I’ll be trying to accomplish 4 big goals over the next 60 days to bring quality of life up a bit. I’m just calling it 60 Days of Hell, because I’m really not excited, but instead looking forward to see if I can stick with it. The list is as [...]
This Monday was the most exciting night I’ve had since election night! The last time VCU won the CAA title, I rushed the court with Joel Speasmaker. Also one of my favorite memories. This time, I was working, but totally worth it - I finally got what I wanted - [...]
I’m getting super excited about this weekend. Four days of basketball, all roads lead to VCU winning the tournament, and I get to hang out courtside, watch VCU, and eat catering all weekend, for free! I am so fortunate. For the occasion, I blew $70 and rented this Nikon 70-200mm [...]
I called Kendrick Warren last night and left him a voicemail. He’s a former VCU legend - has his jersey hung in the rafters. We’re trying to get him on Ram Nation before the CAA Tournament on Saturday to talk about Eric Maynor passing him the past Saturday as VCU’s [...]
1. Kathleen Edwards - Asking For Flowers
This album is one of the greatest compositions I’ve heard all year. Kathleen Edwards put together an all-star cast to work on this record with her - Jim Scott as producer (Whiskeytown’s “Strangers Almanac”), Benmont Tench (Tom Petty and The [...]
I am really excited about this Eames chair I just picked up. It’s a fiberglass shell chair from the 1950s. Great shape for its age. And, I got it on Craigslist for 50 bucks!!!
The band has been practicing fairly heavily over the past two weeks. We’re getting geared up for 4 shows in the next two weeks. This weekend will be two out-of-towners:
Friday, 12/5, in DC @ The Red and The Black w/ Paleface. Saturday, 12/6, in Harrisonburg, VA @ Clementine w/ Paleface.Those shows [...]
I am obsessed over the new Kanye West album “808s and Heartbreaks”. It’s a classic record! I am a big fan of Graduation, which came out last year. This new record is a step into new territory which gives some substance to what he said this past weekend when he [...]
Pleased to see that two of our friends (Thao and Langhorne Slim) made the Paste Top 50 this year! We were lucky to tour with Thao this year and play a few dates with Langhorne. We actually opened for Thao’s CD release of “We Brave Bee Stings And All”. One [...]
Things are starting to get busy over at www.vcuramnation.com. Tonight is the 2nd game of the season, we’ve already covered 3 games (2 preseason, 1 regular season) with video and audio coverage. Tonight, we’ll be doing live-blogging with photo updates, as well as video highlight coverage.
I don’t know of any [...]
As the preseason begins tonight for the VCU Rams, I’ve been doing some major revamp work on the VCU Ram Nation website. We’re stepping up our presence this year, with video podcasts, bigger audio interviews, and some additional contributing writers for traditional written media.
VCU gave us 4 press passes this [...]
My cat, Biggie Smalls, knows the finer ways in life to pass time. Video embedded.
[...]I recently ordered a screen print from Threadless. They’re starting to sell weekly screen prints, and I’ve been keeping my eye out for cool stuff. When my print arrived, it came in a large tube with an insert, which is pictured below:
The new Ryan Adams and The Cardinals album, Cardinology, is coming out October 28th. Rolling Stone gives it 4 stars, calling it a “near-classic record”. So excited.
Then, this morning, I get an email from Twitter saying this:
Hi, Matt Morton.
Cardinals (cardinology) is now following your updates on [...]
Attached is a poll from the NY Times today.
It shows that over the past 6 years, basically post-9/11, things have been spiraling out of control.
More than 8 in 10 Americans do not trust the government to do what is right, the highest ever recorded in a [...]
Today, Apple unveiled the most incredible laptop design I’ve ever seen. It’s carved from a single block of aluminum, which reduces the number of reinforcement bars and cuts down on weight. This means that Apple can make a smaller, lighter laptop with greater durability.
That is exactly [...]
My Flickr page has been really suffering over the past 9 months without a DSLR camera. I was using a borrowed Nikon D70 (one of the first model digital SLR cameras to come out) prior. Since then, most of my pictures have been taken with a 2.0 MP iPhone camera. [...]
I spent all my money at the House of Guitars
I’ve been trying to take a break but its just so hard
I should save the money to fix my car
I’ve been trying to get home but it’s just so far
I just want to be content
No matter where I am
I guess I [...]
Richmond Magazine recently published their “Best and Worst” of Richmond issue. The Skyline made it to #3! Third best… not worst! Surprising, yes, to all of us!
We’re doing a Tumblr blog for the band at [www.skylinerevue.com]. I highly recommend it! We figured with all of the exciting things going on, we should share it with friends and family. There are photos and videos! There’s also a nice RSS feed for blog snobs like myself!
[...]Okay so I know this is completely ridiculous. But I have this file sitting on my Desktop bugging me. You see, a few months ago I bought an electronic drum kit. It’s a very nice Roland kit, that I play about an hour a day, and somehow manage to bother [...]
