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Hey guys –

Remember me? Your old buddy Matt? You know, the guy with the cheesy sense of humor and messy hair who plays the piano? Long time no see! How have you all been since I’ve been gone? LOL. Seriously, I know its been forever since I posted a blog. If you really want to know where I’ve been, well… I’ve been undercover as a real estate loan officer. I’m researching for a new concept album I’m working on called “Day Jobs Suck”

In addition to the day job, I’ve been in the studio a lot… we’re writing and recording a bunch of new stuff and I can’t wait to share it all with you. I’m also gonna be getting out there to play some shows again within the coming months. In the meantime, I figured I’d dust off this ol’ blog and post some brand-new comments, rants and maybe some cool news too.

First up on the agenda: music industry lame-ness. Yeah, I know… three-quarters of the stuff I blog about involves music industry lame-ness, but this particular story reaches new and improved levels of uber-lameosity, lol. The other day, I went to check the mail at my apartment and noticed I’d received something from a pretty well-known, cool management and production company called Nettwerk Music Group. I tore open the envelope, only to find that they had apparently passed on (rejected) my demo submission because my work “is not what [Nettwerk] is looking for at this time”. Fair enough, but there’s one problem with that: I never, ever, EVER sent anything to Nettwerk Music Group. Yes, it’s true. The music industry is so brutal that you can be rejected without even sending a CD to someone, lol. That’s sort of adding insult to injury. Like, “we know you didn’t send us anything, but just in case you were thinking about it, don’t bother – we’re not interested.”

I actually can’t believe Nettwerk would have sent me a letter if they hadn’t received one of my CDs. The really odd part is, barely anyone knows my home address. I never use that for business stuff. So, how did they get it? What did they hear of mine? The mind boggles. I’ve asked around to some people I know that might have sent out a CD or two, but so far have had no luck. So, this is where you come in, my awesome blog-reading friends. Have any of you ever sent my music out to people in the industry? Particularly Nettwerk Music Group? Please let me know if you have any insight as to how Nettwerk may have gotten their hands on my music. My head’s gonna explode trying to figure this out.

Now for some cool news. As some of you know already, I’ve been featured in a bunch of online promotion and press releases for the new Nokia N96 – their high-end new phone! So far they’re just using my image (basically making it look like “Shine” is playing on the phone) but we’ve got our fingers crossed that the song “Shine” will eventually get used in the promos as well. Here’s a photo from the official press release:



For more photos, info and promo videos, you can check out the links in my official message board forum: http://matthewjordan.proboards13.com. Just click the topic “Nokia Website feature!” and follow the URLS

In other random news, for the past few months I’ve been a featured artist in EVA Air’s in-flight music catalog! EVA Air is a Taiwan-based airline that flies all over Asia, Australia and Europe. Next time you find yourself flying to Taiwan, you’ll be able to choose from a music selection including Avril Lavigne, Maroon 5, Paul McCartney and my album Horizon. (BTW, I owe this honor to Dain Rezo, a great friend and fan from Malaysia who set this up before he tragically passed away in an accident last year. Dain was always hanging out on my message board, and I miss him and think of him frequently.) Check out this image from the in-flight magazine:



Thankfully, there are other ways to hear my music besides having to catch a flight to Taiwan I was recently informed that MTV is interested in using a version of “Someone’s Waiting” as background music for a bunch of their shows including The Hills. Keep your ears open, and be sure to let me know if you hear it!

Finally, I just want to give a quick shout-out to my friend and fellow Los Angeles singer-songwriter, Brooke White, who has gotten all the way to the Top 24 on this season of American Idol. Way to go, Brooke! I’m pulling for ya

Till next time (which will be sooner than the last time – I promise!),

-Matt

So I’m back from my summer tour, and I can safely say I broke some records along the way. That’s right, I’m pretty sure I’m now in the Guinness Book of World Records for “Most Times Getting Lost in Major US Cities”, lol. I thought Los Angeles was hard to navigate, but yikes… nothing could have prepared me for the insanity that is East Coast driving. Anyway, I’m back in one piece, and after a week and a half of decompressing it’s back to business as usual. That means it’s blog time!

