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    when matthew met the boss

    Ken Hoffman catches up with the Houston-area teen who rocked out with Bruce Springsteen

    Ken Hoffman
    Jun 7, 2021 | 3:05 pm
    Bruce Springsteen Matthew Aucoin
    Springsteen pulled Aucoin from the crowd after reading the teen's sign.
    Photo courtesy of Matthew Aucoin

    Five years ago, Spring resident and Texas A&M sophomore Matthew Aucoin brought a dream, a whole lot of guts, and a homemade sign to his hero Bruce Springsteen’s concert and asked: “Can a college kid play ‘No Surrender’ with you?”

    Why not? This sort of thing happens all the time. But, when The Boss finished performing ‘Rosalita,’ sure enough, he noticed the sign, whispered something to his E Street Band mates, and motioned Aucoin onstage. A stagehand strapped a guitar on Aucoin and Springsteen kicked 1-2-3-4! into “No Surrender.”

    Aucoin didn’t just strum a guitar with the band, he stood front and center, sharing a microphone and trading vocals with Springsteen. He nailed it. Springsteen smiled watching Aucoin mimic his every step. The teenager with no music experience — outside of playing guitar in his dorm room — tore the roof off the joint.

    The sold-out crowd gave him a standing ovation. Springsteen hugged him and they took a selfie onstage, just two regular buddies wearing T-shirts and jeans. Aucoin jumped back into the audience and life returned to normal, with a moment that will never be topped or even imagined.

    I wrote a column about Aucoin’s magical experience with Springsteen, shaking my head in wonder as I watched the Youtube video of him rocking with the legend. Who gets to live out their fantasy like that?

    Last week, I received an email from Aucoin: “Remember me?”

    CultureMap: From the way you traded vocals on the mic, it looked like Bruce Springsteen and you rehearsed the song. Tell the truth, was it set up in advance?
    Matthew Aucoin: It wasn’t rehearsed! Lots of people think it was. I tell them I wish it was because then I would’ve been able to have conversations and stuff with him.

    CM: Fill me in, what’s happened the past five years with you?
    MA: I was 19 years old at the time I hopped onstage with Springsteen. I am currently 24 and still live here in Spring. I graduated from Texas A&M cum laude with a business management degree in the spring of 2019. I currently work for my father’s company and hope to one day run his business, barring any changes in my music passion.

    CM: Now that you’ve had a few years to calm down, how would you describe that experience?
    MA: It’s something I am eternally grateful to Bruce for. I can’t thank him enough for taking a chance and letting me live out a once in a lifetime experience with my hero. It’s becoming crazier looking back because I can see how much I have aged since then.

    Thinking about everything I have been through since then and where I’m at in my life now is crazy to think about! I wouldn’t have met so many people and incredible connections if it weren’t for that experience. It was life-changing.

    CM: Did you practice No Surrender a thousand times on the chance that he might invite you onstage?
    MA:
    I think I might have played it through one time in front of a mirror. I came prepared nonetheless and felt confident in case it did happen.

    CM: What exactly did the sign say?
    MA:
    The sign said, ‘Can a College Kid Play No Surrender With You?”’And at the bottom of the sign, I wrote all the chords to the song to prove to Bruce I knew how to play it. I really think that’s what got him to bite on it and let me play with him.

    CM: That took incredible nerve or confidence or something — what was it?
    MA:
    It was a little bit of everything. I was also on about two hours of sleep. My brain probably couldn’t comprehend what was going on! All jokes aside, as cheesy as it sounds, I truly live for moments like that. I have discovered over the years I love performing for people and love playing.

    If you put Bruce Springsteen next to me, I am not going to let myself look back on that moment and be disappointed that I didn’t take advantage. I gave it everything I had. Looking back, I am very satisfied with how I did.

    CM: What did he say to you after the song?
    MA: He said, ‘Dude that was soooo good! That was so good!’

    CM: How many times have you seen Bruce Springsteen perform live?
    MA:
    I think I’ve seen Bruce like 13 or 14 times. It’s becoming hard to count! I saw him on Broadway last, and man what an incredible show! I can’t wait until he goes back on tour.

    CM: You’ve got an album out, your first, with all original songs. Tell me about it.
    MA:
    The chain of events that has led to this moment are quite incredible from how the ball got rolling on the project to how the project was executed. It was such an intimidating thought, creating a whole album. I had recorded on Logic Pro X for a couple years, but didn’t know anything about mixing and mastering. So essentially, I was making demos.

