MySpace
myspace music my music  featured playlists  top artists  music videos  karaoke  shows  forums 


MySpace.com | rss | sign in
The Whomping Willows [ON TOUR 10/2 TO 11/15!!]



Last Updated: 11/2/2009

Send Message
Instant Message
Email to a Friend
Subscribe

Status: Single
City: Woonsocket
State: Rhode Island
Country: US
Signup Date: 10/29/2005

Blog Archive
[Older      Newer]
 /  / 
Friday, September 25, 2009 
ONE WEEK.

One week is all that's separating me and JFF from fall tour. 

We have some very exciting news for you: We've just added shows in Pennsylvania, Utah, and California! On October 4, we will be playing in Lauren Fairweather's dorm at Elizabethtown College. Our plans to play our first-ever show in Delaware did not pan out, so I went for the next-best option: playing a show in my girlfriend's current residence. :D This show will be free and completely open to the public and, of course, Lauren will be playing with us too! Next up, we'll be playing at our friend Tawni's house in Salt Lake City on October 21! We'd originally planned a driving day between Fort Collins and Las Vegas, but playing a show is obviously better! Finally, we've booked a show at the Milpitas Public Library in Milpitas CA for the afternoon of 10/25! I played there this summer with PotterCast and The Remus Lupins and it was fantastic! Let's have another dance party, Milpitas wizard kids!

We're still finalizing details on the Milpitas show -- stay tuned to our tour calendar for more info!

Here's the facebook event page for the Elizabethtown College show:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=136550864108

And here's the event page for Salt Lake City:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=137443291247


So, our tour calendar is just about final! We're still planning to have shows booked in Pocatello ID (11/1), Laramie WY (11/2), and St. Louis MO (11/5). Beyond that, I'm thinking it's going to be difficult to get anything else booked. Regardless, we will let you know what's happening with any unbooked dates as soon as we know.

We are very excited about this tour, and we're going to provide you with numerous ways to follow us while we're on the road. Here's everything you need to know!

Whomping Willows Twitter: @whompingwillows
Justin Finch-Fletchley Twitter: @jfftsq
Official Tour Blog: http://thehpalliance.org (as this tour will serve as a fundraiser for the HPA, they've agreed to host our Official Tour Blog!)
Official Tour Vlogs: http://www.youtube.com/thewhompingwillows

I've also been posting some photos of brand new fall tour merch on the Whomping Willows Facebook Page. Check it out!
 
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Whomping-Willows/139293246361

Here's a heads up: on Tuesday, Justin and I will be releasing a collaborative video that will display our awesome fall tour merch lineup in an amusing fashion! This video will feature a special guest, and will be posted on my youtube channel! Get pumped!

Love,
Matt
9:27 PM 
1 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Friday, September 18, 2009 
Justin Finch-Fletchley and I have spent the past couple weeks getting ready for Whomp The House Tour 3; while I can't speak for Justin, I can say with enthusiastic confidence that I am ready to roll. It's been two months since summer tour ended and I'm already feeling antsy. I'm also really effing excited to introduce some new material (songs from my forthcoming EP, to be released by the EP of the Month Club later this year) and show off some of the awesome new merch I've put together. 

This time around, I'm expanding beyond the usual t-shirts/tote bags/CDs lineup and offering new and exciting items: Whomping Willows frisbees, can koozies, and house-themed eye patches! The frisbees and koozies will be part of the Whomping Willows Fun Pack -- which simply means that you'll save money when you buy both of them together. I've been posting pictures of new t-shirt designs at the Whomping Willows Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Whomping-Willows/139293246361. Go check 'em out and add yourself as a fan if you haven't already! 

Our tour schedule has remained pretty much unchanged since my last blog post. Speaking of which, in case you missed it, I've created facebook event pages for all of our fall tour shows! Scroll down to my previous blog entry for links, and please feel free to RSVP to the event(s) you're attending and invite your wizard friends!

We do have a couple dates that we need to book, and we're hoping to fill them with house party shows! I've provided a list of those dates below and a corresponding list of cities that would be feasible for us to play on those dates:

10/15 - Little Rock AR/Memphis TN/Shreveport LA/Jackson MS
11/2 - Laramie WY/Salt Lake City/Cheyenne WY

We also have a few scheduled days off that we could possibly fill with shows, if we felt like it. ;) Here's the list:

10/11 - Tallahassee FL/Southern AL
10/21 - Salt Lake City
10/25 - San Jose/Milpitas area
11/9 - Peoria IL/Indianapolis IN

If you're interested in hosting a house party on any of these dates, please email me at thewhompingwillows@gmail.com

I believe that is all for now. Hope you're all enjoying the last few days of summer!

