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Matt Freeman

Asylum Reunion Returns Saturday

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After 2 long years, Asylum Reunion returns Saturday, November 27, 2021.

If you were there, you still talk about it. We all have stories, we can’t escape sharing those stories when one of us cross another’s
path. Name another decade where you could go to a big room club, be yourself, no cell phones, living in the moment, listening to a melting
pot of music with an eclectic group of people. You can’t. We always do our best to capture the setting and feel of those days with the music,
video, and venue location. This year the Reunion takes place at Bar Granada, Dayton’s Premium Tequila Bar & Live Music Venue. Located at 5
W. Monument Ave, right on the river. (Corner of Main & Monument).

Matt Freeman, Eric Heilman, Doug Collins & friends will host the evening, providing an eclectic mix of Industrial, 80s, and 90s Alternative Dance from artists including Basement Jaxx, Beastie Boys, Beck, Bjork, The Breeders, The Chemical Brothers, The Cure, Daft Punk,
Depeche Mode, Fatboy Slim, Front 242, Garbage, Josh Wink, KMFDM, Lords of Acid, Massive Attack, Meat Beat Manifesto, Ministry, New Order, Nine Inch Nails, Nitzer Ebb, Notorious B.I.G., ODB, PJ Harvey, Prince, Prodigy, Rage Against the Machine, Rammstein, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sisters of Mercy, Skinny Puppy, Sneaker Pimps, Stabbing Westward, Underworld, Violent Femmes, White Zombie and more.

 Preparty at The Barrel House
417 E 3rd St, Dayton, OH 45402
from 7-9PM | 21+ Welcome

Event Details:
80s 90s Industrial Electronic Alternative Dance powered by
Matt Freeman (ASYLUM)
Eric Heilman (ASYLUM, PARALLAX)
Doug Collins (ASYLUM)
& friends

Bar Granada
5 W. Monument Ave, Dayton, OH 45402
9:30 PM DOORS | 21+ WELCOME
$10 COVER

Dayton T-Shirt Sales Help Benefit Local Nonprofits

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Matt Freeman has been part of the Dayton scene for a couple of decades.  I first ran into him back in the old Asylum night club days.  Over the years we’ve stayed in touch, working together on events and fundraisers like the Art Salvo  show he put together with Clash Dayton for the AIDS Resource Center (now Equitas).
We talked recently and I asked him what he’s been up to.  Freeman says “I try to live my creative side of life balanced between music, design, and events so at one time or another hopefully we have met along those lines. Music has played a huge part of my life. I’ve been involved one way or another with recurring events, one-offs, club residencies, and a small amount of music production. I’ve been blessed with opportunities throughout the years to be direct support for DJs and bands such as Paul Oakenfold, Sasha, Josh Wink, DJ Sneak, KMFDM, and My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult.” He mentioned that “this year has been quite challenging due to the pandemic so I’ve used the downtime to work on music production.”
A few years ago he launched a business creating Dayton t-shirts and more.  He told me “Daytonians love to rep this city. In 2013 I created my first Dayton centric shirt and that did well. I have since added a new design or a new product every few months to the continuously growing lineup. Currently I offer T-shirts, stickers, enamel pins and reusable totes online at  Freeman Design Company.”
 “The Miami Valley does a great job supporting Freeman Design Company. This year has been rough for a LOT of businesses. I wanted to use my platform to help a few local organizations as much as possible. Instead of just discounting the store this Holiday Season, I wanted to pay that money forward to those in need.” And so this holiday promotion was born:
Here’s How it works:

Between November 27 – December 25, 2020 we can all give a little to make a BIG difference.

To participate follow these easy steps:

1. Spend $20
2. At checkout enter code  BRUNNER, FLOC,  GRACE or LGBT
3. Freeman Design Company will make a $5 donation to that organization
About the charity beneficiaries:
BRUNNER = Brunner Literacy Center –  provides free, one-on-one tutoring to adults who want to improve their reading, writing, and math literacy skills
FLOC = For Love Of Children– serves children in the greater Dayton area who are neglected, abused, in foster care or who are in need of community resource.
GRACE = With God’s Grace Food Pantry – helps feed families in need
LGBT = The Greater Dayton LGBT Center – enhance lives and empower members of the diverse sexual and gender communities throughout the Miami Valley

Remember Dayton’s Hottest Club of the 90’s at the Asylum Reunion!