To go into serious detail about the my trip would result in a blog of epic proportions (possibly longer than War and Peace). That said, I’ve decided the best thing to do is to post a couple of sentences summarizing each of my three main East Coast stops. I’ll save the rest for my memoirs, Piano Dork: 88 Keys, 10 Fingers and No Clue (due out March 2050)

Washington DC: From the Washington Monument to the Capitol Building to the Lincoln Memorial, there’s an endless supply of famous sites in DC. There’s something kind of magical about standing in the presence of such iconic structures – it’s pretty overwhelming. Even so, my favorite DC experience was seeing the original “Kermit the Frog”, the “Ruby Slippers” from The Wizard of Oz, and the “Puffy Shirt” from Seinfeld at the Smithsonian. Yeah, yeah, I’m an uncultured swine. Or would that be a cultured swine in this case? Who knows, lol.

Anyway, Ebenezers is an amazing coffeehouse and a great, though mostly undiscovered DC music venue. I highly recommend that you guys stop by if you’re ever in the area. Try the vanilla chai latte - it’s fantastic!

Philadelphia: I’ll admit I didn’t have much time to sightsee in Philly. Guess I’ll have to get around to that next time! Memorable experiences include having a fantastic (yet MASSIVE) cheese steak, and then taking a wrong turn on the way to the venue, ending up in a neighborhood where we were immediately offered some bootleg DVDs, lol. Side note: If anyone wants a copy of Transformers, drop me an email (just kidding!). Despite that craziness, Philly was cool. Grabbing ice cream with a big group of awesome friends & fans after my show at Grape Street was especially great

New York:I spent about a week in NYC, and could literally go on forever about that place. I’ve lived in Los Angeles my whole life, but never actually knew the definition of the phrase “Big City” until I visited New York. Los Angeles and New York may be the two largest cities in the United States, but they’re so different it’s like being in two separate universes, each with their own set of rules and way of life. Being the nerd that I am, I was excited by such simple things as riding the subway for the first time. Of course, that quickly wore off as I realized how many different diseases you can probably catch off the subway poles, haha. In NYC, antibacterial hand wash is definitely your friend


At the grand piano @ The Bitter End, NYC

My list of awesome New York memories includes: Ordering a “Larry David” sandwich at the Stage Deli (corned beef, turkey & swiss on rye – absolutely delicious, but $6 for a side of cole slaw is pretty crazy), visiting the “Strawberry Fields” John Lennon Memorial in Central Park, walking past the Brill Building (at one time home to some of pop music’s greatest songwriters), going to the Museum of Modern Art to see Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” among other classic paintings, and catching some fantastic shows on Broadway (check out Spring Awakening and Avenue Q if you’re in town – you won’t be disappointed!).

One thing, however, easily tops my list of New York experiences: my show at The Bitter End in Greenwich Village. The Bitter End is one of the most famous clubs in New York. It’s been around for nearly fifty years, and is where some of the most influential names in the history of rock got started. Walk in the door and you’ll see a mural that includes the likes of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel, Jackson Browne, Randy Newman, Stevie Wonder and many others. At the top, it reads “We Played The Bitter End”.

Sharing the stage where so many amazing performances had once occurred, playing a grand piano no doubt touched by the fingers of those I idolize the most, I can without a doubt say that my show at The Bitter End was one of the greatest experiences of my life so far. An experience that I hope to relive many times over… and soon!