Love,
Matt
6:56 PM 
3 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Monday, September 07, 2009 

The first Whomp The House tour was an experiment – and while it was by no stretch of the imagination a financial success for anyone involved, it did accomplish something; at the very least, it expanded the notion of what a wizard rock show can and should be. The second Whomp The House tour was a success beyond anything JFF and I could’ve ever imagined. We raised $1,600 for disaster relief in Haiti, and we proved (at least to ourselves) that a successful wizard rock tour can happen outside the familiar setting of libraries and summer vacation.


With Whomp The House Tour 3, we’re hoping for a repeat at the very least, and this time around we’re raising money for the Harry Potter Alliance. To this end, we are donating 20% of admission fees from all of our house party shows. In addition, we are donating 33% of our merch sales from specific items (namely, house-themed pirate eye patches!). Our goal is to raise $1,000 for the HPA – we think this is actually a pretty modest goal, and there’s potential to double or even triple that donation if we do our job right.

 

This donation to the HPA will help keep the organization running, and it’ll (indirectly) contribute to several important campaigns simultaneously. However, fundraising is only one aspect of the entire equation. We will also be working to promote the HPA Chapters program; not with fliers, not with speeches on how awesome the program is – we are taking it one step further by allowing local HPA chapters to participate in the show itself. Each house party show will be broken up into two sets with a 10 to 20 minute intermission in between. We are asking local chapters to attend these shows and spend that intermission time talking to the audience about their chapter and recruiting new members. If you’re part of a chapter and you’re interested in speaking, please email Karen at chapters@thehpalliance.org to get involved.


So, we’ve gone through our entire tour calendar and we’ve created facebook event pages for each show! Our ability to invite people directly is obviously limited to who we’re friends with on facebook, so please feel free to RSVP to whatever show(s) you’re planning to attend and invite all of your awesome wizard friends! Please note that we haven’t created event pages for shows we haven’t booked yet. J

 

10/2 Whitman MA http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=127077296009

10/3 New York NY http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=128861692444

10/4 VA/DE/DC – Almost Booked!

10/5 Cary NC http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=246231835371

10/6 Asheville NC http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=131861062521

10/7 DAY OFF 

10/8 Carrollton GA http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=154240232588

10/9 Orlando FL http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=109471254158

10/10 Ft. Lauderdale FL http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=143428635632

10/11 DAY OFF 

10/12 Birmingham AL http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=125493718236

10/13 Hattiesburg MS http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=131705647476

10/14 Nashville TN http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=256166810190

10/15 Little Rock AR – Contact thewhompingwillows@gmail.com if you’re interested in hosting a house party!

10/16 Dallas TX http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=262919790537

10/17 Oklahoma City OK http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=127089949431

10/18 Tulsa OK http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=171665963288

10/19 Manhattan KS http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=128617796937

10/20 Fort Collins CO http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=124875787623

10/21 DAY OFF 

10/22 Las Vegas NV http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=127250213289

10/23 Phoenix AZ http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=157256394895

10/24 Santa Monica CA http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=268279160383

10/25 DAY OFF

10/26 San Francisco CA http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=124959278278

10/27 Humboldt Redwoods State Park http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=146849222441

10/28 Portland OR http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=130459859556

10/29 DAY OFF

10/30 Seattle WA http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=124519609191

10/31 Spokane WA http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=146602000114....

11/1 Pocatello ID – Almost Booked!

11/2 Laramie WY -- Contact thewhompingwillows@gmail.com if you’re interested in hosting a house party!

11/3 Denver CO http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=156308973464

11/4 Ames IA http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=155966860357

11/5 St. Louis MO – Almost Booked!

11/6 to 11/9 Wrockstock 2009 (www.wrockstock.com)

11/10 Chicago IL http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=127380414177

11/11 Lebanon OH http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=135385697898

11/12 Ypsilanti MI http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=273151620054

11/13 Akron OH http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=124604604537

11/14 Pittsburgh PA http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=147486895319

11/15 New York NY contact colorfulsonata@aol.com for details!


