I’m Max and I LOVE music and art. I live for it, and it allows me to live. I’ve been doodling for as long as I can remember, long before I ever stepped into a music venue or followed a tour. Art was always there first. But when I discovered live music I was instantly hooked. The sound, the energy, the visuals, the community. It expanded everything and through everything. What started as sketches in notebooks slowly began absorbing the colors and chaos of the shows I was chasing but until now, I've never done anything with them.

I grew up in small town Chester, CT and have lived in Bozeman, MT since 2011. Growing up on the East Coast meant a few hours on the highway or a train could put you somewhere that felt entirely new, and I fell in love with that. I’d hop the train in New Haven and could be in Boston or New York two hours later, wandering an unfamiliar place and finding a day that was always a brand new adventure. Sometimes I'd even skip out on a school day and still be home for dinner. Sorry Ma. I like to think I learned more on those days though. 

Traveling was always easy for me, especially once live music really caught my ear. The more music I saw, the more I fell in love with the arts. I started as a doodler and then a collector of sorts. After years of unnecessary procrastination, I look forward to becoming the creator that I know I can be. It feels natural that the art I want to share with the world is rooted in the bands and shows that have shaped me.

Around 2009, with the formation of a band known as Furthur, a Grateful Dead spinoff that existed through 2013, my listening really changed. When my listening changed, my world changed. I had always been familiar with the Dead, but unbeknownst to me then, the Gathering of the Vibes 2009 would solidify them as the soundtrack to my life. To those that don’t indulge: first, my condolences. Second, the Grateful Dead and everything that has happened because of them is about so much more than the music. It’s an adventure, a path unknown, an open mind, a willingness to try, a free hall pass, a damn good time. It’s a lifestyle.

The Grateful Dead is in fact a gateway drug. They can open the door, just like Nonagon Infinity does for wizards, and take your brain to a new world where creativity and artistry flourish. Years of exploring later, I have an arsenal of musical acts that are near and dear to my heart and could weather me through any storm. I love it all. Rock, bluegrass, jazz, hip-hop, electronic, and most things in between. Music has a magic ability to brighten the darkest moods or even allow you to feel those feelings in a greater capacity than you previously thought possible. It’s a cheat code in this wild thing we call life, a metaphorical shield from the plethora of bullshit. In a world that can feel loud and disorienting, music becomes both refuge and revelation. And as Neil Young so simply put it, “Live music is better.” Truer words have rarely been spoken and I have done my best to experience as much of it as I possibly can.