I've been working on this off and on for a few days. I appreciate all the help and input.

I experimented with matrices, and I think a scaled unity matrix (contrast) and adding brightness is exactly what I needed.

The multiply blend mode gives the texture underneath. This is a success.

Now to actually finish the text. That's another story...

Thanks again.

OK, done. Here's a screenshot.

It looks similar, but a little darker. I'm going back and forth between thinking that lighter text glow is better, and then thinking that the darker glow looks more "realistic." I then tried disabling the RGB Matrix, and this makes it look even darker but with more contrast.

I actually like this! Do you know of a way to decrease contrast so that it looks a little faded and not just sepia?

Thanks for the ideas! I appreciate the help.