Thank you to one of our Posters, Cary, for sending me this interview with Matt.
An interview with Matt Breitzke of “American Idol”
A win would mean victory for ‘regular guys’
By CARY ASPINWALL World Scene Writer
Published: 2/20/2009 4:57 PM
Last Modified: 2/20/2009 5:06 PM
If Matt Breitzke were to win season eight of “American Idol,” it would be a victory for regular guys.
“This is a venue where just everyday, normal people get an extraordinary shot,” he said in a phone interview from Los Angeles. Like the everyday, beer-drinking folks who hang out at 71st Street Depot, a bar where Breitzke sang on several occasions before his “Idol” adventure.
It’s a smoky, laid-back bar where buckets of Coors Light sell for $10 and a sign on the wall reads: “Hippies use back door.”
There, the 28-year-old welder would sing “Ain’t No Sunshine” (his “Idol” audition song) and other blues-rock hits to an enthusiastic crowd after work. He only performed every now and then, on account of his day job and his 3-year-old son, Travis.
“Everybody loves him here,” said Jessica Meyer, the bar’s manager.
His performances didn’t always go over well, Breitzke said. “It took me a few tries of getting booed out of bars to get good at it.”
The self-taught singer and guitarist has come a long way since his first open-mic night attempts at what was then-Uncle Bentley’s Pub & Grill in Tulsa.
He’ll perform on “American Idol” Wednesday at 7 p.m. and find out Thursday night whether he’ll make it from the show’s top 36 to the final 12 — turning music from a hobby into a career and shot at superstardom.
The chance couldn’t have come at a better time for the Breitzke family, said his friend and former welding partner, Lonnie Hutton. Breitzke was laid off from his welding job shortly
before Christmas, said Hutton, who helped Breitzke find some work to get through the holidays, but it’s a tough economy for job hunters these days. “I told him, maybe this meant something — maybe this was supposed to happen,” Hutton said.
Breitzke is optimistic; his job loss was “just how it goes, the way the economy is right now.”
“Hopefully, this is just a kick in the pants to go in the right direction.”
His wife, Shelly, teaches third grade at Peters Elementary in Union Public Schools. He grew up in Hobart, Ind., and came to Tulsa several years ago to attend flight school at Spartan College of Aeronautics. He worked for several years as a cashier at Creek Nation Casino, then became a welder.
Before “Idol,” Breitzke’s biggest singing gigs were at Crow Creek Tavern and his pal Hutton’s backyard barbecues. He was a finalist for both the “Gimme the Mike” and Darryl Starbird’s “Cars and Stars Idol” contests in recent years.
“We used to make him sing for us in the break room,” said Melissa Reeder, Breitzke’s former co-worker at Creek Nation Casino. “When I first saw him on ‘American Idol,’ I just freaked out.”
Though Breitzke’s been singing and playing guitar since the fifth grade, he has no formal musical training, Hutton said — just natural talent. Country and blues are his favorites to sing — the Ian Moore number Breitzke sang to crack the top 36 is actually Hutton’s and his wife’s “song.”
“It’s kind of surreal,” Hutton said. “I mean, he’s in my fave five (calling circle) on my phone.”