This is a nice collections of best albums of 2008 SO FAR. It looks good, and I trust the All Songs guys’ judgement. They have a GREAT show by the way, which I listen to every week. They also twitter: http://www.twitter.com/allsongs . Their initial poll was sabotaged when Panic! At [...]
This is a pretty interesting article about an experiment put on by McAfee to see what the result would be if you answered every spam message in your email inbox. They had 50 volunteers in 10 countries start responding to every email - that means clicking links, filling out forms, [...]
If you like Amy Winehouse, perhaps you should check out this sweet little video I have posted below. In it, she punches a fan while singing “Rehab”, which is something I think the world can agree that she needs. I’m getting tired of reading about her drug problems. So I [...]
I thought it would be nice to share this little trick I’ve been using for years on my workstations connected to domains. Okay so, if you’re tired of typing in your password every time you want to logon to your computer in a domain environment, you can make a quick [...]
Since I’m having an Obama day, I think it’s complimentary to add this awesome survey going down at NPR. You pick who you think Barack and McCain are most similar to as rock stars, then you make your selection for their opening acts. When finished, the information goes to NPR [...]
This is the second time in just 4 months that Barack Obama has made the cover of Rolling Stone. The new cover is such an endearing photo of Barack. Check it out below. How could you not elect a smile like that? This article is more appropriate to Rolling Stone [...]
This is an amazing story about an old lady who refused to sell her home to developers. Even after they offered her $1 million. Take a look at the picture. They ended up building AROUND her house. I think it’s amazing that she held out. I hope they don’t tear [...]
Just added Michael Hagan to my blogroll. I expect great Pistons-biased commentary on NBA topics. Go check it out:Â [michaelahagan.wordpress.com].
[...]There’s a great article in Style Weekly that came out yesterday featuring an interview with Josh Hryciak of the Mermaid Skeletons. Link is below. Style has a knack for using heavy-hitting one liners at the end of their band features. They end the article with this:
In Poe’s words, “Beauty of [...]
We’re playing a classic show tomorrow night at Gallery 5 (get directions and details here). It’s going to be Young Sons, David Shultz and The Skyline, Prabir and The Substitutes, and Hoots and Hellmouth. We’ve done this lineup a few times in the past, it’s always been [...]
It annoys me when music business mavericks talk about “genuine” music. I read the Rolling Stone blog on a daily basis. I came across this little blurb today about Jessica Simpson crossing over from pop to country. Her father/manager says “I think country is the only pure genre left”.
A couple [...]
This Saturday, we will be opening for the Mermaid Skeleton’s CD release show. Over the past year alone, the Mermaids have become one of my favorite things to come out of Richmond. I AM biased, as 100% of the band, which I believe fluctuates between 7 and 8 people, are [...]
I’ve been trying to convince friends to use Twitter. Yada yada, it’s a service that you allows you to provide simple updates on what you’re doing. It can actually become very addictive. Tess Dixon has written about it many times, here and here.
Right now though, it’s frustrating. Twitter was [...]
This is my friend Archie’s record label. They just put out an LP for a band called Mas Y Mas. I heard some songs from the record when I was crashing on Joel’s floor for a few days. The songs are really good, but what [...]
This is exactly why I love Kanye West! Sci-Fi Space Odyssey theme. What a genius! That and he’s a master at Connect Four. That’s a fact. He carries a travel size Connect Four kit but requires it at concerts on his ryder. Much love Mr. West.
I think I should get a house boat. Check it out. They’re only $56,000. And if you ever get tired of your neighborhood, say there’s a crime wave, maybe too much jet-skiing, you just pull up your anchor and move on out. It’s a trailer house on top of a pontoon [...]
This spring has been AWESOME in my new apartment. I have these two double doors that swing out to a railing. So, being on the 2nd floor, I can just keep these doors open when the weather is nice and enjoy the view. Also keeps my electricity bill down to [...]
I really want this Rolling Stone cover. It was an important moment in the music industry. It was the the record biz vs. Tom. His label (MCA) wanted to jack up the price of his album “Hard Promises”. He single-handedly put up a fight and the label eventually balked and [...]
It was an incredible show last night. One of the most amazing moments of my life. For those who don’t know, Mudcrutch was Tom Petty’s first band. It had members of the Heartbreakers (Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell). They decided to get together to record a new album and do [...]
So far it has been awesome to be here. Quick summary of events below, then I’m off!
For a few days now, I’ve been occasionally googling around for a way to fix my Unread Items count in Google Reader. Even if I mark all of my items as “READ”, the Unread Items count would still show numbers. It was so annoying that I started to look at [...]
Brandon Reynolds wrote one of my favorite articles to date of the band in the recent 2008 Music Issue of Style Weekly (http://www.styleweekly.com/article.asp?idarticle=16860&letmein=1). I love that Style does the music issue. It gives exposure to bands that really deserve it. I really want to check out Hot Chicken - have [...]
We’re in the studio working on demo sessions for the next record (which I think we’re recording in September. Give or take a few weeks). We spent all yesterday getting the bones together for 7 songs. Today we’re redoing some things and tonight we’ll have a finished demo CD to [...]
