"I was reading this book at my mom's house inCape Cod," Matt says. It's noon on a Wednesdayafternoon, and Matt is visibly high. His eyes, notnormally sparking and bright, are scrunched upinto little red balls. When I went up to his room,he came out giggling, and the whole Fat Day housesmelled of slightly stale pot smoke.

"It was called Prairie Earth, I think,by William Heat Moon or Half Moon or something.And there was a story in it about Knute Rockne andhow he was in a plane that collided in mid-airwith another plane. Everyone died, there were bodyparts everywhere, and since it took the ambulancelike an hour to get to the scene people pillagedthe seats and cushions. They might also havestolen body parts. They never found certain partsof Knute Rockne.

"So I wrote this song about the story called'Knute Rockne' and then junior year I realizedthat me and my friends called 'taking to coach'getting high, you know, like, 'Let's go talk tocoach,' or 'I just talked to coach.' So then Irealized that Knute Rockne was a coach and somaybe the song was subconsciously about pot.

"You know, whenever I go home, I can never findthat passage in the book."

Single white male. Favorite recreationaldrug is Robitussin. ("The main problem is that youoften puke like an hour after you do it whichmeans you lose it.") Favorite music in high schoolwas pink Floyd, Meatloaf, and the over to oneside.

Bagpipes, etc.

Matt and I are sitting in his bedroom on thesecond floor of the Fat Day House; there are pilesof clothes and CDs on the floor, and a cat issitting in the window.

"I always want to hear some music," Matt says,pushing around a pile to CDs. "Oftentimes I don'teven know what I want to listen to." Matt has 500CDs. "I have a hard time picking out music." Hedecides on a disc of the Peking Opera Company. "Igot this at Briggs and Briggs. They have a lot ofweird music there."

Matt is constantly surrounded by music. Heplayed the bagpipes for years, although now theymainly just sit in his closet. He is alwaysexperimenting. Music, playing and performingmusic, is his passion. "I like to drive a lot," hesays, as a man in the Perking Opera emits a seriesof short bark-like screeches. "But performing isreally what I love to do. A lot of time when youget caught up won't know what's going on you'rejust doing it. That's the best part aboutperforming--the more you can separate yourselffrom thinking about what you're doing and just becompletely doing it, the better it is."

Past jobs include stints as a Papa Gino'sdelivery boy; a produce truck driver, ababysitter, and a Freshman Union worker. Careerambitions are to play with Fat Day for a year ortwo and possible because I'll have a degree fromHarvard. Just got to keep paying the bills." Lovesto drive and therefore wants to get a job drivinga taxi.

Total Facial Reconstruction

Any discussion of Matt would need to take intoaccount his intense appreciation for almostcomically graphic violence. I wish I didn't haveto take this into account; I have a weak stomach.

But in my first interview with Matt, he showedme his favorite book--Total FacialReconstruction, by Richard Start, M.D. Itcontains the most disturbing, grotesque pictures Ihave ever seen, page after page of unflinchinglyclinical photos of people whose faces have beenmangled beyond recognition. These shots areaccompanied by case histories and the appropriate"after" shots, being after, as it were, a skingraft from the armpit to the cheek or the removalof a bone aberrantly protruding from some poorsoul's chin. The introduction says that it "is nota book to save or keep on the shelf. It deservescare ful reading by the practicing plastic andreconstructive surgeon." Indeed.

Matt had told me that the book was kept on thefloor in the bathroom, and laughed as I doubledover, trying to get me to look at a "great shot"of a young girl who had undergone a series ofoperations that lasted over five years.

"This band--we've always liked gory low-budgethorror films, like 'Pieces' or 'Demons.' We're allpretty into blood and gore." Matt tries to get meto look at a picture of someone whose arm wasamputated and then grafted on to his face. "Thisis great. Here, look at this. This stuff is great.