Last night, we went with Mike and Shauna to see The Grape play at this year's kick-off Bowl Jam at Pacific Bowl. After having watched The Grape play at The Blackwater for so long, it was nice to see them play in a place where they had some room to move around. Tom, the founding member and song writer of The Grape, on guitar, Ted on bass, Ralph on drums and Jady on vocals, played for 45 minutes before taking a break. An "administrative error" prevented the headliner from playing so The Grape played a second set before giving the stage up to Lita Hope for a rocking 45 minute set. Lita Hope and The Grape share a drummer and Ted and Tom were kind enough to let Lita and the others play their set on their equipment. This was the first time we'd seen Lita Hope perform and were quite impressed.

Check out the pics from the show.

In our house, American Idol is a big deal. Every year, we watch it as a family but rarely agree on who we think will win the competition. This season, we all have our own favorites but can all agree on one thing: Amanda Overmyer is the long lost daughter of W.A.S.P. front man Blackie Lawless.

Look at the evidence and decide for yourself.



Oh, and in case you're interested, my pick for the top four are David Cook, Chikezie, Carly Smithson and Brooke White.

I am not the only Weird Al fan in our family. Yes, Dawn and the girls were all very supportive when I told them we were going to the fair tonight to see Weird Al Yankovic in concert! The girls actually know a lot of his music and had a blast at the show.

The odd thing was that I didn't realize (or remember) that he was playing our local fair this year... a little ironic since I just posted the Weird Al is a Geek entry.



The concert went from a little after 8:30 until just before 11:00 and was filled with a lot our favorites. Here's the set list:

Polkarama
Canadian Idiot
Drum Solo
Close, But No Cigar
Why Does This Always Happen To Me
Jessica Simpson - Al TV interview
It's All About the Pentiums
Mariah Carey - Al TV interview
Celine Dion - Al TV interview
You're Pitiful
Madonna - Al TV interview
Steven Tyler - Al TV interview
Wanna Be Your Lover (he came out and did this one in the audience)
Eminem - Al TV interview
Medley: Couch Potato / Do I Creep You Out / I'm In Love With The Skipper / Headline News / Confessions, Part 3 / A Complicated Song / EBay / Bedrock Anthem / Ode to a Superhero / Pretty Fly for a Rabbi / Trapped in the Drive Thru / Radio Time / Gump / Eat It
Keith Richard - Al TV interview
I'll Sue Ya
Paul McCartney - Al TV interview
The Saga Begins
Yoda
Cher - Al TV interview
Justin Timberlake - Al TV interview
Weasel Stomping Day (video)
Smells Like Nirvana
Avril Lavigne - Al TV interview
Homer and Marge video
Amish Paradise
K-Fed - Al TV interview
White and Nerdy
Fat

Encore:
Cell Phones
Albuquerque

His costume changes, as well as the band's) made the show really entertaining. We all had a great time!

Check out the pictures on Flickr, not the greatest of pics, but that's to be expected with me and concerts.

I am Weird Al Yankovic fan! There, I said it, out loud. I really like his music and have nearly everything he's ever released. As I was listening to some Weird Al recently it struck me that, in addition to being a big polka guy, Weird Al is quite the geek, a proud geek I bet.

After going through my Weird Al collection I came up with a Top 10 Weird Al Geek Songs.



10. Spam - not really about junk e-mail but still a classic
9. Virus Alert - the craziest virus ever written
8. The Saga Begins - "My, my, this here Anakin guy, maybe Vader someday later now he's just a small fry...."
7. Bob - C'mon, a song written entirely of palindromes... that's cool!
6. Ebay - "...Tell me why, I bid on Shatner's old toupee..."
5. Ode To A Superhero - All about Spidey
4. Jurassic Park - this should have been the theme song!
3. Slime Creatures From Outer Space - what a great title
2. White & Nerdy - can you count the nerd / geek references?
1. It's All About The Pentiums - even though it's not really "all about the Pentiums" anymore, he really showed his geek side in this one

Click here to view the the iMix I created in iTunes.

