Good Morning Vietnam
Matt Gaffney is a lifelong friend of mine. We met through youth hockey back in 2003. We continued to play together until high school when Matt had quit to pursue other interests. We continued to stay close throughout high school, I distinctly remember hanging out with Matt at the end of our freshman year when he bought his first guitar. At first, he was terrible and nobody wanted to listen. A few months pass and it’s the end of summer, everyone is begging him to play as we sing around the camp fire. Fast forward to our senior year and Matt simply cannot put down his guitar it was like the thing was glued to his hands. He was always tampering with an original riff or learning some new, obscure, challenging song. He was like our personal jukebox knowing all of our favorites upon request. As life went on after high school I ended up traveling to Vietnam with Matt for a few months, staying in different cities experiencing different cultures. I could tell Matt was in love with the country. One night at a rooftop bar we saw a foreigner playing guitar and singing. After he played we asked him how he got this gig and where he was from. He explained he was from Ireland and worked as an English teacher during the day and just played at night, for free drinks. A year goes by and I had to move out to California during this time I had lost contact with Matt. After not hearing from him for months he calls me to say he’s going to try his luck teaching over in Vietnam and see where music can take him. Matt’s been in Vietnam for over a year and currently has no plans to come back to the States. So here I am in a Skype call with Matt over in Vietnam.
By: Stephen Herman