Some of my awesome friends and fans in New York were kind enough to take some video of my show at The Bitter End. This blog wouldn’t be complete without including some of the footage, so here it is... a brand new song called "Better Than Nothing":



There you have it. The “Matthew Jordan Gets Lost 2007 Summer Tour” in a nutshell. I can’t wait to get back on the road again, and next time hopefully it’ll be a bit easier to find my way around (well, at least in the cities I’ve visited before). Thank you SO much to each and every one of you who came out to a show, or helped me promote in any way. It was seriously great to meet so many amazing people, especially those who I’ve known online for so long. Big shout out to anyone who I got the chance to hang out with after the shows... those are some of my favorite tour memories. Btw, for a select few of you who came an especially long way to see me (you know who you are), I can't thank you enough - I'll make it my priority to play closer to your area next time

This wouldn’t have been possible without ALL of you guys, and I can’t wait to see you again. I’ll be back soon, I promise!

Rock on,
Matt

Well, I'm officially back from my trip to Chicago... and let me just say, I love that city. There's really nowhere else quite like it. Where else can you lay out on the beach, catching some rays, while looking up at an amazing skyline with some of the tallest buildings anywhere? Plus there are some seriously beautiful suburban areas, with really dense trees and foliage. Growing up in Los Angeles is cool, but boy, does it feel good to get away for a bit

As far as the show goes, well - Chicago, you ROCK! Uncommon Ground is a really unique venue. It's a great restaurant, that sort of winds around into a few different rooms, ending with the music room in back. While the music space isn't huge, the vibe is great. Really friendly, almost like you're playing in your own living room because people are sitting so close to where you're performing. The place was packed, and it was truly great getting to know all the awesome Chicagoans who made it to the show. Major thanks to everyone who helped pass out flyers for me. Chicago, you can be sure I'll be back again real soon. Thanks for the great experience.

Before I wrap up the Chicago-talk, I want to share a list of three absolutely fantastic restaurants I got the chance to check out while I was in town. Two of them involve more traditional Chicago fare, while the other is... well, a bit more original

1) Gino's East of Chicago - Want authentic Chicago-style deep dish pizza? This is the place. It takes 45 minutes to cook, but it's worth every minute of the wait. I'm telling you, this pizza was probably 3 inches thick! The average person can't eat more than 2 slices. I was no exception, lol. The decor is pretty awesome too - people have scribbled all over EVERY surface in the place, including the booths, for years. I wonder what sort of hidden messages are on the walls? Haha.

2) Superdawg - A drive-in style hot dog joint, in a suburban area of Chicago. Absolutely perfect Chicago-style hot dogs. This place has been open since 1948, and for a reason. Just try it if you're in town - you won't regret it.

3) Heaven on Seven - Like spicy food? This is your place. The best Cajun/Creole-style food I've ever tasted. Their gumbo is out of this world. And every table is covered with approximately 25 bottles of various hot sauces, all of which could probably put you in a coma if you drank too much of them. I'm not kidding! With names like "Ass on fire", "Ass in space", "Hot as a Mutha" and "Slap My Ass and Call Me Shirley", this stuff is only for those with tongues of asbestos. Check out this quick camera-phone shot of all bottles of hot sauce on our table!



My last Chicago recommendation isn't a restaurant, but just something plain fun to do in town. The famous sketch comedy/improv group, The Second City, was founded in Chicago. I got to catch one of their shows, and these guys are hilarious. Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Mike Myers, Chris Farley, Tina Fey, Steven Colbert and others got their start here. Awesomely funny, but this also brings us to...

Matt's Pet Peeve of the Week: People who SPOIL things! Like the new Harry Potter book. At the end of the Second City show, one of the actors decided to work a possible spoiler on the ending of Harry Potter into one of the sketches. Every jaw in the room simultaneously hit the floor when that happened. Seriously dude, not cool. It was sort of ambiguous, so hopefully he wasn't being serious. But damn, was I stressed about it after the show. Oh well. Not like that's gonna stop me from reading it! Any of you guys finished yet? Don't tell me anything, lol

Alright, well that wraps up my Chicago-blog-o-rama. I'm off to exercise away all the great Chicago food, read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and go get ready for my East Coast jaunt next week. DC, Philly and NYC, here I come! In the meantime, here’s a video clip from the Chicago show... it’s my cover of Carole King’s “Way Over Yonder” (sorry for the cut off ending).