Enjoy!

Although I don't usually participate these types of blog-tags but when I read Karen's post, The Music of my Life Meme, on PediaScribe yesterday it looked too fun to resist. So, here's my iPod meme. No surprises here, from Kiss to George Jones with some jazz and bluegrass.

The rules:

1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question even if it doesn't make sense. NO CHEATING!

Some of my answers are pretty funny.



How do you feel today? Coming Home - Kiss

What’s your outlook on life? All Around The World - Boyz II Men

What does your family think of you? Uncle Tom's Cabin - Warrant

What do your friends think of you? Today I Started Loving You Again - Willie Nelson

What do your exes think of you? King of the Road - Randy Travis

How’s your love life? Love Ain't Nothing But A Four Letter Word - Bon Jovi

How will your love life be in the future? The Fox - Nickel Creek

Will you get married? Dod Eat Dog - Weird Al Yankovic

Are you good at school? I Love It Loud - Kiss

Will you be successful? Alone - Heart

What song should they play on your birthday? Angels We Have Heard On High - Various Jazz Artists

What song should they play at your graduation? Lost In Love - Air Supply

The Soundtrack of your life? God Bless The USA - American Idol

You and your best friends are? You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC

Happy times: I Wouldn't Wanna Be You - Reba

Sad times: My Best Friend - Tim McGraw

Every day: Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy - Brad Paisley

For tomorrow: Wildflower - Bon Jovi

For you: It Don't Get Any Better Than This - George Jones

What does next year have in store for me? Since You Came Into My Life - Charley Pride

What do I say when life gets too hard? Ronnie - Metallica

What song will I dance to at my wedding? Chanson Francaise - James Taylor

What do you want as your career? My Baby - Leann Rimes

Your favorite saying? Going To Church - Rodney Carrington

How will I die? Lonely Too Long - Patty Loveless


If you are reading this, consider yourself tagged. Post comments below or add to your website or blog.

Dawn and I saw Nickel Creek in San Francisco last night. It was an awesome show. They played a lot of their hits, including The Fox, The House Carpenter and Reasons Why. Even though I was bummed that they didn't play Lighthouse Tale it was still an awesome show. It was the first time either one of us had been to the Warfield which was a perfect venue for these guys. It's hard to believe that they have been playing music together for 18 years. Even though they are officially going on an "indefinite hiatus", I'd be surprised if they didn't get back together in a few years. It'll be interesting to see what solo work come from Chris and Sarah.




A short clip of The Fox.



A short clip of Smoothie Song.



Check out the (some are blurry) pics here.

After a long vacation, The Grape (the band that brought you the matt-beckwith-dot-com theme song) was back on the road for their one night world tour.

Tom, Ralph, Ted and Jady rocked the Blackwater Cafe with songs like "Crackheads Crossing the Street", "Hearts and Wounds" and "My Old Neighborhood".

Jim, Natalie and the girls made it up to Stockton this weekend so what better way to party than to rock out at Fred's house! Even Linda and her boys came by!



Jim, Fred and I rocked out for a while (although I don't think we ever made it through an entire song) and even got some help by 15 year old Chris who was playing a great 5-string bass.



Check out the pictures here.

I think there might've been some video taken as well... Mik & KW, if you took any good videos send me the link!

*** update ***
Check out Mike's pics and Ken's pics, too.

and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne?

Happy New Year! We all rang in the new year at F&F's (although not as much confetti as the last couple of years). As we always do when we celebrate at F&F's, we did a shrimp-boil (with crab, too). And by "we" I mean a lot of people except for me ate the shrimp and crab; I picked around it to the saugages, potatoes and pearl onions. Santa brought Fred a new drum set so I brought the guitar and bass and everyone took turns rockin' out.



Pictures are up, check 'em out.