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How many of you remember wild nights at the Asylum, Dayton’s Alternative dance club that was on Patterson Road in downtown Dayton?   Or more likely, how many of you don’t remember much of what happened there?

According to club DJ Matt Freeman, the Asylum opened circa 1993 and closed in 2005 (under the club name Fusion).  You’ll have your chance to relive those glory days for one night only, on Friday Nov 23rd at the Asylum Reunion, being hosted at Therapy Cafe, located at 452 E 3rd Street in Dayton.

We asked Freeman about the upcoming event:

What are a couple of your best memories?
MF: The memories of the Asylum are endless. If you were a part of that time, you know how easy it is to still share stories with a fellow club goer even after being closed for over 13 years. I recently met up with Chris Maloney, who worked there for almost the club’s entirety. We have only met up a handful of times in the past years, and we always have a conversations starting off “Remember that time at the asylum?…”. It was such an important part of so many people’s formidable years, it’s the conversation that will never die. Maybe it was the fact the venue brought straight edge kids, goths, punks, b-boys, ravers, college students and outcasts together and it all just made sense. You’d hear techno, industrial, hip hop, disco, 80s wave and it all simply worked. No cell phones, rarely a camera, it was what it was, and you had to be there to experience it all so you never wanted to miss a night. There was a sense of urgency to always be in attendance. 
What can folks expect at the reunion?

MF: We do our best to recapture the days of dancing, being social, and sharing memories of that time. We will have the infamous dance cage, which was at one time hung above the crowd at Asylum, live video mixing including photos & video from the Asylum, and two of the club’s longest running DJs, Matt Freeman & Eric Heilman. Music for the evening will include a mix of 80s, 90s, and early 2000s alternative / dance featuring Nine Inch Nails, Massive Attack, Depeche Mode, Fatboy Slim, Blur, Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, Armand Van Helden, Daft Punk, Faithless, KMFDM, Lords of Acid, The Prodigy, Sisters of Mercy, The Cure, Portishead, Moby, The Bucketheads, Garbage, Beastie Boys, New Order, Ministry, Wink, Orbital, Meat Beat Manifesto, as well as  dance tunes  featuring Beastie Boys, Björk, Blur, The Breeders, The Cure, Daft Punk, Depeche Mode, Fatboy Slim, Filter, Front 242, Garbage, KMFDM, Lords of Acid, Marilyn Manson, Massive Attack, Meat Beat Manifesto, Ministry, My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, New Order, Nine Inch Nails, Nitzer Ebb, Portishead, The Prodigy, Rammstein, Sheep on Drugs, Sisters of Mercy, Skinny Puppy, Sneaker Pimps, Underworld, and the list goes on…

What do tix cost and can they buy them in advance?
Cover: $5 (NO ADVANCE TICKETS AVAILABLE)*
18+ welcome w/ proper ID
Doors open at 9PM
Therapy Cafe, 452 E. Third St. Dayton Ohio, 45402.
*This event will hit capacity so plan to arrive EARLY, as last year’s reunion hosted close to 300 attendees.
Facebook event Link:
Spotify Playlist Link:

36 Local Artists Create Keith Haring Inspired Art To Benefit ARC Ohio

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WebLocal artist and promoter Matt Freeman is known for his inventive, unusual events. And this time he’s using that creativity to inspire local artists to apply their talents to design a piece of artwork to pay homage to 80’s Pop artist Keith Haring.  Throughout his career, Haring devoted much of his time to public works, which often carried social messages. He produced more than 50 public artworks between 1982 and 1crackiswack989, in dozens of cities around the world, many of which were created for charities, hospitals, children’s day care centers and orphanages.  The now famous Crack is Wack mural of 1986 has become a landmark along New York’s FDR Drive.

By expressing universal concepts of birth, death, love, sex and war, using a primacy of line and directness of message, Haring was able to attract a wide audience and assure the accessibility and staying power of his imagery, which has become a universally recognized visual language of the 20th century. Haring was diagnosed with AIDS in 1988.  Haring enlisted his imagery ignorancefearduring the last years of his life to speak about his own illness and generate activism and awareness about AIDS. He died of AIDS related complications at the age of 31 on February 16, 1990.