Catch ya later

Rock on,
Matt

Hey all,

Recently I got the opportunity to do an interview and live performance segment on Rock Remedy, a show on the awesome internet TV network MusicPlus TV. Figured I'd upload the performance footage to a blog so you could all check it out

"I'm On My Way"



"Jessie"



"Someone's Waiting"



Thanks to the amazing crew over at MusicPlus TV for doing such a great job. Hope you guys have as much fun watching these clips as I had filming them!

Rock on,
Matt

Happy belated 4th of July, everyone! Hope you all had a great holiday full of fireworks, friends, family and fun.

My apologies for going AWOL over the last couple months. Long story short, I was abducted by aliens who held me hostage on a planet in some distant galaxy with NO internet access at all. Er, well… ok, so that’s not quite true. They did have internet access, lol

But seriously, I’ve been crazy busy lately. Figure I might as well use this blog to fill you guys in on all the details.

1) TOUR UPDATE!

Way back in February, I mentioned my plans for a summer tour. Well, let me tell you – I had no idea how difficult it is to book a tour as an independent artist. Many clubs and venues get back to you right away, and are always polite and helpful. But a select few put you through a sort of demented booking obstacle course, making you jump through all kinds of hoops and deal with massive quantities of BS before they’ll give you a show. Even then, those places usually end up screwing you over.

You’d think that clubs would be very receptive to new musicians, since it’s their job to book shows. Frustratingly enough, venues in a couple of cities led me on for months, telling me they’d book me, but never nailing down a date and time. Because of that, we decided to just do a one-off show in Chicago, and then an East Coast swing (DC, Philadelphia and New York). Atlanta, Charlotte and Nashville will have to wait till my next outing. Sorry guys! I promise, those shows will happen soon.

2) Auditions & Stuff

Over the past month, some cool new opportunities have knocked on my door. First, I auditioned to be the keyboard player/back-up vocalist for Miley Cyrus’ touring band. Miley is Billy Ray Cyrus’ daughter - you may know her better as Hannah Montana, her Disney Channel alter-ego. I had a blast learning the songs and auditioning with some great musicians, but they ended up deciding to use a female keyboard player. Doh! It’s all good though, because now another opportunity has come up which probably wouldn’t be possible if I was on the road with Miley…

Last week, I auditioned for the Broadway show Spring Awakening! For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, Spring Awakening is a new rock musical, scored by Duncan Sheik. It just won “Musical of the Year” at the Tony Awards, and is an absolutely kick-ass show. The director, casting director and producer (the incredibly talented Tom Hulce) were all out in LA scoping out fresh faces for the Broadway cast, and I was honored to have the chance to meet with them and audition for the lead role, Melchior. It went really well, and I’m gonna check out the show when I’m in NYC this August. Can’t wait to see it! I highly recommend that you guys check it out as well, should you get the chance. We’ll see what happens re: the audition… I’ll keep you posted.

3) Genghis Cohen Residency

Last month, I did a residency at renowned LA acoustic venue, Genghis Cohen. “Residency” is music industry lingo for a once-a-week show at the same venue. Seeing as how Genghis just so happens to be my favorite Chinese restaurant in LA, I was pretty excited The shows went great, and I debuted some new songs which I’ll also be playing during the summer tour. Big thanks to all the awesome people who made it out in June – you guys rock! However, this brings us to…

