Matt Osborne Memorial Concert Aug 6 Silver Dollar

[Mr. Musicface]

Dear friends,

It's difficult to believe that it has been more than 3 months since the passing of my dear friend Matthew Osborne. Since the phone call from Chris Patheiger late on the night of Friday April 23rd telling me of the sad news, there has been an amazing whirlwind of activity to honor a man so many of us saw not just as a musical friend and colleague, but as a role model.

Matt was a fellow traveler from before the beginning of the Uncle Seth story. The associations with me, Jeff Jones and former Seth bassist Ian Torres go back to the early nineties when Ian and Matt were schoolmates at Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo. Through Ian and other mutual friends we came to know this awesome musician, a near-force-of-nature on guitar with a voice that was simply gold. We were lucky enough, as were many others, to share stages with Matt in various musical guises throughout the last 12 or 13 years. Jeff asked Matt to be a part of the first Uncle Seth line-up back in 1999. Although he declined the offer to be a member, he was more than willing to open our very first show and many others, and play with us at jam nights held in a church basement in Markham. It was at these jams that Matt became close to former Seth singer Jenn Kee, current singer Tara Thompson, and others in the band.

Matt's incredible talents were surpassed only by the generosity of his spirit. He chipped in on bass on when we were short staffed, jammed on guitar and harmonica, sang a gorgeous duet on Bruce Cockburn's "Lovers In A Dangerous Time" with Tara at a many shows, and lent his voice to our CD on the song "If I Laugh". Simply put, if we asked him to do it and he could fit it into his schedule, he always would. Very often there wasn't a lot of money involved in these activities, and although Matt made his living as a musician and didn't have a day job to fall back on like most of us, a lack of funds never put him off. It was always about friendship and music with Matt, nothing else. He was special to everyone who was ever a part of this band, and to some of us he was more special that words can explain.

On Friday August 6th at the Silver Dollar Room in Toronto, we will do our best to pay tribute to a great soul. The Matt Osborne Memorial Concert will start at 8 pm, and will feature a few of Matt's many, many musical friends. Along with Uncle Seth, acts will include the kramdens, Linda M, The Friendless Youngsters, Mike Freedman (of Special Ed & The Musically Challenged), Atlas Stucco, Marion Berg, Mary Anne Epp, Chris Patheiger, Patrick Ang, Art From The Ruin, Angie Nussey, Jeff Allan Greenway, Sandy Stubbert, and a "super group" consisting of former Seth members Ian Torres & Jenn Kee, along with drummer Baron Evans and guitarists Jeff Jones & Mike Freedman.

Tickets for the show are now on sale at:

http://musicface.com/matt/

All proceeds from the show will go to the "The Matt Osborne Musicians Trust Fund", a trust set up to assist up-and-coming musicians.

This will be quite a night. I hope you can join us.

Take care,

Jay Moonah from Uncle Seth

a.k.a. Mr. Musicface