Matthew update
My friend and former bass player Matthew Seligman is living in Japan with his wife and little daughter Daisy. He has a band there that’s touring there right now and he’s writing a blog.
I met Matthew in about 1978 when he joined Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club. He’d recently left the Soft Boys. He introduced me to a guitarist/songwriter called Kevin Armstrong with whom he occasionally played. When BWCC broke up Matthew and Kevin became my first touring band, and they both featured extensively on ‘The Flat Earth.’
Aside from stints with me and Robyn, he also played with The Pretenders and the Thompson Twins, among others. And he co-wrote ‘Dissidents’, ‘Ability To Swing’ and ‘Neon Sisters’.
Matthew would probably agree that he’d be be completely nuts were it not for his music! I think it is the harmony of those four strings that keeps him comparatively sane. However he is the best barometer I have for whether my own music is on its artistic track or not. I’m sure we’ll work together again one day.
I should add one little anecdote. When Matthew visited me in LA around 1992 he told me of a town in Arizona called Seligman. It was so named after an ancestor of his that was Abraham Lincoln’s banker. Old man Seligman helped put the railroad though Arizona, so the locals named the town after him. Matthew had known about this town all his life and could point it out on a map.
Now, I’d recently attained my private pilot’s license so I offered to fly us out there in a 2-seater plane. I figured out we could just about make it in a long day if we left Burbank before dawn. We stopped for breakfast at Lake Havasu, overlooking London Bridge. Then we flew on towards Seligman, which my airport guide said had a ‘dirt strip with rocks and livestock.’ But my desert navigation was not too great (in LA if you get lost you just fly down low enough so you can see the freeway signs!) Our first attempt at a landing turned out to be in the wrong town altogether, though it was on the right railway line. Matthew got pretty sick in the turbulence. Eventually we found Seligman, and avoiding the rocks and livestock we set down close to the ‘center’ of town. We strutted into town, Matthew all in white like a saint that came from the sky.
We went into the only place open, a lone 50′s-looking diner, for some lunch. It was like something out of a David Lynch movie. A gum-chewing waitress with a beehive came over to take our order. Matthew pulled out his British passport and said ‘look! Look at my name!’ ‘Se-LIG-man?’ she said. ‘So?’ ‘No no, it’s SEL-igman. My great grandfather built this town!’ ‘Nah-uh… this here’s Se-LIG-man Arizona, honey. You got the wrong town.’ She took our order and left, leaving Matthew a bit stunned. Then slowly an old cowboy that was sitting at the counter swung round on his stool and looked Matthew up and down. ‘So you’re a Seligman, huh? Guess my great grandaddy knew your great grandaddy. Didn’t like him much, neither.’
Last month somebody told me they’d driven through Seligman recently, and it’s become a total tourist trap, with souvenir shops and a Wild West shootout reenactment. I’m getting to the age where places I once visited have changed beyond recognition, and it’s very disconcerting. Heading for the Scottish Hebrides next week, where Kathleen and I spent our honeymoon 18 years ago, and I’m just hoping they’ve retained some measure of their bleak charm….
I can’t tell you what a treat it is to check the blog and find new tidbits. I was worried now that your tour is over we wouldn’t be hearing new stories. How happy I am to be totally wrong! My family name is also a town in Arkansas…my uncle mailed his holiday cards from there last year. Although I don’t have as cool a background story as Matthew’s town. Might be time to write some fiction!
Hey If you talk to Matthew again could you ask him if he’s related at all Selig J. Seligman? He was the producer of a 60′s classic TV show called “Combat!” which was a terrific show that starred the late Great Vic Morrow as Sgt Saunders.
Just curious…
http://www.jodavidsmeyer.com/combat/personnel/Selig_J_Seligman.html
thats a great story, and its awesome that you have a pilot’s liscence
The town I´m currently in, in Tenerife is totally unlike the rest of the island, non-touristy. If I was in charge I wouldn’t change a thing. unfortunately they´re building a hotel here. I totally agree with what you say about how places change.
Next time you are in Atlanta, ask a local how to pronounce “Ponce de León”.
Not to mention playing with Bowie and at the orginal Live Aid. It was through your old forum that I noticed he had posted some time ago.
I tracked him down via his Snail blog and now am helping him with some design work, thanks to the site naturally. Small world indeed.