We listen to a lot of music and typically we have our TV set to Music Choice. We usually listen to the 80's, New Country or Arena Rock channels (I listen to the Bluegrass channel but only when there's no one else in the room). The best thing about MusicChoice is all of the factoids about the bands. So, anyway, today, as we were getting our house ready for our Christmas Eve party we had it on the Arena Rock station. Dio's "Holy Diver" came on followed by "Domino" by Kiss; it was shaping up to be a rockin' afternoon! As I walked by the TV singing "Restless and Wild" by Accept I noticed the band picture changed... and instead of showing Udo and the boys, it flashed a different quartet. Given my eclectic taste in music I immediately recognized this as a huge mix up. The picture they put up was one of The Oak Ridge Boys... giddy up a-oomp pappa oomp pappa mow-mow!

The best part about Caesars Palace in Las Vegas? The Elton John store!



After donating some cash Caesars and the Bellagio... I figured it would be best if I just spent some time in the Elton John store... well some time... and some more cash!

Due to overwhelming fan outcry, I have finally posted the video for Hopes & Prayers on YouTube (check it out here). Ok, so there are really no fans... but I thought I'd post it anyway. The song was recorded in early 2003 in The Outback. Jason wrote the song, played all of the instruments and sang lead vocals; Rich and Tish sang background vocals and I got to put the whole thing together. I have always thought this was the coolest song I ever worked on... in fact, it is so cool, it needed a video. Enjoy!

You can also view the full quality version of the video here.

Pictures, pages and videos are queued up and ready for the move. Pics from the Stockton Lightning game and the Brad Paisley, Sara Evans, Josh Turner concert are also up (go to 'pics' link). More to come soon.

Here's a GarageBand version of the song Emily played at her recent recital. She played all of the parts here and then we changed the arrangement a little (click here)...


Here's a piano only song she's working on, Raincoat Rag... this one is so cool... her "flair" on this song is cool (click here).

Emily had her recital today. She played her piece very well. Click here for the video.

Today started as any other March 25th would start... crank up the Elton John tunes! In case you didn't know this about me, I am a huge Elton fan. Today is Sir Elton's birthday (and Aretha Franklin's and Danika Patrick's)... which means I will listen to Elton music for most of the day.



I can't bring up my taste in music without mentioning that I am also a huge honky-tonk and classic country fan (the Possum reigns!) and have been a crazy Kiss fan since I was very young.



Today also brings sad news in the music world. Buck Owens passed away at his home in Bakersfield this morning. Bakersfield, as a city, has a crappy reputation up here in Nor Cal, but as a "sound", Bakersfield is awesome! Dawn and I actually got to sing Happy Birthday to Buck years ago. Well actually, Dawn and I and thousands of others at a Garth Brooks concert. It was a few days after Buck's birthday and Garth asked everyone to be quiet while he called him from a cell phone on stage. Then, 17,000 of us joined Garth and his band in wishing Buck a happy birthday. What a great memory!

Sir Elton, Happy Birthday!

Long live Bakersfield!

What's new? We were lucky enough to have The Grape over recently... we had planned on recording two songs but we were only able to finish, "Where Would You Go" - check out the video page!

As if having my own theme song was not enough... The Grape asked if they could invade The Outback and record not only mattbeckwith-dot-com but pizzagohere-dot-com.  I was more than happy to oblige... and here's what we came up with....  

The Grape showed up the night before to set up the drums and then again at 10 am the next morning to get to work.  The Outback was just too small so we re-modeled our living room for the day.  With a couple cases of beer we were on our way! After they did the guitar, drum and guitar parts we were finally able to convince Mike to do the lead vocals!  Awesome job bro!  Once we were ready for the final mix down and listening one last time to make sure it was good Ralph started making some strange half harmonica and half scat sounds... that was it!!! Alas... the song is perfect!
matt-beckwith-dot-com (click to play or right click to save)

 
After mattbeckwith.com was done the band re-did the vocals to pizza-go-here-dot-com!  And since the Dominos guy had just showed up we said, what the hell... we have to get a picture of the guy... and yes, we did tell him... PIZZA GO HERE!
pizza-go-here-dot-com (click to play or right click to save)

 
We also recorded a new song written by Ted to appear on the next release from The Grape.  I have been asked by the band not to publish this new song on the 'net so you'll have to wait for the new CD to hear it.  Thanks y'all for letting me play lead guitar on this one... and Tom... great piano idea!
 