Finally, I am very pleased to mention that this tour includes two major landmarks in Whomping Willows history! The first is October 17, which marks the two-year anniversary of my first day as a full-time wizard rocker! I can’t believe I’ve been touring for two years now. Holy crap. Second, the four-year anniversary of this band will take place on October 29! We don’t have a show that day, so we’ll be celebrating in earnest on October 28 and 30. J

 

Much love,

Matt

11:41 PM 
6 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Wednesday, August 26, 2009 

Hello friends!

I am very excited to share our updated tour schedule with you. We have received an amazing response from our fans over the past week or so, and we've managed to fill the majority of our open dates with awesome house party shows! This is looking like it's going to be a very successful fundraiser for the Harry Potter Alliance and we appreciate your support and enthusiasm.

Before you check out the schedule, I wanted to mention a couple things. 

First, I've officially re-released Welcome to the House of Awesome in a new "DIY" edition. It's on sale now for just $10 in the newly revamped Whomping Willows store. 

In honor of this only mildly noteworthy event (ha), I've introduced a few awesome package deals for people who may want to buy multiple Whomping Willows CDs. These packages include the DUO FOR YOU-O deal (Demons at the Helm and III for $22), the THREE FULL-LENGTHS deal (Demons, III, and House of Awesome for $30) and the WHOLE LOTTA WHOMPY deal (Demons, III, House of Awesome, and Treestylin' for $36). In addition, I've reduced the price of Treestylin' to just $7 (and I should mention that Treestylin' is very close to being sold out!). All of these prices include shipping!

To take advantage of these awesome deals, head on over to http://thewhompingwillows.com now!

Also, you may have heard that I'm retiring several old t-shirt designs in the next few weeks. Want to get one before they're no longer available? Click here!

Here's the current tour schedule!

 Just a side note: Most of the "TBA" dates are very close to being booked. We are still looking for potential house party hosts in Little Rock AR, Pocatello ID, Laramie WY, and southern Michigan!

Another side note: Check out the awesome list of bands we'll be playing with: Harry and the Potters, Swish and Flick, Nagini, Split Seven Ways, The Blibbering Humdingers, Gred and Forge, Fred Lives, The Mudbloods, The Remus Lupins, Tonks and the Aurors, I Speak Tree, and Madame Pince and the Librarians! 

Another side note: Check out what we have planned for October 27. Seriously, if you live within a day's driving distance, you need to be there. 

10.02.09 | Whitman MA
Whitman Public Library
100 Webster Street 02382
FREE | 6pm
w/ Harry and the Potters

10.03.09 | Manhattan NY
Sidewalk Cafe
94 Avenue A @ 6th Street
FREE | 7pm
w/ Swish and Flick, Nagini, and Split Seven Ways

10.04.09 | Northern VA/DC/Delaware
 TBA 

10.05.09 | Cary NC
Scott and Kirsten's House
408 Rustic Ridge Road 27511
$5 | 6:30pm
w/ The Blibbering Humdingers

10.06.09 | Asheville NC 
Jarrod's House
13 Church Street 28787 
$5 | 7pm
w/ Gred and Forge

10.07.09 | DAY OFF

10.08.09 | Carrollton GA
Hope's House 
201 North White Street 30119 
$5 | 7:30pm

10.09.09 | Orlando FL 
Alli's House 
contact thewhompingwillows@gmail.com for address 
$5 | 7pm
w/ Fred Lives

10.10.09 | Pompano Beach FL
Boomerang Cafe
1631 South Cypress Road 33060
$6 | 7pm

10.11.09 | DAY OFF

10.12.09 | Birmingham AL
North Shelby Library 
5521 Cahaba Valley Road 35242
FREE | 7pm

10.13.09 | Hattiesburg MS
Oak Grove Public Library 
4958 Old Hwy 11 39402 
FREE | Time TBA

10.14.09 | Nashville TN
Lizzie's House 
contact lizzie@the-leaky-cauldron.org for address 
$5 | 6pm

10.15.09 | Little Rock AR 
Want to host a house party show?
contact thewhompingwillows@gmail.com

10.16.09 | Dallas TX
Sexy Snape's Dungeon Pool Party 
8560 Park Lane 75231 
Gate Code: KEY KEY 1054
Take a left at tennis court and another left at the pool.
$5 | 7pm
w/ The Mudbloods

10.17.09 | Oklahoma City OK
Downtown Library 
300 Park Avenue 73102 
FREE | 5:30pm
w/ The Mudbloods

10.18.09 | Tulsa OK 
Maureen’s House 
contact thewhompingwillows@gmail.com for address
$5 | 6pm

