My name is Matt Crowley and I live in Seattle Washington. I moved here in 1987 from Missoula, Montana.
I attended the University of Montana from 1980 until 1987. In 1981 or so I teamed up with Shawn Swagerty and Dave Peterman for a one performance rock band called Jimmy Jones and the Cult of the Damned. I played drums, Dave Peterman played guitar, and Shawn Swagerty played bass. As you might imagine, I was one of the “Damned”:
Some time later I was in a band called Sports and Science:
I was the vocalist:
When I graduated I got my first car, a 1987 Dodge Daytona:
I worked as a pharmacist for the now defunct Pay ‘n Save pharmacy from 1987 until 1992. I then quit that job and ran away with the circus. The Jim Rose Circus Sideshow to be exact. While I was only with the sideshow from 1991 to 1994, I had a lifetime of experiences in that short period. The best summary of that adventure is a book written by our road manager Jan Gregor entitled Circus of the Scars.
Here’s a photo of me from 1992, taken in San Francisco during our Lollapalooza tour:
This is a photo from a review of Lollapalooza that ran in Newsweek magazine, Aug 17, 1992, page 55:
On Lollapalooza I met Kim Thayil, the guitarist for Soundgarden. He and I became friends, and in fact he was the best man at my wedding:
Wearing our sideshow swag:
Life with the sideshow involved a huge amount of travel. We went across Canada, around the US a couple of times, a tour in Australia, and four trips to Europe. We met lots of famous people, mostly rock stars. While in Lawrence Kansas, this gentleman attended our show:
Kim Thayil is in the dark hat, Chris Ballew of the Presidents of the United States of America is in the green hat:
After I left the sideshow in 1994 I would perform sideshow stunts by myself on occasion. In the mid 1990′s I was asked to participate in the dedication of the Giant Show Museum here in Seattle. I performed a condom stunt which I had invented. After I unrolled a condom I inhaled it in my nose then made it come out my mouth. Then I reversed the process, by putting it in my mouth and making it come out my nose. Then I put it over my head and inflated it. This was one of a number of sideshow stunts that I invented that are still being demonstrated by other sideshow performers. (Photos courtesy Jeff McCormick)
Here I am with Teller, explaining the “can smash” sideshow act:
When I left the sideshow I returned to work as a pharmacist, this time with Bartell pharmacy. Eventually I stopped doing that and started building and selling lamps. I did that for a time, and then became a student at South Seattle Community College where I earned four WABO welding certifications. Currently I work in a shop that fabricates stainless steel pipe systems.
Here I am with a specimen of exotic fauna from Waco Texas, taken in 2006:
Here I am wearing Adidas Stockholm shoes standing in front of Fantagraphics books, April 4, 2009:
A photo I took of a dodecahedral die lit by a laser beam:
Here is a short segment I did for Ripley’s Believe it or Not back in 2000. The site that uploaded the video is a porn site, so expect nekkid chicks on the page. NSWF, as they say…
Check out the blue guy in this video. The blue Mustang is mine as well.
Henry Shepherd also produced this video for another Seattle band called Devilhead, which featured Kevin Wood, brother of the late Andrew Wood. I play one of the clowns.
Our Moore theater performance was uploaded onto YouTube. Here is the segment that I’m featured in.
Here is a short segment for local TV shot at the Crocodile Cafe’ here in Seattle. My favorite part is watching how mind-blowing Mr. Lifto’s tongue piercing was back in 1991!
My favorite website on the Internet is Metafilter. My Metafilter profile.
Here is a YouTube clip which was shot in Seattle but shown on the English TV program called “The Word”.
I upload photos I like to my Flickr page.
I have a Facebook account.