When Freeman put the call out to local artists to encourage them to participate in Art Salvo, A 22 Day Silent Art Auction to Benefit ARC Ohio, he originally hoped to get at least 20 participants.  Response was overwhelming, and the 30+ pieces of art on display at Clash Consignment Co, located at 521 E. Fifth St. in the Oregon District, show the creativity and talent of many local artists.  The exhibit debuts on Fri, April 12th and will continue until Friday, May 3rd, when all of the art will be auctioned off to benefit our local AIDS service organization.  Here are just a few highlights of what you’ll see:

Ben Riddlebarger:attachment

DMM: Where did you find inspiration to complete your Keith Haring inspired piece?
Keith was well know because he would take popular iconic ideas or situations and create new ways of looking at them. Well,I have always been a huge comic book dork since before I was born. I remember when I was in gestation and I would combine different particles floating around and mash them together to form different superheroes and make up stories about them, so when the time came to do an inspirational piece inspired by Keith Haring it was only natural for me to do the x-men and their villains. My work usually is painstakingly detailed and it was nice to be able to just create something that was a simpler design and aesthetic,  edit myself down to focus on basic shapes and to convey much more detail through just a couple lines and curves.

909406_10200866875535486_330747515_nKevin Pittman

DMM: How complicated was it to created a piece which combined your unique style with those of Keith Haring’s?
I wouldn’t say anything was complicated in a technical aspect of the work. Haring used a lot of repeated symbolism to express his messages. knowing that its really a matter of employing it… much like communication and how it first began… some people utter some sounds… the other understands it… then repeats it back… All im doin with this is trying to use his symbolism in a way to convey my own thoughts. My personal style doesnt seem work with this project so i abandoned it.

Tracy McElfresh

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(Model Leslie Randall, photographed by Shana Ramsey)

DMM: Where did you find inspiration to complete your Keith Haring inspired piece?
Vintage Vogue and Keith Haring inspired fabric and color!

DMM: Do you personally know anyone who has ever been directly affected by HIV / AIDS?
Yes I had a cousin by marriage pass away in “92

How complicated was it to created a piece which combined your unique style with those of Keith Haring’s?
I really enjoyed this project and it came with ease, I’m fortunate.

DMM: How long have you considered yourself an artist?
I have been exploring the art of dress making for 12 years

908419_10201114408607259_568754179_nLiz Dearth

DMM: Where did you find inspiration to complete your Keith Haring inspired piece?
I found a heart graphic he had done and make it and I thought it might be cool as a candle holding piece. The hearts and action lines of all the people let light pass through when a candle is lit within the wall sculpture.

DMM: How complicated was it to created a piece which combined your unique style with those of Keith Haring’s?
I may have failed that part! I make a lot of ceramic lanterns, this was my attempt to make an “interactive” haring piece of art, making “it” into a lantern.

Adam Reddingattachment-2

DMM: How complicated was it to created a piece which combined your unique style with those of Keith Haring’s?
It was somewhat complicated. In the end I felt that using some subtle cues and elements from his work translated well for my piece.

DMM: What Galleries / Venues have you been involved with, or displayed your art?

Rosewood Art Center, Dayton Society of Painters and Sculptors.

564745_438882036150542_1740611961_nRökenRõl 

DMM: What made RökenRõl  want to sponsor this exhibit?
Our mission is to provide the world with creative and authentic lifestyle street wear reflecting our influences, that made us who we are today.
At the heart of RökenRõl comes a recognition of the commonalities within us all, while celebrating our own unique individuality. This is what influenced us to create the RökenRõl brand and share it with those who have these same appreciations.

DMM: Whats next for RokenRol?

The future for RökenRõl looks bright. We are currently in the process of updating our web site and store. RökenRõl is producing limited edition skateboard decks from artists Jeff Richard and Mike Guidone and hand made belt buckles by artists Craig Tirey. We are sponsoring and cross-promoting with bands such as The Gas Light Anthem and Hawthorne Heights, and recently signed an agreement to create back to school products for international markets.  Those involved in RökenRõl have a passion for the co-creative process. From conception to the finished product we enjoy seeing our visions take shape.
As you can see here, there are many people that have come together to bring Art Salvo to life. So head out to Clash and bring your wallet to support AIDS Resource Center Ohio.  40% of new HIV infections  today are among young people ages 13 – 29. Funds raised will help them continue to offer FREE HIV/AIDS testing and work with our youth about safe sex and getting tested. Visit www.arcohio.org for testing times and locations and encourage a young person to get tested today!