Programmer - Music Producer - Songwriter - MMAP Designer

Dave will combine all his expertise and artistic skills in the development of ArtsForge's
MP3 MusicForge Collaboration
currently in the design and testing stage.

Dave's latest production reviewed:

Volume 18, Issue 19
(October 23 - November 7) of Music Row magazine.
A review by RobertK. Oermann;
Robert Oermann is the premier music reviewer in Nashville:


Ruby Amanfu Discovered

Nashville's pop/rock community has been the surprise
success story of the year. Out of three DISCovery Award contenders, the
highest award goes to Ruby Amanfu for her Lost Frog Records release,
So Now the Whole World Knows.
She is a a 'song poet' and she ranks as one of the finest discoveries I've made
all year long. Ruby's literate songwriting, acoustic-pop production and
Joan Armatrading/Tracy Chapman sensibilities are all equally ear tickling."

Music Row magazine has a web site (www.musicrow.com).

Some personal words from Dave Matthews:

My family always had music, and the tune "You'll Never Walk Alone" as performed by Fred Waring and his Penns. was my favorite tune for years. Then I built a transistor radio receiver, while my family was stationed in North Carolina, in about 1964 when I was 14. Building the radio was fun, but then I started actually listening to that radio late into the night when everyone else had gone to sleep. That was just when the Beach Boys and the Beatles were hitting the scene, but I heard a lot of early rock & roll, motown, and even some country. So at 14 I started listening, then was shipped overseas to India, a virtual wasteland w.r.t. pop music. I used a sortwave receiver to tune into the BBC and VOA to keep up with the Beatles, Stones, Hollies, Sam & Dave, you know the stuff. There were no local radio stations playing anglo, western music, only rare, short, shows from the BBC and VOA. I built a small am band transmitter while in India (1965-67) and played at being a disc jockey for a 5 mi. radius of homes, playing records of pop music. There were a number of international and American families in the enclave where I lived who enjoyed my efforts. I transmitted my 'show' for a few months, a few hours a night. I played a lot of the same tunes over and over again. Since records were not plentiful for me or in the area, I played anything I could find, a variety of older rock & roll and anything new I could find...quite a diverse collection (including Fred Waring and others!) but limited numbers of actual tunes, and over and over...there was nothing else except Indian music. To break up the monotony of my broadcasts, I began writing fake commercial jingles with a friend, recording them on an old reel to reel machine, or broadcasting our duets live. I played in high school bands both in India and during my pass at college. Then when I dropped out of school I began seriously writing and playing what I considered pop music with an eye for a career in music. That began in 1968, and continued till about 1974 when I decided to get a real gig and went back to school. My music was not very good, but it also wasn't appropriate for Nashville where I wound up for some reason. It was folky pop music. In 1978 after I married Becky I started playing and writing music again, just for fun. We wrote and recorded some really fun stuff, some of those early songs are on the Adobe Pagoda CD (Bounce Box, Energy Shortage for example). Then in the early 80's we hooked up with some professional players and formed a 'top 40's' dance band to play lounges and clubs. For two years we toured the country, on the road for months at a time. Six nights a week, 5 hours a night, week after week, playing the current pop music tunes, dance tunes, country tunes, oldies, etc. We stayed current as possible by constantly listening to the popular music stations and checking out the jukeboxes in the various stops along the road. I was immersed in pop music for those two years, and I played it night after night after night after night..... In the period around 1984 -1985 Becky and I developed the wacky, computer controlled, robot supported musical extravaganza, Adobe Pagoda! We never meant those tunes to be pop music however, they were fun tunes to support the show, with a science and science fiction theme. But we wrote songs (some are documented on the Adobe Pagoda CD), and performed songs, and once again immersed ourselves in full-time musical activity. Unfortunately it was too hip for the room. But experience was still gained, seeing what worked with the audiences and so forth. The best response was from the teenage skaters the two times we played at Ice Centennial. Other than the fun attraction of the robot face and the lights and fog machine, the kids seemed to truly appreciate the tunes we wrote, and the way we played, and they skated and danced in time with the music. That was a good gig. Only now has it struck me how significant my experience in the music business has already been. I've been listening to pop music for 34 years. I've been involved with writing and performing music almost as long. My my memory is still sharp. I look forward to letting it provide an inspiring context to future creativity and collaborations with everyone at ArtsForge and my own label, Lost Frogs Records. Whew! Thanks for listening...