Matthew Taylor RIP

Within days of Matt Taylor moving to Athens, we met. Fall of ’93. A Texan who held the distinction of being one of Touch & Go’s early graphic designers, meeting him was moth to flame. Nobody laughed harder than Matt, and he was always quick with a Chicago-style sidecrack when the moment arose.
In the beginning months of Chunklet, he helped design the first logo that was subsequently silkscreened on work shirts. These were also the earliest days of desktop publishing before I even owned a computer or even knew what graphic design meant. His little dog, Hombre, was the centerfold to the pet issue of Chunklet. Issue 9. He also worked door for a few of those early Chunklet house parties. I’ll never forget his kindness.
Harvey Milk trivia: Matt designed the “I Don’t Know How To Live My Life” single (which we later used for the singles comp) and the Star Wars parody t-shirt. I still own both (like a loser).
When it came to trivia about The Jesus Lizard in the early 90s, Matt’s bench of incredible humblebrags was deep, but nothing topped the fact that he was one of the models who posed for the “Wheelchair Epidemic” single from ’91. Flash ahead, years later when I’m the editor/design monkey behind “BOOK” and I remembered and asked him to send along which we included in the dang thing. His one-time partner Grace Jeffers is the female model. Thank you, Grace. Thank you, Matthew.
Matt was the bassist for Bellini. I put on the two shows they performed in Atlanta and Athens, but I was on the Mr. Show tour that summer. Can’t say it wasn't the first time a show went on without me being there. So you can imagine my disbelief when Matt called me the early morning after the Athens show (I was in Boston at the time) to tell me that drummer Damon Fitzgerald quit the band during the second song of their set at the Caledonia. Damon stood up, mid-song, said “I quit” and threw his sticks into the crowd, packed his shit and drove his van back to PA. *GULP* As with anything involving Matt (and Uzeda's Agostino and Giovanna), the incident was well-humored and the outcome was far better than could be expected. Thank God.
It’s with a heavy heart that I let those know that Matthew died two days ago from a heart attack. Peaceful and kind wishes to his family and loved ones. I’ll never forget that Texas joker

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