Matt Vasquez in My Living Room
January 11th, 2010
by Josiah Daniel Golojuh
As I saw the corpse of another dead Christmas tree, decaying next to my car, I couldn’t help but be reminded of all the gifts that have come to me from beneath those things. Good and bad, fitting and not so fitting, thoughtful and less than thoughtful. And smiled at the memory of the best Christmas gift I’ve ever received (so far).
It was a Sunday afternoon, my hometown Pittsburgh Steelers had just lost to the pathetic Oakland Raiders, I went to my then fiancé, now wife’s parents house. I knew that Judy had a surprise for me, but at that point I was more concerned with paying my overdue student loans. Judy stopped me when I attempted to step into the living room, searching for a stronger wireless connection. I gave up and relegated myself to Judy’s bed.
After a few games of Brick on my cell phone, Judy came in and told me to cover my eyes. I reluctantly agreed and followed her. With each step to the living room, I felt ever more stupid, I was just about to comment on said fact when we reached the living room, Judy sat me on the couch and told me to open my eyes.
I was greeted by none other than Matt Vasquez of Delta Spirit, who shook my hand and said, “Hi, I’m Matt.”
A little stunned I uttered my name, and sat down as he asked, “what do you want to hear?” Responding to my lack of an answer, he said to Judy, “you did mention that Bruce Springsteen song,” just before he broke into “Racing In the Street.”
Before playing a few bars of a new love song and all the bars of another song for the new album that is comprised of Irish drinking cheers he played “People Turn Around.” A song, that the night before as Judy and I drove to a mall in Orange County to get the tie I would be married in, that I went on talking about the beauty of the lyrics and the power of that song at a live show. There I sat, with the woman who would be my wife in a little over two weeks, as Matt Vasquez wailed away.
He would go on to chat about living in Long Beach, laying trumpets for the new album, watching Dexter on DVR at his girlfriend’s grandparents, he even commented on my Steelers t-shirt saying, “good team,” which instantly made me wish I had worn a cooler shirt. He even asked us about our wedding, and noted how pretty Western Pennsylvania is when we mentioned it would be held there.
The real gift wasn’t Matt Vasquez, or the songs he sang, but the woman who made it all happen. The best Christmas gift I’ve ever received is a girl named Judy who said yes to a question I asked her in her bedroom in that same house. Matt Vasquez and Delta Spirit are just fortunate enough to get to provide a few tracks to the soundtrack that is our love.
Comment by Kathy
sappy. love it.