I just “googled” my name (admit it…you’ve done it too) and I found another Matt Blanchard with a website. Check him out: Matt Blanchard He seems to be a track star. Maybe I am him and I just don’t know it right at this moment. If there were no reflective surfaces in this world it might be possible for me to think that he is what I look like. Imagine if you had never seen what you look like. Would it be similar to when you meet someone over the phone and your brain immediately conjures up a “picture” of them..but then you meet that person (in person) and they don’t look anything like what you imagined? So you think you look a certain way for years and then the monolith appears and it occurs to you that sputtering a thin layer of molten aluminum or silver onto the back of a plate of glass in a vacuum will enable you to see your reflection. So you do this with your hot mops and see yourself for the first time…and realize you look like an ape on a rampage.

Ed Rosenberg and I are playing a song he wrote for two tenor saxophones called Twubducted next Tuesday. We both fear being abducted by aliens and have talked about what it would be like if we were abducted together. We both agreed that when it happens we will try to joke around the entire time…just to be funny…imagine being abducted and about to be probed and yelling across the room some funny one-liner…anyway, here is a recording of us playing Twubducted at Ed’s senior recital a few years ago:

Twubducted

This will be the first post in an ongoing series, “What if?”

1. It’s amazing to me that every person (except for twins, but even twins aren’t EXACTLY the same) on earth looks different. What if all women looked the same and all men looked the same? Or what if men and women all looked exactly alike? How would this change things?

2. Why are there only two sexes? What if there were 4 or 5 sexes and only a few types could mate with all other types? Would those few types be more powerful than the others?

3. What if sugary and greasy foods were the healthiest foods you could eat? Would obesity cease to exist or would we desire vegetables and fruits (the unhealthy foods)?

I spend about two weeks in Atlanta, GA and two weeks in NYC every month. After living in Buffalo, NY for most of my life I decided that I wanted warm, sunny weather year round. This, coupled with great musical opportunities I was offered if I moved to Atlanta, made the decision to move south an easy one. I travel to NYC for my company, Boom Design Group, and my band, Jerseyband. Here is a photo of the main room in my apartment in Atlanta. Photo by Nathan Heleine.

I was in NYC for the past two weeks helping move my company, Boom Design Group, into our new office space. The wall of windows overlooks a very inspiring view of Manhattan in the near distance, especially at night. I took this pic with my cell phone so please excuse the poor quality…I will have higer res photos soon.

Just got back to NYC after a week long Jerseyband tour. For me, it was our best tour yet…great audiences, fun hangs, met nice new people, and financially we came out pretty well. One thing I love about touring is the amazing restaurants that we get to frequent. The following is a list of my current favorite restaurants:

Italian: La Castalana - Buffalo, NY

Pizza: Santora’s - Buffalo, NY

Indian: Punjaabi - Manhattan

Thai: Nan - Atlanta, GA

Chinese: Kam Sing - Brooklyn, NY

Japanese: Miyako - Brooklyn, NY

Moroccan: Fez - Philadelphia, PA

Submarines: Quizno’s (yes, I know its a huge corporate chain but these are by far the best subs I’ve had)

Mexican: To be determined…

Ethiopian: Fasika’s - Washington, D.C.

Polish: Christina’s - Brooklyn, NY