(My favorite bass line of all time is the one for Screen Kiss, which he told me you wrote. )
SpaceIntruder: Matthew sent me this….
“basically in the 19c it was the European diiasporra of jews and some went to UK, some US….the US bankers and the UK bankers were still related even in my grandfather’s time, and Warburgs in London bought the Seligman bank….but all we probably have now is vague “urban tribal” links, that’s all…”
Since I’ve probably listened to The Flat Earth more than any other pop album, it is indeed a treat to get a Matthew Seligman update. I enjoyed geeking out and catching him with Robyn, Kim and Morris at a couple of Soft Boys reunion concerts in L.A. a few years ago — an improbable-leaning-toward-impossible live experience (sound familiar?) Also, Arizona and tacky development field-trips notwithstanding, Matthew really is a fine fellow and an excellent performer. Kindly do make more music with him!
Thomas,
Thank you for the update on Matthew. Can you tell us what has become of Kevin Armstrong these days?
Hey Thomas, in your air travels if you ever find yourself at the Charles M. Schulz airport, I work right across the road. The winery isn’t open to the public but I’m extending you a standing invitation for a private tour as long as I’m there!
Thanks for the response, so could be maybe…. I thought MS was a terrific bassist. I really liked the parts of the “Live Wireless” concert video where you see him playing the Moogs and doing the occasional vocodered bits. I’m curious about Kevin too..
Last I heard, Kevin was running a studio in Ladbroke Grove, London.
I don’t fly any more. Once I had run out of airports within a days’ trip from LA, to keep expanding my range of experience I would have needed to get my ‘instrument’ license, which is required when you fly in cloud. That would have taken constant work and refresher courses. I had enough brushes with pilots who did not keep themselves current to convince me this was a bad idea!
I flew around England a little. Lots of ex-RAF bases with crumbling control towers manned by retired Spitfire pilots, who at moments of stress tended to relapse into ‘Gor lumme Sir it was a real pea-souper and we had to ditch our kitty in the drink and I’m afraid Ginger’s bought it Sir!’
Hehe.. great to hear about Matthew Seligman..
I thought you had a fear of flying?
How did you get to Seligman, AZ if you’re always flying north?
Sorry, couldn’t resist…
Talk about towns changing: I’m told I wouldn’t recognize Cripple Creek, Colorado. Last time I visited was 1969, and it was a sleepy ghost town. Only abandoned buildings & a small store. You could explore the history of the old gold mining town & get some rock candy. Not much else.
Now, it is supposedly all casinos & such. Total chaos.
And development is supposed to be good?
.
“Heading for the Scottish Hebrides next week, where Kathleen and I spent our honeymoon 18 years ago…”
Also meant to ask, have you ever attended Lonach in Strathdon, way into the Highlands?
My wife & I went in 2000. Quite fun. Very few Americans.
Billy Connelly has a place nearby, and usually invites friends over. We ran into Dame Judy Denche & Robin Williams (okay, one American). Missed seeing Eric Idle (Monty Python) who was also there at the time.
Hmm… maybe too much name-dropping. Sorry!
It’s just my wife is a Forbes & since Lonach is the Forbes Clan Highland Games, it was extra-special to us being there. Really need to make it back there one of these days.
The masses pipers coming out of the mists at dawn…
.
Talking of Matthew’s Flat Earth work, “The Flat Earth” has one of my favourite basslines, as does “Hyperactive!” now that I think of it.
Yes, flying can be a bit tenuous at best some times. My husband had once discussed obtaining his pilot’s license, but has since settled on flying model helicopters. I definitely feel much safer with his feet on the ground!
Thomas if you are heading to the highlands check out http://www.eilean-iarmain.co.uk/
greatest hotel on earth
a place to get back sanity in a bizarre world
Thomas, I am glad that you deceided not to fly. Too dangerous!!
I can’t imagine the world without you in it.
Gary Numan does not fly anymore either, his wife made him stop.
Love ya tons!!
meridia…
…
My name is Ross Seligman from the band Echo Helstrom in Portland OR. I am a Seligman and a musician. I have a picture of the highway sign for Seligman, AZ on my fridge. Now I wonder if I am related. How many Seligmans can there be? Not exactly a common name.
adult show tv…
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