Artists Registry
Boiceville NY United States
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Artist's Statement
8:48 is a folk song inspired by 9/11 about a couple in conflict on that fateful morning. One of them works in World Trade Center 1, and is rushing to get there to be at their desk by 8:48. They leave in conflict and plan to resolve it after work. The fight could wait because they couldn't be late. They arrived at their desk at 8:43, contemplating whether to call their loved one to resolve the conflict, but ultimately deciding to let it wait until after work. WTC1 was struck at 8:46.
Massive tragedies tend to be viewed as monoliths - captured by just three digits: 9/11, or by death tolls: 2,983 on that fateful morning and thousands more due to the toxic dust cloud left in the wake of the attacks. Within those numbers are individual tragedies with permanent damage and never ending ripple effects. 8:48 is meant to emphasize the immeasurable loss suffered individually within each tragic death. It is not based on a true story, but rather threaded together using the thousands of 9/11 stories Matthew Baione has learned about through his work as an attorney and advocate. 8:48 serves as a memento mori (Latin for "remember you will die") - a gentle reminder to not take life for granted.
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Matthew J. Baione, Esq. is an attorney and artist. He was born and raised in Staten Island, NY. He graduated from St. John's University in 2010 with a B.A. in Social Studies and a minor in philosophy, and from The Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law with a concentration in Constitutional Law in 2013. While in law school he worked at the Innocence Project where he helped to free a wrongfully convicted prisoner.
Along with his partners Vincent F. Pitta, Vito R. Pitta, and Christopher J. Baione, Matthew founded Pitta & Baione LLP in 2016 to represent 9/11 victims before the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund and to assist them in applying to the World Trade Center Health Program. Since its founding, the law firm has obtained over $500 million in compensation and a lifetime of free healthcare benefits for thousands of 9/11 victims. Former Fire Commissioner and Chief of Department on 9/11, Salvatore J. Cassano serves as Senior Advisor to the firm, along with former Staten Island Borough President, James P. Molinaro, who commissioned the Postcards Memorial on Staten Island.
Separately, along with his wife, Tina Baione, he is co-owner of Keep Good Company LLC, a multidisciplinary creative communications company which includes a record label. Together, they discovered and signed singer/songwriter Ginger Winn and executive produced her debut album, Stop-Motion, which was produced by David Baron (The Lumineers, Lenny Kravitz, Shania Twain). Matthew collaborated with Ginger in writing all the songs on the album and they continue to work together as a songwriting partnership.
One of the songs on Ginger's debut album, 8:48, is a modern folk song which tells the story of a couple in conflict on the morning of 9/11. The producer David Baron, who witnessed the attacks on 9/11, plays piano on the song. Matthew and Tina creative directed the short film inspired by the song which features 9/11 first responder turned actor Keith W. Richards (Uncut Gems, Eephus, Ponyboi) and Ginger Winn. It was filmed at the St. George Theatre on Staten Island and directed by first-generation Italian-American director, Kevin Lombardo.