Matt’s Pet Peeve of the Week: Musicians who don’t support other musicians. There’s an unspoken code among local artists, whereby one songwriter (or band) should reciprocate the support of another. The number of people you get to your shows (AKA your “draw”) is very important. It helps you get rebooked, and also impresses any important people who might come to see you. If my friends and I were the only four people to come to your last gig at Joe’s Bar and Grill, you kind of owe it to me to check out one of my shows at some point in your life. Most artists have no problem adhering to this agreement. Unfortunately, a select few think it doesn’t apply to them. If any of you are reading this (and you know who you are), just know that I notice… and well, you probably won’t be seeing me at any more of your shows, lol

That pretty much does it for this update. I’ll do my very best to post blogs (maybe even some video blogs!) while I’m on the road, barring any more alien abductions or other unforeseen insanity. Catch you guys later

Rock on,
Matt

PS: I recently got the chance to see John Mayer (with opening act Ben Folds) play the Hollywood Bowl. WOW. Totally blew me away. Mayer will absolutely be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame one of these days. You’ve gotta see him when he comes your way!

Question of the day: Who knew there were so many other Matthew Jordans out there?

A couple weeks ago, I was casually browsing iTunes and was pleasantly surprised to find Horizon available for download. My old EP Book of Days took a few months to make it online, so I wasn’t expecting to see it for a while. Unfortunately, my excitement soon turned into a pretty big headache…

Here’s the deal: There’s another Matthew Jordan, and iTunes seems to think he and I are the same person. Nothing against the other guy - he’s been around for a while and used to run songwriter forums on AOL – but the fact is, he’s not me. That Matthew Jordan is primarily a gospel songwriter from the Midwest. And yet, click the "See All Albums" link (on the page for Horizon) and you’ll be linked to two other albums called I Will Let the Hammer Lay and Instrumental Cognition, which aren’t mine. Don’t get confused!

That said, the last two weeks have been spent e-mailing about a thousand different people at Apple. The other day, I finally managed to find someone who claims they can fix this problem and give us separate listings. It hasn’t been taken care of yet, but I’ve been told it’ll be done by the end of this week.

All the same, this made me wonder if there are in fact even MORE Matthew Jordans out there. And a quick Google search indicates that, yup, there’s a rapper named Matthew Jordan from Colorado. Hmm. Hey dude, I don’t think the name “Smooth MJ” is taken, so you might want to consider using that instead – it’s getting crowded in here! And let’s face it, no rapper should want to share a name with me. I’m pretty much the polar opposite of anything that could remotely be considered “gangsta”, lol.

On top of that, in the non-musical world, there’s well-known photographer Matthew Jordan Smith, and a USC football player also named Matthew Jordan. Which makes things even MORE confusing, because I also went to USC. Yikes!

Bottom line: just keep in mind there are two different Matthew Jordans on iTunes. My only albums are Horizon and Book of Days

Moving on, big thanks to everyone who made it out to my solo shows in the OC and San Diego over the last couple of weeks. An acoustic show has a totally different vibe than a show with full band… it’s much more intimate, almost like the audience is sitting in my living room. Of course, I live in a studio apartment, so I don’t even have a living room, but that’s beside the point

Anyway, I can’t wait to get out on the road for my acoustic tour this summer. Speaking of which, I just booked my first ever New York City show at The Bitter End on Thursday, August 9th, and I’m psyched! More dates in Nashville, Atlanta, and possibly Charlotte should be announced soon. Keep checking the website for updates.

Finally, I just want to send my deepest thoughts and prayers out to the families of the victims of the VA Tech tragedy earlier this week. In the grand scheme of things, I realize that my random ramblings and petty problems don’t matter… especially when there’s crazy stuff like this going on in the world.

Thanks for reading guys. Catch ya later!

Rock on,
Matt

UPDATE: It appears iTunes has fixed this problem. Whew! Glad to have that straightened out. Thanks iTunes

Hey guys,

Hope you all had an awesome St. Patrick’s Day weekend

The big day came and went…Horizon has been released. Wow. I can’t believe the album is finally out! I finally feel like I can take a breath and relax a bit. Well, at least for the moment. I’m sure I’ll find plenty of other things to stress about soon enough, lol.

