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![]() ![]() IDK 4-15-99 |
![]() ![]() Alan 4/13/99 |
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![]() ![]() And "Tennessee Moon" has to have his most "gut-wrenching" lyrics yet... truly grabs the soul and causes my tears to flow as well. Neil's concerts are always the best! For a solid 2 1/2 hours, I am captivated as he takes me from those teen years to the present. His energy never fails and he never ceases to give 100% at each concert I've attended. How can one NOT be a loyal fan? I'm looking forward to his next East Coast tour. For once again, I'll brave the long, long line to get tickets to see this fabulous legend. Linda 4-2-99 |
![]() ![]() Shirley 4-1-99 |
![]() ![]() I would tape his albums, and they went everywhere with me. I was in the hospital twice over the next few years, and Neil was always right beside me, soothing me with his intense, gravelly voice, and his passion. I never realized at that time that anyone else held him in the high esteem that I did. Of course, his concerts were always packed with screaming fans, but I figured the girls just saw him as a sex symbol. Not a bad one at that, but his genius far exceeded anything as earthly as the mere physical world. His albums SERENADE and TAP ROOT MANUSCRIPT, as well as all the others, touched on every emotion known to mankind, and some known only to God. I am a year or two older than Neil is, so I'm no spring chicken, but I still get excited and somehow pleasantly moody, when I hear his music. I feel I've left so much unsaid. Perhaps I'll write again one day. Just know, all of you, how deeply I appreciate reading the words and expressions of love for Neil that I had thought were mine alone. NC NEIL FAN 3-31-99 |
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![]() ![]() Sharlot 3-23-99 |
![]() ![]() Patricia 3-19-99 |
![]() ![]() I was a young moody teen when I first heard you sing on the radio in 1968. I knew immediately that there was something unordinary going on between my soul and yours, but I did not then understand what. I still do not. This is, I believe, part of what keeps me "loyal" to you; I'm still looking for that explanation. Over the radio waves, through the miles between us, and right past the thick stubbornness of an overly intense kid, you somehow, knowingly or not, managed to touch me when I was needing embraced. When I listen to you sing, my personal interpretation of what you mean by what you are singing sizzles like a hot iron all the way to the core of my soul. It takes me to a place deep inside my head where even I can't evoke much communication from without you. This may sound dumb to some people, maybe even to you, but after all these years of going there and riding on the rush it gives me, I don't care. It is my place, and I need your music to go there, and I don't care what anyone thinks of this. Once, years ago, when I was lucky enough to meet you in person and tell you my story, you held both of my hands in both of yours and looked me squarely in the eyes and said, "Keep the faith." With your deep brown eyes looking directly into my deep brown eyes, I realized something that I couldn't articulate until much later. I could FEEL your eyes looking beyond mine, and looking into yours, I could almost see ME looking back. We reflect off of each other, Neil. You - your fans. I think you know this. Whether you remember our meeting or not is unimportant to me. I cannot explain why not. You said to me, "Keep the faith." I will never forget. This is all that remains important. Even when I've watched you perform, I'd focus on you through my lens, and another uncanny connection began to occur. There seemed to be a predictability that I could read, using it to 'choose' each moment. Those chosen moments have become my way of archiving the phenomenon of you. Many people have asked, "How did you do that?!", when looking at these awesome photos. "I didn't. He did.", is the only way I know how to answer this question. This is particularly true of a triple exposure from 1978, a copy of which you have generously autographed for me. So you see, Neil, this loyalty or connection or Diamondhead mindedness is as much about me as it is about anything else. It is, in fact, quite personal and not the kind of thing that I can tell just anyone. Forgive me if it makes you the least bit uncomfortable. It's a simple equation that equals the same thing from right to left as it does from left to right -- You = Me. Me = You. This is how I see it, and I will always keep my faith. God bless you, Neil. Yours, Cindy (Shunko) Stubben Note from Webmistriss: You can see 6 pages of Cindy's pictures of Neil on Neil Diamond Fan Photography ![]() 3-19-99 |
![]() ![]() Lotsaluv, Maggi... 3-16-99 |
![]() ![]() Just lettin' you know, Lisa 3-13-99 |
![]() ![]() What is it about Neil's music that makes me keep coming back again and again? It is the magical world that I enter into when my senses are drenched in something finer than reality. Listening to "Play Me" or "September Morn" or any of my other favorite Neil Diamond songs while relaxing or driving or even doing household chores lifts me out of the mundane and seems to make the greens greener and the blues bluer....If you know what I mean. Sometimes, because Neil Diamond music has always been a very important part of my whole family's life, it can even recreate a special memory. Like a dream, where reality and fantasy entwine, Neil Diamond's voice and words and melodies can carry me to a very special place: the Diamondhead mind. Marion Sadge 3-9-99 |
![]() ![]() Sincerely, Brenda Youngblood 3-5-99 |