Whisper to me
A story of yours
And please take your time
Each word I’ll absorb
Give me a chance
To write myself in
So I can be there
When you tell it again

If this were the chorus of a song, what do you think would be a good song title? “Whisper to Me”? “Write Myself In”? “Tell It Again”? Or some combination of those using a subtitle?

Well, according to my blog stats, I haven’t had a visitor to my actual blog site in quite a while, which makes me a bit sad. But maybe, just maybe, people are reading my blog on other sites like Facebook or Virb, which are set to import posts from this blog. Anyway, I recently got back from a trip to Florida with Cook and Belle. We played at the South Florida Fair…15 shows in 5 days. On the return trip, we detoured to Missouri where we played a show at the Missouri Association of Fairs and Festivals convention in hopes of booking summer gigs at Missouri county fairs. I’m pretty sure we’ve already got a pretty significant amount of summer gigs booked with a number of others in progress. In other related news, I’ve begun to play for another young female country artist. Her name is Casey Jamerson, and she’s from Pendleton. We’ve played a couple gigs at the Moon Dog Tavern on 96th Street in Indy, and there are at least a few more shows coming up in the next few months. It would be nice if her shows started to pick up in the fall, about the same time as Cook and Belle’s start to dwindle. That way, I could have a pretty solid few months of playing regularly. Anyway, I should probably get going. I’m hanging out with my friend Amy tonight (hopefully), and I’d like to run to Castleton and hit up Guitar Center as well as Best Buy. I need to replace a keyboard pedal at GC, and Best Buy has a great deal on an external hard drive.

I’ve been learning Boston’s “Foreplay” on the keys (so Micah, Cliff, Brad, and I can rock it out), so I created a funky jam to relieve a little stress (Foreplay ain’t easy *snicker*). You can find it many places:

www.virb.com/mattulrich
www.myspace.com/mattulrich
www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=6614417606

The rhythm track (everything that’s not keyboards) was created in Reason, and the rest came from my lovely Nord Electro 2 and my mind/fingers. Most of it is pretty unpolished, but I suppose that’s what jamming is all about. Hopefully you enjoy it!

Hi. It’s me again. That’s right, another post less than 24 hours after the previous one. The way a blog should be, at least if it wants to attract and retain readers…if you ask me. But seriously, don’t ask me, because I obviously don’t practice what I preach. Anyway, I’m bored. I probably should just go to bed, but as you learned in the last post, that probably won’t happen (although I am laying on my stomach on the bed while typing this, and I occasionally find myself laying my head down and closing my eyes while still typing). Let’s run over everything I did today. First I woke up around 9:15. Then I showered and got ready for work. Then I went to work at 10. From noon to 2, Micah, Cliff, Eric, and I practiced in the sanctuary for a wedding reception we’re playing at on Sunday afternoon. Then I worked some more until almost 5. Following that, I returned home to Pastor Mick’s house and killed some time doing whatever kills time. A little before 7, I headed over to East Side Middle School to watch the Highland High School beat whoever it was that they played. There were a number of East Side people there. At halftime, I went to get some dinner at Taco Bell (don’t tell). After the game, I came back home and hung out with Micah for a while before finding myself right here on the computer, contemplating whether I should currently be in bed asleep. (Here’s a gap of time for when I put my head down after typing “asleep.”) I kind of want to watch an episode of Arrested Development, but I’m not sure it wouldn’t be smarter to just go to bed. Tomorrow I’m having lunch with Eryn Bowser, and in the evening, I’m going over to the Stuckey house for my belated birthday dinner with them. I think we’re eating Italian, but I’m not sure what sort of dessert we’re having because when Gina asked me what I wanted, I was pretty indecisive. I’m sure it will be great.

Ok, I think I must call it quits on this one and hit the sack. My head is currently down, and that is giving me great troubles while trying to type correctly.

Peace to you, my brethren and sistren.

Matt Ulrich (not #69 for the Colts)

Jon’s song “Beautiful Disaster” is Single of the Week on the iTunes music store! You should check it out.

Matt

Um, I have this friend named Ben Utecht. He plays football, but he also sings. So anyway, there’s also this guy named Bill Gaither that does these concerts called “Homecoming” concerts. Well, it turns out this Bill fellow decided to ask my friend Ben to sing a song at his next concert in Indianapolis, which happens to be in the Conseco Fieldhouse (the stadium where the Indiana Pacers play), in front of 20,000 people. So that’s great for my friend Ben. As luck would have it, Ben is needing an accompanist for this gig. Well, since we’re friends, we have each other’s numbers; and sure enough his name came up on my phone tonight. Long story short, I’m playing for Ben at the Homecoming show this coming Friday night. Scary, and yet…wow.

…who lives within 100-10,000 miles of Anderson should probably come to Contemporary Encore tomorrow night in Reardon Auditorium here on AU’s campus.  Contemporary in this case means any song released after 2000, so if you know today’s music, you should know the music.  Shows are at 8 and 10pm.  Tickets are $3 at the door.  The band and I have worked as hard as we possibly can amongst our busy schedules, so it should be a good show.  Come on out!

It’s funny.  No, I’m not referring to the fact that this is my second post of the new year, and it’s not even a week in.  I didn’t even make a resolution…  What I am referring to is how things change when one stops and takes inventory.  A moment ago, I came upstairs from hanging out with my brother, watching Scrubs, which, by the way, I find quite amusing.  Anyway, my e-mail inbox said I had a new wall post on Facebook from a friend of mine whom I knew was going to be gone for the next semester.  It turns out he’s already gone.  Plus, a couple of my other friends will be doing the same thing quite soon.  They’re all following different musical pursuits now that they’ve graduated.  You’d think that it would be no big deal right?  Well, not exactly.  You see, these guys have kinda been my musical compadres for the past while, and honestly, (pull out your tissues) I’m going to miss them.  Of course, they’ll probably be back, and there’s a good chance we’ll be playing together again as early as this summer, but I guess I’m sad they won’t be a part of my last semester of college.  In many ways, I’ve never felt as respected with anyone else as I have with them (which is strange because in many other ways, we are so different and would have never been friends had it not been for music, which speaks to the efficacy of the art), at least in the same way.  On some level, we understand each other unlike I feel I’ve ever been understood.

But to get really honest, that isn’t the root issue here.  It’s the combination of a number of things.  Have I accomplished anything?  Have I grown and changed?  Have I risked and invested?  Do I have any friends who will actually care at least a bit when I’m gone?  Will my life turn out like it should, or will I screw it up?  Was it worth four years of my life and thousands of dollars of my parents’ money (and eventually mine once I start paying off loans)?  Does my family know I love them and owe them the world but don’t really know how to show it?  Am I ready to move on into real life?  Maybe it’s the fact that it’s 2:30 in the morning, and I should be sleeping, but I guess you could say I’m in a pensive mood.  I just want to make a difference and live without regrets.  And more than anything, I’m scared of being alone, which is something I’d much rather share with a friend or a special someone who is more than a friend, but at this point, I don’t have the latter, and I question the former.  My phone sits silent most of the time, unless someone needs something, and not very often does my computer make that fun whooshing sound, announcing an incoming instant message.  Man, it’s a good thing no one reads this, or you’d probably consider this an invitation to my pity party and then slap me for being such an idiot.  I am being serious, but realize that I don’t intend to over-dramatize it.  I just think about these things sometimes, and the closer I become to a college graduate, the more they shift to the foreground.  It is good to know, or at least to assume, that there are other people who process these same things.  And of course, if I could figure out how to surrender control, there is One who can take care of it and me.  I guess I’m not alone.

Matt