    In spring of 2019, I made a demo of a song that’s on the album called Like We Never Met and I tried my hardest to make it as pro sounding as possible but simply couldn’t. I knew it wasn’t up to my standard, so I decided to not record until I got the help I knew I needed. I continued to write songs and record demos on my phone, but never tried producing them. Writing was really just an outlet for me, just a casual hobby.

    Then one night, out came the song ‘Only You’ from my guitar. I would be lying to myself if I didn’t mention the amount of credit owed to the girl I wrote this song about, because this song was the first domino to fall in this entire process.

    This was that ignited my desire to record and write again. All of a sudden I found myself cranking out songs left and right. A friend told me, “Hey, I have a guy that sees potential in your music and wants to talk to you. His name is Matt Tipton. He’s a producer and is looking for someone like you to work with.

    He was very honest with me. I remember him saying ‘your music has lots of potential, but it needs more production to be more memorable.’ I knew it was the truth, and I knew I needed to hear it. I continued my songwriting tear. Matt and I started producing 14 songs. I submitted the album for release last month. I am proud of the work we put in. It’s the most fulfilling achievement so far in my life.

    CM: Where can we find your album?
    MA:
    The album is called Into the Past, available on Spotify, Apple Music, and all other major streaming platforms. You can purchase a CD as well from me if you reach out directly on Facebook.

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    game, set, zina.

    Best of Ken Hoffman: Interviewing Houston's greatest tennis icon

    Ken Hoffman
    Aug 29, 2024 | 12:30 pm
    Zina Garrison, tennis player
    ITATennis
    Garrison, a tennis legend, is now the tennis director of Houston Parks and Recreation.

    Editor's note: After the sudden death of beloved columnist Ken Hoffman on July 14, CultureMap is republishing some of our favorite "Hoffman's Houston" columns. In honor of the U.S. Open, here's Ken's interview with Houston tennis legend Zina Garrison; it was originally published on June 27, 2022.

    As a child, Zina Garrison learned how to hit a tennis ball on the public courts at MacGregor Park during the 1970s and became, simply, the most accomplished player ever from Houston.

    She developed into a Grand Slam champion, a Top 5 ranking in the world, Wimbledon finalist in 1990 with 20 tournament titles, Federation Cup captain, and Olympic gold medal winner and later Olympic coach.

    Now Garrison is back where she started, only this time she’s devoted to making Houston a great place to learn and play tennis … again. Like she did.

    “I am now the tennis director of Houston Parks and Recreation,” Garrison tells me. “I’m over all the public tennis programs and facilities. The job came open recently and I applied for it.”

    Wait... she’s the greatest champion this city has ever produced — and she had to apply for that job?

    “To be honest, I was more interested in the benefits than the money. As you get older, you start thinking differently,” she shares.

    Unlike the major sports leagues in America, tennis doesn’t provide any healthcare insurance or assistance once a player, even a legend, retires.

    “They’re working on it,” Garrison, 58, notes. “But as of now, nothing.”

    Garrison said her first priority as Houston’s tennis director is to repair the public courts.

    “I want to bring the public tennis facilities up to where I’d be proud, where everybody would be proud, to bring people to use our courts. There are cracks in the courts. Nothing’s really been done in the last 20 or maybe 30 years,” she says.

    “I’ve traveled to Florida and some other places and they have really nice public courts. Tennis in Houston was really thriving for a while and we had nice courts and people could play in the parks. We had junior programs. We flourished. That’s my main goal.”

    While I had Garrison on the phone, I served up some questions:

    CultureMap: Wimbledon is on. You’re familiar with that tournament, right? Who are your picks to win the men’s side and women’s side?

    Zina Garrison: Yes, I’m familiar with Wimbledon. I have my alarm set for the early morning so I can watch. I have a weird pick, a more personal pick, for the men.

    I would love to see Rafael Nadal keep going on, but it’s going to be tough for him. The guy from Italy, Matteo Berrettini, I watched him play a couple of weeks ago and I think he’s going to surprise a lot of people. And I am absolutely in love with that little guy, Carlos Alcaraz, from Spain. He’s made me watch tennis again.

    On the women’s side, I don’t think it will be Iga Swiatek. I think it’s just too hard to keep a streak like hers (35 matches in a row including the French Open title) going in today’s game. It’s really wide open. I don’t really have a pick, it’s just who comes in and plays well at the right time.

    CM: What do you think about Natela Dzalamidze, the doubles player from Russian who switched her nationality to Georgia so she could play Wimbledon, which has banned players from Russian and Belarus this year?

