November 19, 2001

We’ve had a pretty interesting time recently.  ABC-TV’s “20/20” program came to film Matthew (and, of course, the rest of the family).  Everything actually transpired over the course of a few weeks.  The producer, Joe Pfifferling, flew in from New York on Sunday, Oct. 21^st just to spend the day with us.  He got to know us, and we him.  I liked that a lot.  It was nice to know him before the chaos of filming started!  At the end of our afternoon together, we all went to the Acton Jazz Cafe so Matthew could jam with some local musicians and Joe could hear Matthew play live.  And then Joe flew back to New York.  He must have been exhausted. It was a very long day.

ABC-TV's "20/20" producer Joe Pfifferling setting up at the Acton Jazz Cafe

On Sunday, October 28^th, Joe returned...this time with Bob Brown, the writer/interviewer.  They flew in from New York that morning, got settled at their hotel in Boston, and met us at The Acton Jazz Cafe so we could meet Bob and he could hear Matthew perform before the interview the next day.  Filming began Monday morning, with two filming crews, the producer, and the interviewer arriving just after the children left for school.  They spent the day rearranging our house and talking with Larry and me.  When the children came home from school, they filmed the kids playing outside and talked with them while they were playing ball and playing in the leaves.  Then, it was back inside for some filming indoors.  They talked with both children and then asked Matthew to play piano for them.  Finally, everyone was tired, and we called it a day.  We had a few days to recover and get back to normal life.

Joe and a television crew came back on Friday, Nov. 2^nd.  They filmed Matthew and his friends at school and followed Matthew to his classical piano lesson that afternoon.  On Saturday, we all took a needed break.  And then it was time for The Matt Savage Trio’s concert at the Acton Jazz Cafe on Nov. 4^th.  It was a sold out concert and every inch of space was filled.  Yet, in their usual fashion, The Acton Jazz Cafe took everything in stride and managed to keep everyone fed and comfortable and happy while the band performed and the television crew wandered about filming everything.  It was a great concert, with the Trio performing a wide range of songs. The playlist was:

Nonstop Bebop - Matt Savage

Ain’t Misbehavin’ – Fats Waller

Tea for Two – Irving Caesar & Vincent Youmans 

Summer Fever  - Matt Savage  

‘Round Midnight – Thelonius Monk

Forty-Seven - Matt Savage

A Night in Tunisia – Dizzy Gillespie

What is This Thing Called Love? – Cole Porter

All Jazzed Up – Matt Savage 

ENCORE:   Straight, No Chaser – Thelonius Monk

All in all, it was a really cool (albeit tiring!) experience.  The folks at 20/20 were very nice.  The amount of work that goes on “behind the scenes” for a television show is amazing.  I can’t believe the network manages to put together stories for each episode of 20/20 each week, show after show.  And 20/20 is just one of ABC’s shows.  These people really work hard!

When the piece aired, it was interesting to see what they kept in for footage and what was edited out.  Unfortunately, the piece had to be shortened by a few minutes (at the last minute) because of time constraints for the show.  But it was really great to see the finished product...and family and friends on television.  20/20 did a wonderful job of getting out lots of information in a limited amount of time.  And we thank them for all their work and effort and our positive experience with them.  We thought they did a terrific job.  Judging from the overwhelming response we’ve had from viewers, so did they.

Acton Jazz Cafe's Gwenn Vivian with The Matt Savage Trio

The Savage family would very much like to thank Gwenn Vivian at the Acton Jazz Cafe for all her work and support and for allowing us to film the Trio's concert at the Cafe.

Read the ABCNews.com story about Matthew on 20/20