Anyway, major thanks go out to everyone who came to my big CD Release show at The Mint last Thursday. I honestly think it turned out to be one of the most fun shows I’ve ever done. That said, there was a ton of craziness in the weeks leading up to the show.

If you’d like to have a nervous breakdown, one way to start is putting together a band and booking some shows, lol. But hey, it comes with the territory, and the end result can be well worth it. However, when one of your band members cancels on you a week before the show… voila, nervous breakdown time. That’s right, at the very last minute we lost our bass player. He strolled into rehearsal, and the conversation went something like this:

Bass player: Guess what guys? I’m playing at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas next week!
MJ: Uh… no, you’re playing my show at The Mint. It’s next Thursday, remember?
BP: I thought your show was on March 12th.
MJ: No, it’s the 15h. I gave you flyers and a rehearsal schedule, and booked you out for it a month ago!
BP: Oh well. Oops.

Sheesh, how hard is it to remember the day of a show? Anyway, I went insane for about 24 hours, but somehow wound up finding the best damn bass player I’ve ever shared a stage with – my new buddy, Dan Spriewald. He, along with Andrew Synowiec on guitar, Dash Hutton on drums, and my old friend Sam Saletta on backup vocals, did an absolutely kick ass job at The Mint last week. And I can’t forget the awesomely talented Dave Wilson who sat in on saxophone during “Jessie”!

Yes, putting together and rehearsing a band is hard work. But you know what? When you find the right combination of guys, it’s one of the most rewarding things ever. Enormous thanks to my band, the staff at The Mint, and the whole audience for making our Horizon CD Release show a success. You rock!

-Matt

PS: Speaking of going insane for about 24 hours, how about that Jack Bauer? I’ve officially lost my social life to 24. Is anyone else as addicted to that show as I am? Still, stopping a nuclear bomb or a deadly virus is one thing, but finding a good bass player in that amount of time? Almost impossible, lol

PPS: Quick summer tour update: I’ve booked shows in Chicago, Philly and tentatively Nashville… more shows and details to follow!

Hey all,

Welcome to my brand new official blog! I’ll be using this page to share my random observations, pseudo-deep thoughts, incoherent ramblings, and general craziness from the life of an indie musician.

As you probably know by now, I’ve got a brand-new CD coming out on March 13th called Horizon. The road to this point has been a bumpy one. Nevertheless, I made it through in one piece and I’m absolutely thrilled with how the album turned out. But... the real journey begins now. I’ve got a bunch of Southern California CD release shows planned (check the tour dates page for LA, OC and San Diego show dates), but that’s only the beginning… the next step is to get out on the road.

I'm planning a summer acoustic tour of some Midwest and East Coast cities including Chicago, St. Louis, Nashville, Atlanta, Charlotte, Washington DC, Philadelphia, New York and perhaps a few other stops along the way. I’ve never put together my own tour before, and it’s pretty overwhelming. Venues take weeks, even months, to get back to you, and they’re not always particularly helpful. In fact, a guy at one club actually wrote me and suggested I come play the open mike, and then he'd consider me for a booking. Hmm… that’s all well and good, but Knock Knock... Earth to McFly I live over 2,000 miles away! Buying a plane ticket and flying out just to play two songs at an open mike isn’t in the cards for me, lol. These are the sorts of crazy issues indie artists face that make things just a little bit more difficult to say the least...

Still, I’m sure the tour will come together, and I’ll be ready to embark on my own personal “Amazing Race” this summer! I’ll keep you guys posted on tour dates, and will be updating from the road in the months to come.

Alright, that just about does it for this blog. Feel free to write me with any comments, etc. And hey, I'm still looking for suggestions of good intimate venues (preferably all ages or 18+) in the cities I mentioned above as well as stops in between. Hit me up with ideas. Catch you guys later!

Rock on,
Matt