Mamoosh

He was an amazing man that brought together so many people from all over the US. His wit and wisdom will be missed. My condolences to his partner, his family and to all of his friends.

I posted this on my site earlier this week and slowly added to it as I had conversations with some of our mutual friends and got my feelings out and more complete. It's only unedited from the version I posted there, so some of the information might be a little redundant, but I wanted to share my thoughts and post it here since some of the old gang was coming out to share as well...

Wanted to let you guys know that one of my good friends, Matthew Sullivan a.k.a. Mamoosh, passed away today from lymphoma. The Milk Carton and many of my great friendships definitely wouldn't have happened without him. I met him at a roller coaster website called CoasterBuzz about a decade ago. Moosh was always in the know about what parks were getting and seemed to know everyone in the community. He was always one for surprises, helping friends in need, and even finding ways to get them to parks for events when they were in a tough situation to go.

A couple years ago I was faced with the possibility of not going to Holiday World's Holiwood Nights since I hadn't found a job out of college and leftover cash was running a bit dry. As soon as Moosh saw that I was raising the white flag in an event "roll call" thread, he called me and told me that we were going to make it happen. He told me that HWN wouldn't be the same without me and reinforced the pricelessness of getting to spend time with your friends at such a wonderful place. Classic Moosh there.

His personality was certainly unmatched. He had a distinct set of facial expressions and sense of humor that always made me smile. Somehow he could be totally sarcastic and snarky at times while being completely charming and endearing with it. He also had such a passion for "threadjacking" over at CoasterBuzz, which became one of my favorite sporting events over there as well. Since he lived in California, we were lucky to see each other once or twice a year, but e-mail exchanges made it seem like no time had passed and we were picking up where we left off. While we both had a passion for theme parks and coasters, we ended up bonding a lot over music.

He put together a yearly mix CD called "Pilgrimage" that he would give away, often in the fall, to friends before a coaster event called Phoenix Phall Phunfest at a park called Knoebels in Elysburg, PA since many of our friends took long journeys to get to this park in the middle of nowhere. He even included the Hot Hot Heat song "Middle of Nowhere" on one of the early compilations. He had been doing this since 2002 and often requested my recommendations once his influence on me helped me become the music fan I am today.

In 2005, Matthew was really excited about the debut of this band called LCD Soundsystem. He sent the album to me and I instantly fell in love. We discussed which track should be on his Pilgrimage disc and we both were attracted to "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House" and "Tribulations" although I found "Never As Tired" to be quite alluring as a quieter track with what I was into at the time. LCD Soundsystem became one of my favorite bands and their most recent album, This Is Happening, topped my Best of 2010 list. Sad and ironic that they are coming to an end soon as well. I'm lucky to have the eight volumes that he gave away and lucky that he was such a good friend to me and so many people.

I will really miss new Pilgrimage CDs, music recommendations, and the ton of bonus material he'd send to me. He had a surprise and sent the new Pet Shop Boys single to me on my birthday this year and it made me smile a lot! I've always had a strong admiration for him as he's the kind of person I hope I could be. It was always fun to talk music with him and he helped me through some tough relationships and gave me great advice when things were down. He became about as close to an older brother and mentor as I've ever had. I was lucky to have him in my life and to be in his. I will always love and cherish him and our relationship very much.

That's beautiful, Danny. I am pretty speechless after reading that. :)

-Tina

<3 you Danny - and you really have grown up to be the person I want to be when (if!) I ever grow up. You've turned into a fabulous young man, and I know Moosh would say so as well. He had more of a positive influence on many of us than he ever could have known.

Thanks Tina and Bill. Love both of you very much too!

I totally agree. I was just telling Bill not too long ago that I am so proud of my Ohio kids, even though some of you don't live in Ohio anymore. You guys are all grown up! *sniff* :)

And I do agree that Moosh really had no idea how many lives he touched. We are all very lucky to have had him in our lives. He will definitely live on in our hearts. :)

Love you guys too! I am lucky to have you both in my life as well. :)

-Tina

Still having difficulty accepting this.

When I was new to the boards, Moosh was one off the first people I made friends with.

Cut to SRM '03. Finally meeting in person, I got a big old hug, as if we'd known each other from way back. During Fri night and Saturday, I got mooshed on Raven. And again. Then on Legend. And yet again. I got one of Mooshie's legendary backrubs, after waiting in a long line of course. His hands were tired and he apologized that he wasn't able to give one that was up to par, but he gave me one anyway, which was still awesome, btw. How he found time for everyone, to make them feel important in his life, is the kind of magic that few people have, and even fewer folks learn to perfect.