It was truly an honor to work with The Grape.   I am sure we will work together again soon!  (Tom's Grapevine: TOM'S  GRAPEVINE)
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GO SEE THE GRAPE LIVE . . . FRIDAY, AUGUST 27th AT BLACKWATER CAFE!!! WHILE YOU'RE THERE... REQUEST MATTBECKWITH.COM ! ! ! Check out there site here: The Grape
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The day we moved from mattbeckwith.com and into our new place  - pizzagohere.com - I got a call from Tom (from The Grape) saying that the band would be recording the mattbeckwith.com theme song!!!  Wow, I am honored... Dawn and I have known Tom for many years... since the Shakey's Late Night times... oh, so many eons ago... and he has always been a big fan of the site... but to give us a theme song???? Wow, that's impressive...
without any further delay... here it is... the mattbeckwith.com theme song
mattbeckwith-dot-com.MP3 (click to play or right click to save)
 

you've just logged on mattbeckwith.com... you've just logged on mattbeckwith.com... just move the mouse and click, see what's going on.... you got Mrs. B, who is Dawn Marie, you got Mackenzie and Emily, you got JR, Kenny, Missy, Tony, Lance and Mike, you can even see Matt riding his bike, you have just logged on mattbeckwith.com....

rodney carrington in stockton!!! well, we finally got to see rodney!  what an awesome show! me, dawn, jr, tim, jen, grace, dale, fred, flower, joe, and mike. . . and rodney! 
hangin' out after the show! Dear Rodney... ladies and gents... Rodney Carrington

George Jones
02.13.02 - Stockton, CA - Fox Theatre
02.16.02 - Kelseyville, CA - Konocti Resort
It was a dream come true... George Jones live in concert.  George Jones is simply the greatest crooner of all time and I had waited a long time to see The Possum.  Well, I got to see him twice in 4 days !!! What a time !!!
02.13.02 - Stockton, CA - Fox TheatreAs a big fan of "true country" today was both a good day and a bad day.  Waylon Jennings, one of the best voices in music, passed away today.  He will be missed.  Tonight, at the end of "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes", he added some touching comments about Waylon.  It was very moving.   
When I saw that KAT Country DJs were there with all their glory I couldn't resist.  I asked the morning show DJ why they were there if they never played his music.  "Well, we only play what the record companies allow us to play." he replied.  If you live in the Stockton / Modesto area, try switching to 93.9FM KEJC - they play REAL COUNTRY !!! [click here for the 93.9 website]
George was awesome !!! He said his throat was sore but he went on anyway.  
Here was the playlist:
Hightech Redneck Once You've Had The Best The Race Is On Bartender's Blues Black Mountain Rain (Instrumental) Choices Sinners & Saints A Picture Of Me Without You I'll Give You Something To Drink AboutWho's Gonna Wear Their Shoes (with a special tribute to Waylon) One Woman Man 50,000 Names Fire On The Mountain (Instrumental) Tennessee Whiskey The Man He WasMedley of: Share My World, Window Up Above, The Grand Tour, Walk, Through This World With Me, White Lightning (INCREDIBLE!), She Thinks I Still CareHappy Birthday (to some lady named Fran) He Stopped Loving Her TodayGolden Ring - with Barry Smith and Sherry Copeman-Smith Rocking Chair - with Barry Smith and Sherry Copeman-Smith God Bless The USA - with Barry Smith and Sherry Copeman-Smith on lead vocals

