Guest Blogger #1 : Matt

***As some of you may know, I've asked 3 friends to "guest-blog" for me while I get through this move. It gives me a chance to ease up on the blogging a little bit, but still keep my daily post, and let's face it...spice up the monotonous "woe-is-me-I-got-dumped" attitude I've had lately. My first blogger is one of the greatest guys I've ever met. We've been friends since college, and I can't even really describe how well this dude just "gets" me. I've always been able to talk to him without feeling silly, and he means the world to me. So, without further ado...Matt's guest blog!!!***

My name is Matt, and I am today’s guest blogger. I enjoy long walks on the beach, watching my beloved Cleveland teams break my heart over and over again, WWF Wrestling Buddies, and above all things, music. I write a music blog in my spare time so I thought my guest blog would tie in two awesome things in my life…music and my zebra-print snuggie…I mean, Ashley Wynkoop.

Have you ever noticed that there are certain songs that will always remind you of certain people? Well there are definitely certain stupid songs that I hear that will always remind me of Ashley. She actually recommended a few bands to me that stuck with me throughout the years. So without further interruptions (because this feels like I’m writing an essay) here are the…

TOP 5 SONGS THAT REMIND ME OF SMASHLEY WYNKOOP

5. Anything by Something Corporate
Something Corporate always reminds me of Ashley (even though they don’t exist anymore) because they are her favorite band, or were at some point. I had only heard a few of their songs before meeting her, but she introduced me to “Konstantine“, the bands 9-minute piano-laden, band-defining anthem. It’s a hell of a tune and when I hear it, it always reminds me of good times in college.



4. “Since U Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson
As awful as this song is, I thought it would be funny to learn how to play it on the guitar so I could play it at parties. I think I learned the song in my last semester of college and I pulled it out at a party over at Eidemiller’s one night and I think we almost got a noise complaint because of it. Ashley, Leah, and Andrea always made me play it whenever I had my guitar at a party after that point. NOTE: I no longer have any recollection of how to play this song.


3. Anything by Dashboard Confessional
One reason Ashley and I get along so well is that I am a balder version of Chris Carrabba. What can I say? Apparently, I do a damn fine job of covering his music, and I never would have had the confidence to play some of the open mic nights if it wasn’t for Ashley and the other WCUB kids telling me to go for it. I never got as many complements in one night as after I sang D/C one night at the old Gemmell Rotunda. Even though I can’t listen to as much of the whining music anymore that I used to listen to in college, Ashley and I have always shared a stupid infatuation with the kings of emo.



2. “Landed” by Ben Folds
This song takes me back to the newsroom at WCUB, where everybody would fight over the CD drive while writing the news over the course of the day. Unfortunately for Steph Holt and Leah Lovelace, Ashley won most of these battles because she refused to ever sleep in like normal people and would show up at dumb times of the morning to write pointless news (I’m guessing this is why she was the first to get a job out of all of us ’05 grads…hahaha).
One day she discovered this song for the first time and I think she played it at LEAST 20 times over the course of the day. I like Ben Folds, but once you hear a song 20 times in one day, you’ll never forget it…ever.


1. “Master of Puppets” by Metallica
Bet you didn’t see that one being dropped. Ashley isn’t the most hardcore person I know, but you know who is...Steve Braband. When Steve, Ash, (Pat, Kyle, and/or Leah) and myself would go to Red River Roadhouse for our Wednesday Night Tradition, Steve would always complain about the crap music that would always blast out at him from the blown-out speakers from Wynkoop’s old Ford Escort.
So one night Steve and I confiscated the stereo and inserted Metallica’s S&M album with the incredible live version of “Master of Puppets” on it. Steve and I went nuts head banging most of the way home as I recall. Ashley, despite maybe not enjoying the music, certainly laughed her ass off…probably while contemplating why she was friends with such losers.
[I can’t believe I remember that…seriously.]



So there ya go…hope you enjoyed it. Good luck on the move Ashley! Come visit your friends in Farmington!

P.S. - Ashley has a unique love of sloths. I encourage all of her current co-workers to paste cute pictures of sloths onto her computer desktop on a weekly basis to brighten up her day.