes features a completely new line-up of musicians – namely Kieran Adams on drums (who had been drumming with me since 2006, Paul Mathew on bass, who I had played with in my other band Live Country Music, and Jesse O’Brien on piano and organ, who I had met years earlier in Hamilton. After the Canadian release, the album came out in Australia on the Code One label in September 2008, and is coming out in the U.S.A. in April 2009. It was also nominated for a 2009 Juno award for best solo roots/traditional recording."

For me something struck me today as odd, unique, off-beat, veiled, nothing bad, just different. I was listening to my i-Pod on shuffle and the song that this video plays "And You Give" came on right before an Elliot Smith song came on, possibly his most famous one, one that I like because of its references to Johnnie Walker and Los Angeles, unbeknown to me that it was in "Good Will Hunting" and had all the veritas of being a song nominated and sung by Elliot at the Oscars.

I later found out when I wanted to see him play, actually purchasing tickets in SF a couple of months in advance that he had recently stabbed himself in the heart with a knife. I don't know about conspiracy theories or any of that surrounding his death, but I know that they are out there, same as with Kurt Cobain, Elvis and almost everyone famous all the way back to Jesus. You can find them, but I won't indulge that kind of stuff here, I think it's beneath me or at least not what I intend to do here so I forgo that sort of thing today. These things happen I guess, suicide and strange currencies (a nod to the upcoming Athens visit), but I wanted to share with you both songs, which happen to have YouTube videos (yeah for us! we're the winners now!) and so we are in the luck of it and get to watch both in one fell swoop.

Enjoy my friends, roses for all.