Who: Matt McCabe.
Where: Saratoga Guitar, 480 Broadway.
Q. When did you first come to Saratoga Springs.
April of ’94, and I opened the store in June.
Q. What’s the biggest change you’ve seen in the city in that time?
A. In the last 23 years there have been quite a few changes in the landscape with the high-rises, the condominiums and more storefronts. It’s a city on the move. It’s growing. I don’t think it’s as rampant as some might think. It’s a small city, so the changes are more amplified but the image is there because of the success of downtown.
Q. What are you doing today?
A. Re-stringing guitars, trying to pay bills.
Q. Do you still play guitar and sing on stage?
A. I still do with whoever will have me. I play at the Olde Bryan Inn during racing season with some guitar compadres, and throughout the year I do a host of other concerts, benefits and gigs as they arise.
Q. What brush have you had with fame?
A. Being the business this is and with the bands touring through the years, I’ve had the opportunity to meet and attend a lot of concerts, go backstage and meet many of the artists. You get the occasional celebrity coming to town on their own R&R who stumble in. I remember Sam Shepard the actor coming in. He was very nice.
Q. What did you want to be when you were a kid?
A. A veterinarian. That was all I ever thought of being. That and a baseball player. Everything else happened by accident.
Q. You were city Commissioner of Finance for Four Years. Do you miss it?
A. I love being able to serve the public, but the vacuum gets filled immediately. When you’re in, you’re in. When you’re out, you’re out. And life fills up, so I have that time to miss it. I certainly look back on it fondly. It was a challenge, but it I did my best and I thoroughly enjoyed working for the people of Saratoga Springs.