I’ve been listening to Ryan Adams’ “Easy Tiger” a lot lately on vinyl. Well, that and this Joni Mitchell LIVE record that Grant Hunnicutt let me borrow. Easy Tiger is a great album, especially the song “Halloweenhead”. The record goes from subtle to aggressive in a kind of [...]
One of the folks here at my company is leaving us today. Yesterday her daughter handed me a note which she wrote for me, on behalf of her mother. Image below. Haha.
Adding to the long list of reasons why I think Barack Obama should be our next President, is the fact that he is a great basketball player. I did read at some point that he played a lot of basketball growing up. My buddy Marcus sent me an email last [...]
A few months ago, my pal Tess Dixon and I tossed around the idea of starting a sushi awareness group. The idea was hilarious, but genius! I think we agreed that it would never happen, but really SHOULD. I would love to go on a cross-country tour informing Texans and [...]
I’ve been drinking PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon) nonstop for about 6 years now. Sometimes I like to be crazy and switch it up to something like Blue Moon, for craps and giggles. I have also been listening to NPR (National Public Radio) for about 6 years now as well. I [...]
This just in - Duchess of York are the lamest thing to come out of Richmond since… Elliott Yamin? If you don’t believe me, watch the first 30 seconds of this video:
“There’s not too many good things that came out of Virginia.”
These guys are headlining their own show at Toad’s [...]
Tess Dixon just wrote a blog about Twitter. In it, she calls me a “notorious early adopter of new technology”. I couldn’t feel more important! She was responding to an invitation to Twitter that I sent to a few select friends (those who I thought might even care or [...]
My company just spent over $15,000 on a Sun StorageTek disk array. It holds 12 extremely fast hard drives, all of which are joined together to create a fully redundant, MASSIVE volume of disk space. About 1.6 terabytes. It will be connected to two servers through dual fibre channel ports. [...]
I just bought a Western Digital MyBook, 750 GB external drive for work purposes. I have to mount it to Windows Server 2003 as an NTFS drive. Usually these things come pre-formatted with NTFS. However, Western Digital pre-formatted this drive as a Mac Journaled drive, and included the quick start guide pictured below. Notice [...]
I was anxiously watching CBS yesterday, awaiting the announcement of VCU getting an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. Because the selection committee didn’t do enough research on the Rams, or perhaps because we lost 1 or 2 games we should have won (like ODU on our home turf!), VCU [...]
This may be an old feature, but it’s always like new fun to me.Click here to see this site in French. Oui!
[...]It’s been a while! I’ve been doing a lot of work over at Kill The Desktop. I’ve also been working on a new IDEA. It’s called betunedin.com. That’s all I can say, really!
I’m writing because tomorrow is a very big day! Apple has another product announcement [...]
I’ve been spending some time in my new office thinking of ways to expand business. 
The big goal is obviously to increase clientelle, but I’d really like to do that in a way that will allow me to continue providing REMOTE support. I don’t [...]
I’ve probably written a couple of these blogs where I just babble on about how enthusiastic I am about a new Apple product release. It’s hard not to - they do such a good job building excitement. Better than any other company, ever. 
The day Apple dropped [...]
Finally, we’re here. This Saturday is the most exciting day in David Shultz and The Skyline history. We finally, after what is getting close to a year in the making, get to release our new CD “Sinner’s Gold” to the public! Copies will be available for $10. The actual CD [...]
I always thought Bonnaroo was just a big druggie festival loaded with jam band / psychadelic background music to enhance your groove. 
I think that used to be the case. But I heard last year that Tom Petty pulled off an awesome set, Sufjan Stevens has [...]
Daylight Savings Time is going to begin three weeks earlier this year. It’s a change that is the result of the Energy Policy Act, which was passed by Congress in August of 2005. It’s great because:
I just found out through an iTunes scavenger hunt that Jenny Lewis is actually the singer for the band Rilo Kiley. I’m kind of embarrassed and surprised because I never made the connection… I have the Jenny Lewis CD (with the Watson Twins) called “Rabbit Fur Coat” which is a [...]
The past few weeks I’ve been taking trips with the band to far away places - we’re trying to preach the gospel of a love we share called David Shultz and the Skyline.
Life on the road is a completely different world, full of complete strangers and the ability to make [...]
One thing that has been really bugging me over the past few days is this picture on the front page of Apple.com:
What does it mean? Just the beginning? To me, it’s obvious. Apple is going to take over the mobile phone market.
Reasoning:
Last year I wrote about Google Zeitgiest from my IBM Thinkpad at LAX waiting to catch my plane to Richmond. I thought I was cool. Now I know I’m cool. But Google is not. They just lost a lot of street cred because Michael Arrington of TechCrunch [...]
I just got off the phone with the President and it’s official. The name of our band, previously the Subtle Neon Browns, has been changed to The Skyline. Isn’t it beautiful? Merriam-Webster defines it as:
[...]