Matt altered his plans slightly at the last minute to be with me in the park at Indiana Beach that Sunday, the day following the tragedy, which had gotten everyone a bit down (to say the least). Though I would meet up and share part of the day with folks I would later get to know better, I was still visiting the park on my own; he would have none of that. He made sure my first visit to Indiana Beach would not be a solo visit.

I got mooshed some more. My memory coupled be failing, but it was on the Chaos (my first), or the tilt a whirl, or both I think. It was most pronounced on CE of course. At one point, we ventured into Frankenstein's Castle. As we walked by a room where I could hear music playing, he suggested I walk to the edge and look down to view the scene that had been created, some ghosts, monsters, ghouls etc that had formed a rock band, IIRC. My terrified reaction to what happened next gave him a big kick and a huge laugh. I know I would not have had such a great day at the park without his company. :)

I remember having an absolute blast at Silverwood with Moosh at two CAC's, though the one Chain Dog Media put on is still one of the best coaster events I have ever attended. Again, he made sure everyone got a little moosh time who wanted it.

I moved to Vegas in October of '04, and the sudden move put a dent into my travel plans I had for Solace '05. I just didn't recover financially from the move in the 4 or 5 months timespan; I had to back out.

Hold on, just a moment, said Matt. If I could get there, make the drive from Vegas, I could go. How? Because he paid for my hotel room and Solace ticket price. Stunned, I wasn't sure I could do it. He was adamant; no further discussion. I attended Solace and further cemented friendships from that trip that I absolutely cherish to this day. He even gave me some cash for gas to get home.

When I visited Disneyland the following year, he showed up at the hotel and took us to dinner; he couldn't join us at the park, but made sure he found the time to visit anyway. Later on, during a brief drive thru Vegas, he made sure we met for breakfast, and checked in to see how I was doing. As others have noted, Moosh was one of those people who you could not see or chat with in a while, but when you did catch up, it seemed like you could easily pick up where you last left off.

I would finally see him again (sadly, for the last time) at PPP '08. It was my first visit to Knoebel's, and he knew I had wanted to visit the park in the worst way for the longest time. He gave me a big hug at the after hours party, smiled and joked "NOW you're one of us," as I finally knew what all the fuss concerning Knoebel's was about.

Count me among those he helped, without hesitation. Count me among those who wouldn't have met as many cool coaster people without his intervention. Count me among the many who will cherish his memory.

And count me among the many who mourn his passing.

I will miss you, Matthew.

Rob

I loved reading that Rob. We were so lucky know him. Thanks for posting.

I loved reading that as well, Rob. Thank you so much for sharing those stories. :)

-Tina

I met Moosh a long time ago when I was fairly new to coasters. We reunited at an RRC day in Orlando in 2000, and his father was there as well, even riding the Kissimmee skycoaster with him!

We will miss you greatly.

Roz

I met him only once, at No Coaster; I enjoyed talking to him.

Later in the evening, thanks to a combination of my failure to pay attention to what I was doing and a park rep who was overly generous with drink tickets ... well, I missed the last train into the city. Without hesitation he offered to let me stay in his room at the hotel for the night.

His generosity that night was a wonderful thing; and I always enjoyed his posts here on Coasterbuzz.

He was truly a gift to all the lives he touched.

Wow. This is very sad news to be greeted by after a long absence from the site. My deepest sympathies to Matt's family and friends.

Other than his zany interactions here, I only met Moosh a few times @ PPP and/or hangover days. I guess it's fitting that the first time I met him in person, he was dressed as a Fascination table for the Halloween parade there. His wit and humor will be greatly missed, and nobody, nobody could come up with a pun the way he could.

Holy cow. I was starting to miss you, RGB!

Moosh was my favorite poster, hands down. Funny, thoughtful, and (sometimes) relevant, I always looked forward to his opinion.

It's nice to see old posters and followers come out of the woodwork in this virtual wake, to share stories and celebrate his life.

Thanks for everything Matt.

-Joe

I know I'm late, but was totally out of pocket these last two months and just got the news. Moosh was one of my favorite posters as well going back to the days of RoS's construction. He will be sorely missed on all the coaster boards, and am sure he's in a better place now.

I really didn't know him well but said hi and chatted and shared some puns.
There may be more but there are two things Matthew coined that will never leave us.

LoCoSuMo for Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain and
Mooshing, A term for slamming or being slammed by your co-rider.

Thanks for the great times and chats and fun. You'll be missed.

Actually, Moosh didn't "coin" Mooshing himself per say, but he was certainly the inspiration for it. Mooshie told me himself that Mark Rosenzweig said he got "mooshed", when they rode the Banshee (falling star) together at Stark Raven Mad. Then it really caught on when The Legend opened.

And only Moosh could Moosh. Otherwise it's not the same :-).

Thanks

I don't know if that's true, Clint. I've ridden with many, and I'd say Bass flat out kills on the corners... loving brutality at its finest. :)