02.16.02 - Kelseyville, CA - Konocti Harbor
This is the greatest venue to see a performer like George.  Our table was five rows back (table 79) which gave us an incredible view of the stage.  Uncle Dennis was supposed to make the trip with us but had to work.  Since it was impossible to sell a single ticket she gave it to a guard outside and told him to just give it away.  About half way through the show a woman joined us and then switched with her husband so he could watch the end. 
The opening act was California Cowboys, from Vacaville.  A pretty cool band. 
The show was almost the same exact show as in Stockton except for those that sat close enough to see him get really upset at the sound crew because of some technical problems. 
 
Jones Boys
Ramblin' FeverMuscle Car Man - with Barry Smith and Sherry Copeman-Smith The Sweetest Thing - with Sherry Copeman-Smith Mama Used To Whoop Me With A George Jones Album (That's Why I Sing This Way) - with Barry Smith and Sherry Copeman-Smith Don't Rock The Jukebox
The Possum
Hightech Redneck Once You've Had The Best The Race Is On Bartender's Blues Black Mountain Rain (Instrumental) Choices Sinners & Saints A Picture Of Me Without You I'll Give You Something To Drink About Who's Gonna Wear Their Shoes  One Woman Man 50,000 Names Fire On The Mountain (Instrumental) Tennessee Whiskey The Man He WasMedley of: Share My World, Window Up Above, The Grand Tour, Walk, Through This World With Me, White Lightning, She Thinks I Still CareHappy Birthday / Happy RetirementHe Stopped Loving Her Today Golden Ring - with Barry Smith and Sherry Copeman-Smith Rocking Chair - with Barry Smith and Sherry Copeman-Smith God Bless The USA - with Barry Smith and Sherry Copeman-Smith on lead vocals

Dateline 02.04.02 - Stockton
One of the proudest days of my life was when Emily called me at work to tell me that she wanted to take piano lessons.  As a musician, I never wanted to force my children into music.  Both of my daughters are true music lovers and from a very young age I could always tell that they would grow up to play an instrument.  Well, enter the second proudest day of my life.  Today, Emily said she wanted to play a song for me she "wrote" last night.  My eyes filled with tears of joy when she played her little 4-bar gem.  She even learned to make a chord... WOW !!! ... along with a great little melody.  I am soooo proud of her !!!
Listen to her new song - take one 
Listen to her new song - take two
Listen to her and I play our new song

Songs were recorded from across the room, literally, with a cheap computer microphone.

Brian, Katie and Brianna DeNapoli were gracious enough to give us a piano. Now, Emily can practice in the house on a real piano.  She has even learned a couple of my melodies.  It was so exciting for me when she said she wanted to learn some of my music.  She has a good ear because I only told her that one song started in B-flat and she figured out the rest.

Mike, Shauna, Dawn and I saw Kenny Chesney & Tim McGraw in Marysville at the Sac Valley Amphitheatre.  It was a great show with Kenny getting the place really pumped for Tim.  He did "I Wanna Know How Forever Feels" and released about 20 "big orange balls" into the stands.  When the first verse ended, "I wanna know how Jimmy Buffet feels..." he and the band broke out into "Margaritaville" and then continued the song.  The highlight of his show for me was his cover of Billy Joel's "You May Be Right."  
Tim McGraw was electrifying!  His show was just as much visual and anything else with huge screens just behind the band that provided some cool backdrops to his tunes.  His show opened with the Elton John classic "Tiny Dancer" which he started singing in the middle of the audience on a barstool and then made his way to the stage walking through  a sea of crazed fans.   Tim did a lot of songs from his new album "Set This Circus Down" and a lot of his classics.  During "Don't Take The Girl" the screen in the back was showing the words to the song so everyone could sing with him (as if there was anyone there that DIDN'T know the words!)  Mark Collie, Kenny Chesney came out and helped Tim finish the show with the last song.  Oh, and in case you were wondering.... there was no Faith