Satisfaction keyboardist Matthew Fletcher was sitting around with some friends last night when one of his buddies got a text. They scored tickets to the Michael Jackson memorial service at Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles Tuesday. But they couldn’t make the trip down from Seattle to attend it.

“Everyone at the place said they didn’t want to go so I said, ‘I’ll go.’ I jumped on it,” he said.

There were four tickets available so Matthew and his friend, who’s a huge fan of the King of Pop,  fought through two hours of traffic from Costa Mesa to L.A. Monday to pick them up at Dodger stadium. One of Matthew’s friends jokes he’s got the “Midas Touch.” That accounts for the tickets. Turns out the “Matthew Touch” also extends to free hotel rooms. He had some hotel credits and decided to book an expensive hotel room for free downtown just six blocks away from the memorial. He’ll stroll down there Tuesday morning with his girlfriend Liz.

So why would the keyboardist for local band Satisfaction be interested in attending a tribute to the Thriller?

“He’s a legendary performer, I’m a fan and I want to see the cultural experience,” he said. “I’m not a super fan, but when he was good he was really good.”

As he told his friend Monday while picking up the tickets, “Michael Jackson was my cocaine because I don’t do that. But like cocaine he kept parties going for me. You put him on at 2 a.m. and the party never ends. Nothing pulls people on to the dance floor like him.”

By the way, as for Satisfaction’s future, the band remains without a bass player, but they’re writing songs and don’t need a bassist for that, he said.

“When we’re ready to record and play we’ll dig somebody up,” he said.

He figures Satisfaction will record the album late this summer and start playing live again around then, so stay tuned for Fletcher’s report from Staples tomorrow and new Satisfaction material later this year.

Bookmark to: