Erika Luckett writes:

There will be a benefit to raise funds for Matthew’s family on Tuesday, July 8 at 8:00 pm at Studio Naga located at

5850 San Pablo Ave (@ 59th st) in Emeryville, CA.

Ticket price is $10 and up. Any and all donations welcome. Some of the musicians featured this evening will be:

Erika Luckett – Singer/Songwriter/Guitarist
Philip Gelb – Shakuhachi
Gino Robair – Drums/Percussion
Tom Djll & Garth – Trumpet & Drums

If there are any musicians who are interested in participating, please contact us Mail@ErikaLuckett.com

If you are available to help put up some flyers please let us know!

Thank you, and please help spread the word!!!
~erika

Patrick David Barber writes:

My friend and colleague Roy Usery has dedicated his new web site, Headtube, to Matthew’s memory. The inaugural launch, such as it is, features a bicycle-oriented rant by me.

Did you attend either of this week’s concerts for Matthew in the East Bay? If you were at either the memorial concert at 21 Grand or the annual Chapel of the Chimes concert and have concert notes, musings, observations, thoughts to share or other comments, please leave them here.

Philip Gelb writes:

I am glad to announce a very soon to be released CD from 482 music, entitled “The Space Between w/ Matthew Sperry”. This is the third in a trilogy of releases on 482 music featuring the Space Between, a trio of Pauline Oliveros on accordion, Dana Reason on piano and Philip Gelb on shakuhachi. The other 2 releases had guest bass players, Barre Phillips and Joelle Leandre. 482Music is offering to donate all profits from this CD to Stacia and Lila. The recordings on this trilogy of releases are all from concerts at the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT) in Berkeley.

Very special thanks to John Shiurba who in record breaking time has produced and released two excellent recordings of Matt’s music already!!

Andrew Drury writes:

I’m involved in planning some kind of tribute/memorial/performance/manifestation in NYC. All the details have yet to be figured out. It will probably happen after Labor Day since I’ll be out of town for all of August. Anyone interested in participating or attending can send me an email (andrew@andrewdrury.com).

If you would like to receive occasional announcements about Matthew-related news, join the MatthewMail mailing list using the form here. If you don’t check this site regularly, the mailing list should provide a good way to stay on top of things.

Dan Plonsey says: I had been invited to be on Chris Brown’s KPFA show, Sunday, June 29, 10PM, to play my music, but instead will be playing Matthew’s music (with the help of Shiurba, Gelb, and whoever else).

KPFA.org often has streaming audio on the net, although I could not find a specific link to this show. Let me know if you find one, please.

Chris DeLaurenti has written a brief but passionate obituary on Matthew for thestranger.com.

With his long fingernails, agile bow, and arsenal of objects inserted between the strings, his double bass clattered and thwacked, creaked and moaned, thundered and sang. But beyond his extraordinary musicianship, Matt was a warm, welcoming guy.

More…

We’ve gathered 93 photos (so far) of Matthew from various sources and put them online in a photo album gallery. Each album represents a different contributor. The gallery is somewhat labyrinthine — check the links carefully to make sure you catch all the images.
If you have digital (or digitized) images of Matthew you’d like to contribute, please contact me and I’ll set up an album for you (albums can be loaded up remotely, from your own browser).

In 1998, Elliott Aldrich made an amazing QuickTime VR movie inside the Columbarium. Once the 1MB movie loads, click and drag your mouse side to side or up and down for 3D view of the inside of the chapel (the movie is actually shot in a chamber two rooms down from Matthew’s).

Doesn’t quite replace being there, but if you’re on the other coast, this is about as close as you can get to experiencing the peace and beauty of these chambers. The architecture is that of Julia Morgan, who designed many gorgeous buildings in the Bay Area around the turn of the last century.