10.19.09 | Manhattan KS 
Manhattan Public Library
629 Poyntz Ave. 66502
FREE | 6:30pm

10.20.09 | Fort Collins CO
Discovery Science Center
703 East Prospect Road 80521
$5 | 7pm

10.21.09 | OFF

10.22.09 | Las Vegas NV
Montara Estates Clubhouse
4803 S. Mojave Road 89120
$5 | 7pm

10.23.09 | Gilbert AZ 
Alison’s House 
308 West Desert Avenue 85233 
$5 | 6pm

10.24.09 | Santa Monica CA 
Whimsic Alley 
2717 1/2 Wilshire Blvd 90403
FREE | 4pm 
w/ The Remus Lupins 

10.25.09 | OFF

10.26.09 | Greenbrae CA
Stephanie's House
652 South Eliseo Drive 94904
$5 | 7pm

10.27.09 | Humboldt Redwoods State Park
Avenue of the Giants
We are going to play a show in the Redwoods Forest!
We plan to park our car somewhere along the Avenue of the Giants and set up next to a gigantic tree.
More details TBA.
FREE | 5pm

10.28.09 | Portland OR 
Erica’s House 
contact thewhompingwillows@gmail.com for the address
$5 | 6pm

10.29.09 | DAY OFF

10.30.09 | Bellevue WA
Halloween HPA Potluck!
Lake Hills Club House
15230 Lake Hills Blvd. 98007
$5 | 8pm
optional: bring your best homemade dish for the potluck!


10.31.09 | Cheney WA
Eastern Washington University
Harry Potter Halloween Extravaganza!
PUB Student Lounge
FREE | 7pm
Screening of Half Blood Prince after the show!


11.01.09 | Pocatello ID
TBA

11.02.09 | Laramie WY
Want to host a house party show?
contact thewhompingwillows@gmail.com

11.03.09 | Brighton CO
Rangeview Library District - Brighton Branch
575 S. 8th Avenue 80601
FREE | 6pm

11.04.09 | Ames IA
The M-Shop @ Iowa State University
Memorial Union building
$5 students, $8 public | 7pm
w/ Ministry of Magic

11.05.09 | St. Louis MO
TBA

11.06.09 | Wrockstock the Third : Day One
www.wrockstock.com for more info

11.07.09 | Wrockstock the Third : Day Two
www.wrockstock.com for more info

11.08.09 | Wrockstock the Third : Day Three
PERFORMANCE: 4pm
www.wrockstock.com for more info

11.09.09 | DAY OFF

11.10.09 | Chicago IL
Fuchsia's House
2453 N. Mozart Street 60647
$5 | 8pm

11.11.09 | Lebanon OH
Monica's House
310 Forge Drive 45036
$5 | 6pm

11.12.09 | Ypsilanti MI
Eastern Michigan University Student Center (room TBA)
900 Oakwood Street 48197
$5 | 6pm
w/ Tonks and the Aurors
sponsored by EMU's very own The Fifth House (HP Book Club)

11.13.09 | Akron OH
Akron-Summit County Library 
60 S. High Street 44326 
FREE | 6:30pm

11.14.09 | Pittsburgh PA
Freya's House
139 Edgewood Ave, Apt. 308 (Stratford Hall) 15218
$5 | 6pm
w/ Tonks and the Aurors and I Speak Tree

11.15.09 | New York NY
Ariel's House
contact colorfulsonata@aol.com for the address
$5 | 7pm
w/ Madame Pince and the Librarians

7:05 PM 
13 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Tuesday, August 11, 2009 
Hey folks!

Right now I'm holding a contest, and there's a good chance you don't know about it. That's because you're not subscribed to my mailing list! Since creating the list, I've sent out exactly two emails: one about my summer tourrrr and recent album release, and one about this contest that you don't know about. As promised, I am not using the mailing list to spam fans with rampant self-advertisement: I'm simply using it to send occasional messages about very important things like tour dates, album releases, and special exclusive contests like the one you undoubtedly would like to hear more about but can't because you're not subscribed to the mailing list!

Want to subscribe? Just use the widget below!


