My favorite writing project of the year was the Philadelphia Weekly cover story on guitarist Matt Davis and his 11-piece ensemble Aerial Photograph. His unique monthly recording and gigging series, “Philadelphia 2008,” draws to a close at Tritone at 10pm on December 18. Matt just sent out a promo email, the text of which is worth circulating more widely. So here’s most of it, below.
Here are some things that I’ve taken from this experience, in no particular order:
1. People share far more similarities than differences.
2. Family and friends are the most important people in our lives.
3. Children are hilarious.
4. Anyone can start over and re-invent themselves at any time.
5. Most of us have to start over and re-invent ourselves at some point in our lives.
6. One of the best ways to see what doing drugs is all about is to spend a day at a rehabilitation facility in Kensington and watch someone going through physical withdrawal.
7. Inspiring people who do inspiring things are everywhere.
8. Our job and position in life isn’t our identity.
9. Everyone goes through hardships in life.
10. Everything can change for better or worse at any moment.
11. Just because someone is sick, homeless, has a criminal record, addicted to drugs, uneducated, etc., doesn’t mean that a) they will always be this way, and b) are any less worthy of our respect because of it.
12. “Vitmo” is a popular soda from India and is common at Indian grocery stores in West Philly.
13. Everyone everywhere loves music.
14. Teachers who love to teach are a blessing to their students and to everyone around them.
15. Teachers who hate teaching but teach anyway do a disservice to themselves, their students, and society.
16. Children grow up a lot faster in the city.
17. The murder rate is decreasing in Philly, but someone is killed here almost every day: 300 so far this year, 392 in ’07, 406 in ’06 and 380 in ’05.
18. There are good people who do selfless acts everyday in Philly that we never hear about.
19. People who go to war are never the same.
20. A lot of barriers between two people can disappear simply by talking.
21. The high school dropout rate in Philly is 42%.
22. 68% of prison inmates don’t have a high school diploma.
23. Few people make it into their 90’s and remain bitter or angry.
24. Recording sessions go much better with coffee.
25. Everyone has a story.
Comments are closed.