Two very nice pieces on Matthew in the San Francisco Bay Guardian:
– Death of a mensch by Kimberly Chun is on the impact Matthew had on the musicians he played with, including Gino Robair, Phillip Gelb, Wolfgang Fuchs, and others.
– John Shiurba wrote a June 18 tribute to Matthew’s life energy, musical virtuosity, and wonderful cheer.
Maximum Wattage, a fan site following bassist Mike Watt, has a brief entry on Watt’s June 7, 2003 show in SF, the encore of which Watt dedicated to Matthew. Geoff and Evan have generously offered to burn a CD of the evening’s performance for anyone who is a fan of both Matthew Sperry and Mike Watt. To receive a copy, contact the webmaster at the Maximum Wattage web site.
I posted this to the Mike Watt mailing list the day after the show:
Myself and six other close friends of Matthew Sperry went to the Secondmen show at Bottom of the Hill last night, in Matthew’s honor. We’re all longtime minutemen/Watt fans, and figured Matthew would want us all to go see some good bass. Matthew came along – got in free. The show was motorbooty incredible, astral maritime kickass grinding fun. Watt just keeps outdoing himself, and the secondmen are… wow. On the way back to stage for encore, I grabbed Watt and told him quickly about Matthew Sperry’s death. Mike gave Matt props onstage and, in our minds, the whole encore was for Matthew. And it was amazing. Just what we all needed, to get out there and be carried away by great music and a great spiel, rather than sit around mourning. Watt signed a poster for us, “bass and bikes.” Right on. Watt, if you’re reading this, just wanted to say thanks for your music, and thanks for last night. It meant a lot to us.
Watt signed a copy of his tour poster “bass and bikes..”
An obituary for Matthew will appear in the August issue of Bass Player Magazine, which should be on stands soon. The obituary was written by Assistant Editor Greg Olwell:
Matthew Sperry, 1969-2003
San Francisco Bay Area bassist Matthew Sperry was struck and killed by a truck while riding his bike June 5. Best known for his work in the free jazz and klezmer scenes of San Francisco, Sperry also recorded and toured with singer/songwriter Tom Waits (including an appearance with Waits on the Late Show with David Letterman in May ’02), saxophonist Anthony Braxton, trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, and Italian saxophonist Gianni Gebbia. Sperry also performed the role of Jacek, the bassist in a San Francisco production of Hedwig & the Angry Inch. A fund has been set up at www.matthewsperry.org to help his wife and child.
(Click) | (b/w printable PDF for flers)
Date: July 31, 2003
Time: 7:30pm
Location:
Victoria Theater
2961 16th Street (@ Mission)
San Francisco
Ticket Prices: $30 – $100
Tickets available at www.tickets.com and the Victoria box office on day of show.
Program:
Stephen Trask
Hedwig and the Angry Inch – San Francisco Cast, featuring Kevin Cahoon
Pauline Oliveros Quartet
Orchesperry conducted by Gino Robair
Red Hot Chachkas
Proceeds will benefit Matthew’s wife and daughter.
For more information visit matthewsperry.org or victoriatheatre.org
Volunteers needed for July 31st concert!
We need ushers, people to help set-up on the 30th and 31st, volunteers to distribute flyers, etc.
If you’re interested in volunteering, please email your contact information to Paula Larsen Moore at paulalm@pacbell.net
Full press release below.
Erika Luckett writes:
The SF WEEKLY featured an article on Matthew and the benefit that is happening on July 8th.
John Shiurba and Limited Sedition have assembled two CDs of unreleased Matthew Sperry material. All proceeds from these releases will go directly to the Matthew Sperry Memorial Fund to benefit Stacia and Lila.
The recordings:
Matthew Sperry
Solo Bass Vol.1
recording date and location unknown
5 tracks, 33 minutes
Meehan Rosenberg Shiurba Sperry
Portland and Seattle 1999
recorded in Seattle 4/28/99 &Portland 5/4/99 by John Shiurba
10 tracks, 79 minutes
Sean Meehan-percussion; Scott Rosenberg-reeds; John Shiurba-guitar; Matthew Sperry-contrabass
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!!