The%20Whomping%20Willows
Quantcast

Love,
Matt
5:09 PM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Thursday, July 30, 2009 
Dear friends,

There are a few things that happened this summer that really opened my eyes. I'm not going to say what they are, nor will I even talk about them beyond this one mention of their existence. But I will say that sometimes things happen that effectively realign your priorities. There was a time when using wizard rock as a means of expressing my political and social views was a priority, and that's how Welcome to the House of Awesome came to be. There was also a time (like eight months ago) when I felt it was important to share a lot of personal thoughts and feelings with the wizard rock community, and that's how Demons at the Helm came to be. Now that I've gotten these urges out of my system, I'm really getting excited about returning to canon and removing myself from the equation completely. Because, frankly, I've spent too much time talking about myself. There are people for whom wizard rock is an opportunity to shine in the public spotlight -- and that's totally fine, and I spent some time there myself. But at this moment I'm feeling like a retreat is in order. Touring is awesome and I'm going to keep doing it. Writing songs and releasing records is awesome and I'm going to keep doing it. Beyond that, I'd like to strip away everything that's extraneous and really focus on the music and on playing good shows. 

I still think Demons at the Helm is the best record I've ever released, and believe me, there are no regrets about the subject matter. If people love it, great! If people hate it, whateva! I originally thought of this record as transitional -- each Whomping Willows record has been increasingly personal, and Demons at the Helm is just the next step in a logical progression. But I realize that if this trend were to continue, the next Whomping Willows record wouldn't be wizard rock at all, it would be non-wizard music under the guise of a wizard rock band name. And while I would contend that I am free to do whatever the fuck I want with my band name, I could see why releasing a completely non-wizard record as The Whomping Willows might bother a lot of people. It may happen in the future, who knows, but it's not something I want to do right now.

Then there was that Wizrocklopedia article about The Parselmouths... 

Dinah and I have hugged and made up and everything is cool. But I can't help responding to the whole ordeal with some kind of complicated form of commentary.

So, the next full-length Whomping Willows record is going to be 100% canon. I'm pulling a 180 and returning to the basics of wizard rock. Furthermore, it's going to be a concept album; I'll be writing songs about specific events from the books that involve the Whomping Willow, from the perspective of a variety of characters. A song about the flying car incident -- from Ron's point of view. A song about the Whomping Willow's violent tendencies -- from Davey Gudgeon's point of view. The possibilities are endless. I think it'll be fun. I'm considering calling this album "The Entire Wizarding World Revolves Around Me." I'm expecting it to be released in time for summer tour 2010.

I also have an EP to write for the EP of the Month Club. I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing with that, but I'll be working on it in August and September, so I should have an idea of the subject matter fairly soon.

Finally, here's an official announcement about fall tour: JFF and I will be touring from October 2 through November 15, and we'll be touring nationwide. We'll be hitting up a few cities I missed over the summer, including Phoenix, Las Vegas, and parts of the midwest. And of course, JFF will be back in the west for the first time since last November. This will be another house party tour, and at some point soon I'll be releasing our schedule and asking for fans to host shows. We'll be fundraising for the Harry Potter Alliance; to that end, all house party shows will involve a $5 admission, and a portion of that money will be donated directly to the HPA. The rest of the money will help us pay for gas and stuff. :) 


Okay then. I believe that is all for now. 

Love,
Matt
4:57 PM 
15 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Monday, July 13, 2009 
Goodness gracious. I just looked at my tour calendar and there are only three shows left on it. It's mid-July and summer tour is almost over? WEIRD.

In fairness to my slim tour calendar, I have been on the road since May 27, and I've played a lot of amazing shows in many wonderful cities. And really, this tour has been leading up to two major events: Azkatraz, and the release of the sixth Harry Potter film.

To celebrate the film's release, I'll be joining some fellow wizard rockers and podcasters in transforming the Howard Hughes center mall into Hogsmeade. There will be multiple concerts, live podcasts, and other wizardly events throughout the day, including a book signing courtesy of Melissa Anelli (Harry, A History). Here's a general schedule of the day's events:


HP Trivia games with prizes - 2:30 pm, 4:30 pm 7:30 pm, 9pm

LIVE Pottercast - 5pm

Marked as His Equal and Hermione Crookshanks Experience - 3:30pm and 8pm

The Whomping Willows and The Remus Lupins - 5pm and 9:30 pm

Melissa Anelli signing copies of her book - 6:30pm (at Borders)

Costume Contest 7pm and 11pm

If you're interested in seeing the film (why wouldn't you be?!), you can acquire tickets at WhimsicAlley.com and from The Bridge theater at Howard Hughes center!

Get your tickets now because they will sell out!