    ZG: I don’t like that she was able to do that. I was just on the phone with (former pro turned broadcaster) Chanda Rubin talking about what’s going on in tennis these days.

    First of all, there is the human rights stuff that’s going on in Russia and Ukraine. We have to start forcing accountability for actions. A lot of people didn’t agree with what Wimbledon did, but I think they had to take a stand.

    CM: The women’s GOAT is easy — it’s Serena. But who do you think is the men’s GOAT?

    ZG: Wow, that’s a hard one. If you had asked me earlier this year, I would have said Roger Federer because of everything he’s accomplished. But right now I’m going to have to go with Nadal. Nadal has taken tennis to a whole ‘nother level, of getting people to watch, coming out of the pandemic, where he has matches and you think he can’t come back and he’s still grinding no matter what.

    For me, he is the epitome of what we need in this world right now: Never give up but not be selfish about helping others. I know it sounds clichéd, but that’s what I’m going through right now.

    CM: When I first met you, you were painfully shy. It was hard to get an answer out of you. Now you’re a TV commentator and a regular chatterbox. What happened?

    ZG: I was an introvert but I had always been intrigued by people of wisdom. A lot of it came as I developed confidence in myself. I had always been told at a very young age, if you really knew me, I spoke a lot. If you didn’t know me, I would be quiet. I would only speak about things that I was extremely passionate about.

    As I’ve gotten older, because of my experiences. I feel like I can help people so I’m not afraid to say what I want to say.

    CM: Starting the week after Wimbledon, coaches will be allowed to communicate with men players during matches. Up to now, that’s only been allowed in the women’s game. Every other sport allows coaching. Do you think tennis should allow coaching, too?

    ZG: I don’t think coaching should be allowed. That’s one of the great things about tennis. That’s a part of the sport, that you grow and figure things out. You learn to think for yourself.

    There’s always been little signals from coaches, but now you have these full blown conversations. Another bad thing about allowing coaching is it gives the players the opportunity to blame a loss their coach. That’s not good for the sport.

    CM: You were known for wiggling your butt when receiving serve. Did you know you were doing it? Did you do that on purpose?

    ZG: It started off as kind of a joke with my coaches. They said, we need you to move your feet. I said, you mean like this?

    So, it started as a joke but I realized that it helped get my feet moving: Okay, I’m going to keep doing this.

    I’ll never forget that year after I got to the Wimbledon finals, 1990, I went over to Japan and there were 1,200 people there … and all of them started wiggling!

    CM: What was the first extravagant thing you bought for yourself when the tennis prize money started rolling in?

    ZG: It was 1982, and I bought a candy apple red Volkswagen convertible with a white top.

    CM: You were on the Biggest Loser, the show where contestants compete against each other to lose weight. Let’s just say you didn’t win. Are you happy you went on that show, or do you regret it?

    ZG: I was one of the first who had to leave the competition. (No, you were THE first.) It was an experience, but I probably shouldn’t have done it. I think I regret going on there. It wasn’t what I thought it was.

    It was reality TV and at the time I didn’t know what reality TV was .I was more ready to get out of there than anything else.

    CM: Now here’s the big question, Zina. For years, I’ve had a running disagreement with ESPN 97.5 FM morning host John Granato about which is a more demanding, tougher sport – golf or tennis?

    Granato says it’s golf, because the tournament winner has to beat every other player that week, while in tennis the winner just has to beat seven players at most. And, each week, golfers have to contend with a different course.

    But, I say it’s tennis because players have to be in top physical condition, while nearly anyone in any shape can win a golf major.

    Plus, in golf, players have a caddy helping them make decisions. In tennis, players are on their own.

    In golf, you can have a bad day on Thursday and still win the tournament. In tennis, if you have a bad day in the opening round, you’re on a plane out of there.

    In golf, it’s the player against the course. There’s no defense in golf. In tennis, there’s a human opponent trying to beat you.

    In golf, the ball is lying still. In tennis the ball is coming at you at 140 mph.

    So which is the tougher sport, golf or tennis? I’m right ... right?

    ZG: Are you serious? Who is this guy who says golf is harder? The answer is tennis and it’s not even close.

    You’re playing against someone. You’re only controlling the ball when it’s on your side of the net. You can’t control what the other player is doing. It’s almost like a boxer coming at you.

    You have to have both the physical and mental capacity to win. In golf, if you have a bad day, it’s because you’re having that bad day. There’s no opponent competing with you. So, I’m saying it’s tennis.

    CM (note to John Granato): I win. Granted, it might have been the way I asked the question. Also, Garrison is a former tennis pro.

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