What an exciting year 2009 has been for Matthew Chase!  After Matthew Chase’s BELIEVE won the 2008 Lyrics of the Year, I was really encouraged, and continued with the promotion of my late husband’s music. I had excellent songs to work with, and was able to secure numerous film/tv licensing deals, as well as a 2 song major artist/major label music deal!

At this time, we still don’t know which artists are going to sing BELIEVE and ALL YOU GAVE, but we are talking to the biggest Pop and Country Superstars in the music industry – My personal votes go to Rob Thomas and Darius Rucker, respectively! I’m having a hard time BELIEVEing that this is all really happening! I have big plans for 2010, including hosting The EVERYTHING & AFTER Concert at The Beacon Theatre in New York, next Nov 12-14, 2010. I have obviously never done anything like this before, and I am still figuring this out for myself! I do know that I am having an amazing experience, and think that this is all very exciting!

The reason why I am continuing down this road, on a musical journey of self-discovery, is because my late husband’s name also spelled CHRIST ALL MAN. I am not making any religious statements with anything that I am about to write.  I am just going to document facts that have happened, or things that I have observed since my husband’s death on 04.13.08.

My late husband’s name was CHRIST ALL MAN

1. When Chris (Matthew Chase) and I first started dating, his email address was christallman@comcast.net.  After typing it many times, one day I thought to myself Chris T … Christ – Ha!  It made me giggle, so I told him about it.  What neither of us ever realized before, and what I discovered after his death, was that if you divide his name up (in 3 words of all things,) it spells  CHRIST ALL MAN    Wow! Extremely interesting observation wouldn’t you say? Chris was 33 when he died. Did you know that Jesus died when he was 33?
2. Chris wrote a letter to God on 3.3.08, just before he went to South Africa.  After he died, I found it on page 33 inside his book I COULD DO ANYTHING IF ONLY I KNEW WHAT IT WAS.  An excerpt of his letter: “I really feel I can spread much more joy, love and happiness to others through my music and creativity; certainly more than in my current profession. And even if I only add to the joy of one (or a few) other people with my music, that would still make the world a better place (even if only in a small way). And it would definitely make me happier and more satisfied with my contribution to the universe and my development as a soul.”
   It was this letter that inspired me to send a letter of request to Oprah Winfrey and Dave Matthews, to help me open a music school in South Africa.
3. Matthew Chase’s award-winning song, BELIEVE is 3.33 minutes.  BELIEVE was written for me, a few months before our engagement. BELIEVE won the Lyrics of the Year award just days before our first Wedding Anniversary…and our  love story made the front page of the Sunday Charlotte Observer!  Now, I’ve signed his song to a MAJOR artist MAJOR label publishing deal?! It is not a coincidence that BELIEVE will launch Matthew Chase’s musical legacy! Have I mentioned how the meaning of the lyrics changed dramatically after his death?
4. A photograph (taken from another boat) was sent to me after the accident.  There is a clear image of an angel’s face in the wave that capsized their shark-diving boat. Thousands of people have been able to see “the angel” that (I would like to think) took them safely to Heaven!
5. Rob Thomas, Darius Rucker and Dave Matthews were ALL on my Beacon Theatre wish list (as well as a few more,) long before I realized that all 3 of them have their 10th Wedding Anniversaries within one year of each other.  I’m sure they will all love that cool factoid – It’s going to be this new “special musician’s bond” that they all have!  After being inspired at the Rob Thomas concert in Charlotte, NC on 09.29.09, I met Rob after the concert and offered to design a pendant for he and his wife for their 10th Wedding Anniversary, which was that Friday.  My creativity is free so why not pay it forward?  I decided to do something nice for somebody, who has given me so much enjoyment from his music over the years.  He Rocks!  He saw my pendant (made of both of our wedding bands and some of his ashes) after the show, and I’m pretty sure he really liked it – or else he’s a good actor, as well as musician!  Since all of wishlist musicians have their 10th Wedding Anniversary within the same year, I thought that it was a nice gesture to offer to design a 10th Wedding Anniversary present for all of the musicians (and their wives), as a thank you for BELIEVEing in the EVERYTHING & AFTER Concert.  The designs are created out of their initials, so each design is unique and very different. The designs that I have come up are out of this world!
6. 3 people died in South Africa, on April 13th, 2008, including my husband Chris Tallman.  A few months later, the Dave Matthews Band lost one of their own, LeRoi Moore. I thought it was so symbolic that DMB hadn’t played in Berkeley for 13 yrs, and they played for 3 nights last August on the weekend of LeRoi (and my sister’s) birthdays.  My grandmother died a few days later.  Everything happens in 3’s.
7. Train was originally scheduled to perform at the Fillmore in Charlotte on 11.15.09 – my 2nd wedding anniversary. They rescheduled for 12.02.09, so that they could film a CSI episode.  I really connected with Train’s music that night, even crying my eyes out during two of their songs (WHEN I LOOK TO THE SKY and CALLING ALL ANGELS), since I think that Chris often tries to send me messages through music. I met Pat Monahan, the lead singer and his manager after the show.  They both said that they would like to be involved with my concert at the Beacon Theatre next Nov 12-14, 2010 – my 3rd wedding anniversary weekend.  If Train had performed on my anniversary like they were originally scheduled to, I think I would have been too upset and self-consumed with my grief, that I wouldn’t have even tried to meet him after the show.  Everything happens for a reason – That is for sure!
8. Darius was the first artist that I officially approached about performing a Matthew Chase song. After sending my packet of information to him in SC, I walked back into my apartment and the clock read 3:33 – I’d like to think that was not a coincidence!
9. I’m starting to think that I was always the person that was supposed to launch Matthew Chase’s career, not Chris.  I came up with the stage name Matthew Chase, which was actually Chris’ “porn star” name! You know…your middle name, and your first pet or street you grew up on?  Since we were living in San Francisco, Matthew Hershey was not the vibe that Chris was going for!  He grew up on Chevy Chase Drive, so Matthew Chase popped into my head!  I also designed all three of his CDs, and was very involved in the whole creative process…including sometimes being the inspiration for his songs!

My motto for 2010 is ”Dream big, shoot for the Stars and always BELIEVE!”  I hope you will join me for this amazing experience!

Happy New Year!

Sarah Tallman