See you there!
Matt

8:39 AM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Saturday, July 11, 2009 
Maybe it's a second bout of separation anxiety that has me stumped right now, but I'm finding it very difficult to compose this blog. In just a few days, we will all experience a visualization of Dumbledore's death. The first time around, we experienced his death in print. While reactions were undoubtedly varied, I'd venture to guess that most Harry Potter fans felt pretty bummed out about it. Personally, I didn't believe it. I searched the narrative for clues that he might still be alive. I totally bought into dumbledoreisnotdead.com, not only because it was a pretty decent defense of a theory I wanted to believe, but also because it offered me hope at a time when one of my favorite literary characters had been AK'd into oblivion. I read the entire series for the second time last year, and I have to admit that my perspective on Dumbledore changed. This was a direct result of the fact that my perspective on Harry changed. There was a time when I wasn't too crazy about Harry -- I felt like there were moments when he took his friends for granted despite never having friends before reaching Hogwarts. I felt like Snape's criticism of Harry had a lot of truth to it, that his success was at least partially a result of dumb luck and more talented friends. My second reading resulted in a greater understanding of Harry. I realized that his "emo" phase in the fifth book was more a result of natural teenage angst and hormones, rather than a reflection of some inherent fault in his personality. I started to really sympathize with his feeling that Dumbledore had abandoned him. Most importantly, I started to really appreciate the fact that Harry accomplished amazing things at a very young age, and took on responsibilities that were well beyond his years. Dumbledore did distance himself from Harry on a surface level, at a time when he needed a stable father figure in his life, and after having established himself as a father figure over the course of Harry's first four years at Hogwarts. Sure, Dumbledore finds a decent excuse for his actions when all is said and done, but we can glean from books 6 and 7 that Harry's trust in Dumbledore is never really solid from that point on. Harry's doubts resurface even after Dumbledore's death, as it becomes apparent that Harry is somewhat of a pawn in another man's quest. In my opinion, Harry continues the hunt for horcruxes not because he's acting on behalf of Dumbledore, but because he finds a way to reframe the entire ordeal into his own personal quest (after all, his motive for destroying Voldemort is a bit more personal than Dumbledore's). Dumbledore's death may have been devastating to Harry, but it was the final straw that broke his boyhood and shaped him into a man. Of course, I can't ignore the fact the Dumbledore had countless positive qualities. In addition to being the only wizard Voldemort ever feared, he was also an embodiment of the complexity of love. His compassion for Harry was at times a great strength and at other times an Achilles' heel. He had a fantastic sense of humor and an intellect that few people could match. He had a knowledge humanity that could only come from decades of experience with love and loss. He was an incredible man. Personally, the greatest lesson Dumbledore taught me is this: no matter how powerful you are, no matter how intelligent or talented or worldly, ultimately you are only human. Your being human binds you to the tendency to falter. J.K. Rowling has proven herself a great commentator on humanity on countless occasions, and I would dare to say that Dumbledore is Rowling's greatest lesson on humanity. Nobody is perfect, not even the most powerful wizard in the Harry Potter universe. For me, the WWDD campaign is not about painting Dumbledore as anything more than the human he was. It's more about recognizing one's faults and being the best person one can be in spite of those faults. What would Dumbledore do? He'd do the best that he can.
6:12 PM 
1 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Monday, June 22, 2009 
Peeps,

PotterCast, The Remus Lupins, and I will be staging a peaceful protest against the Ministry of Magic's policies TOMORROW at the National Mall in Washington DC! 

Meet us at 4th St. SW and Jefferson Dr., SW, facing the reflection pool. Bring signs supporting your favorite cause (SPEW! Free Stan Shunpike! etc.) and rock out with us and our acoustic guitars! It'll be FUN!

5pm.

Matt
4:17 PM 
4 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Saturday, May 30, 2009 
Three and a half years later, it finally occurs to me that I should have a mailing list for my band. Holy crap.

You should join. I promise I won't send you a lot of messages. Only really super-pertinent stuff, like "Hey, I just released a new album!" or "Hey, I'm playing a show at your house!" 

It's also really easy to sign up:


The%20Whomping%20Willows
Quantcast

Just type your email address in that box and hit the little button to join. Reverb Nation will send you a confirmation email, and you'll have to click on a link. There might be a little form to fill out for additional info. I joined the mailing list to test it, and it took like a minute and a half to complete. Easy peasy!

Thanks!

Love,
Matt
5:40 PM 
6 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate