Hi everyone, and welcome to mattbeeson.net! I think I am a bit unique in being both “right and left brained” so to speak. I am a creative type (starving artist) and love writing, music, visual art, and more. I also possess a highly analytical side, and am a huge fan of truth, which often seems in short supply.

I was born and raised in New Orleans. My mother was an artist, mostly oil on canvas, and a fine arts conservator, which is to say that she restored old paintings. My father was a professor of physics at the University of New Orleans until his retirement there, and then he had an entire second career heading up the Underwater Acoustics Division at Navoceano.

So I inherited a deep appreciation for the arts and yet an analytical / technical side as well. I also am politically conservative, which means I want the government to be as small as possible to be effective for its critical duties, while allowing our society to organically flourish and become what it should be.

Mom’s paintings, mostly Louisiana landscapes and waterfoul subjects are beautiful, and many adorn my walls. Dad’s influence was no less, and to him I owe whatever technical abilities I have, as well as a certain drive to endure tough things. That man could have had a broken rib and never complain. I am not as tough as he was, but I try.

I feel fortunate that Mom and Dad were a stable couple. I wouldn’t say they were happy exactly, but they were committed, and that was an important example.

I observed and consciously made a point to reject in myself the things that made them unhappy. My father was very stoic, and my mother purely emotional. Each end of the spectrum has value and demerit. I tried to take the good, reject the bad, and shape my own growth. I try to let all the positive emotions run wild while choosing stoicism and rationality for the rest. I fail often enough, but that’s a big part of my personal outlook.

I tried very hard to become a rock star, and obviously did not make it. But I played in a bunch of bands, including rock, metal, variety, and country. I held every odd job imaginable, from ditch-digging, bussing and waiting tables, to grinding the fiberglass bottoms off of sailboats in a workyard in 97 degree heat with a respirator and full plastic coveralls duct taped to gloves and boots for minimum wage.

Despondent with my inability to break through in a meaningful way in drums, I went to the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences on the promise of a job at a premier New Orleans area studio upon graduation. I graduated with top marks, but the studio owner did not honor his end.

With the help of my dad, who cashed a modest CD, I opened my own recording studio in Harahan, LA. I think it was 1998. The studio ran for about 3 months, and things were going well, until at around midnight one night after a session, two gunmen came in and took all the critical gear. I was tied up with duct tape, laid face down on the floor and felt the gun tip on the back of my head. I’m still alive, and whoever did it got away with it.

Musician’s Friend opened its ninth retail location in Harahan right about that time. I applied, and was hired for the opening crew as the manager of the drums, live sound, and studio recording departments. When Guitar Center assumed retail control after the merger, they fired the general manager (a great friend to this day), and ultimately ran off anyone with a benefit package.

The former GM helped me get my first job in the commercial audio video industry as an installer. I married in 2000, and my late ex-wife’s career would move me around the country often. It was impossible for me to lay roots and grow my own career, but folks make sacrifices for relationships.

The moves took me to Boston, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Austin, then New Orleans, then Baton Rouge again, where I’ve been for about 15 years as of 2025.

I worked for AV integrators mostly, progressing from the blue collar installer position to project management to estimation. I spent time on the rental/staging side of AV as well. Through all the moves, I finally attained a B.A. in English from LSU in 2004, and spent some time at Tulane Law School before financial pressure (a chronic condition in my life) forced me to withdraw.

Around 2014, I pondered a bottle of vodka on my countertop. I don’t care for white vinegar, and wondered why every hot sauce has the stuff in it. I wondered if vodka could serve whatever function vinegar did in a hot sauce. I guessed correctly that the vinegar found in every bottle is there for a technical reason, and not flavor. It is a strong acid, and kills any pathogens in the sauce. It is a preservative.

Liquor can serve the same purpose as vinegar in hot sauce, acting an antiseptic (alcohol) rather than an acid. Running this concept through the LSU Food Incubator proved the concept as sound, and so I became obsessed. Hot sauces based in bourbon, tequila, etc, and with zero vinegar sourpuss taste – yes please! I started a company, Swamp Dragon, to sell the product, and I applied for a patent.

I did everything, as founders often do, in Swamp Dragon, because I had no money to hire a graphics company or a web company or any other thing. I made the formulations, designed everything from packaging to website to shipping boxes. I set up an FDA-registered, GMP-certified production facility and placed product in thousands of locations while constantly seeking investors.

Had I known what was coming, I would not have launched the company. The full stories are too dark to tell here, but the pandemic and the political response tore through my life like wildfire. 2020 changed everything. My mother passed two weeks before the decision to divorce after 25 years, and I lost the business all at once. As a straight white male, and in a global market shut down, I was in real trouble. Still am, frankly, and it will take years to recover the damage unless some unplanned great thing happens.

The past 4 or 5 years have been an absolute crucible, but I remain standing and increasingly optimistic. But in 2020 I was laid low for sure, and a short time after the divorce discussion I decided to check out a dating app. I went on a couple of dates, and something worked the second time I swiped right. She and I went on a date and for some nutty reason kept going and never looked back. Something between us clicked in a way that inspired us both to brave it all, and we have done just that. She gave me a reason to draw breath, and I had lost pretty much everything that defined me by that point. When everything was pure darkness, Jennifer gave me some light. We remain together, and are both building Life 2.0.

People matter more than anything. We are social and interdependent creatures, and when we reject this core nature, we hurt ourselves. We need each other. We all need someone to support us, and we should provide support the best way we can. Earth is not really an easy place to be. I hope to create connections through art and thoughtful discussion.

I hope you ride along with me!