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Welcome to my blog. These are my reflections, stories, rants, pictures, art, music, poetry and philosophies, reviews, and opinions.

After being asked for quite some time by my girlfriend, Nikki, to get one of these, I finally succumbed to the pressure and signed up. I am looking forward to sharing and I am excited at the possible inspiration that will come from this.

I guess I will start by introducing myself:

My name is Matthew. I am 23 years old and currently live in Battle Creek, MI. I was born on a hot July day in Long Beach, CA and moved to the tundra that is Michigan when I was six years old. Since I was a young child, I was always interested in the arts and music. My dad is a commercial artist and I guess I inherited the spirit as well.

As I grew older, my love for music and art only increased. Every time my dad got a new computer, I got to take his old one. This afforded me the chance to work with such programs as 'Adobe PhotoDeluxe' (pre-Photoshop) and Cakewalk Pro-Audio 9 (multi-track recording software) at a very, very early age. For that, I am eternally grateful.

In middle school I found punk music. Or rather, punk music found me. Up until that point, I was raised on bands such as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Kinks, Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, etc. etc. Punk music was a new found outlet that I had never experienced. The classic rock bands are amazing, and they are my favorite bands of all-time, but the punk bands of the early 90's expressed a clear message for a vibrant scene. The music was happy, but aggressive at the same time. Definitely something that was easy for me to get into, seeing as I was already skateboarding. From there I went to hardcore for a little bit. I got into bands like Refused, Snapcase, and Converge. That, however, did not last long. I was back to my true love of classic rock, garage, and indie rock.

Some of the things that I am also very interested in are: collecting vintage guitars & amps, collecting vintage clothing, antiques, weird and wild knick-knacks, spending time with my girlfriend, playing concerts, watching foreign films, going to thrift / second-hand stores, travelling, Food Network, OBEY, skateboarding, zen buddhism, and cartoons.

In high school I was in a few bands and started a few companies. I was in the band Deja Norm'al, most notably, as well as Authors, Circle of Vultures, and a few more. Currently, I am the songwriter, guitarist, and voice of Dangerbird (www.myspace.com/dangerbird).

I am also highly involved with graffiti and street art. Keep an eye out for my work.