Hi everyone.  Hope you are all well and continue to stay that way during this global health crisis we are facing.  But in addition to protecting your physical wellness, what are you doing to stay mentally healthy today?

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

I know we are still facing a serious situation but a new year gives us hope for the new days, seasons, opportunities & moments ahead. Still, music is something that will never change for me. It is my refuge, the most comforting part of my life & the one thing I consistently count on. So until a more normal semblance of life returns, I am going to share a song I listen to that helps me escape the current state of things, if only for a few minutes each day. And if this helps anyone else, even better.

Happy 80th birthday to the man born Neil Leslie Diamond on January 24, 1941 in Brooklyn, NY. Singer, songwriter, poet, actor, legend. Whether you sang along with The Monkees version of “I’m A Believer” or the cover version from the “Shrek” soundtrack, or if you sang “Hello Again” during “The Jazz Singer” movie or during “Saving Silverman”, or if you joined in with the Fenway crowd to sing “Sweet Caroline” or laughed at the quarantine version of that song, there has not been a generation that was not touched by Diamond’s music in nearly 55 years. That is the stuff superstars are made of. As a native New Yorker myself, I could not be more proud to hail from the same state as one of the most prolific songwriters of the 20th century. Happy birthday, Neil Diamond.

“I’ll weave his web of rhyme
Upon the summer night
We’ll leave this worldly time
On his winged flight“.

Neil Diamond circa 1974. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Neil Diamond: “Longfellow Serenade” (1974, written by Neil Diamond).

I do not own the rights to anything.  I am just sharing what I love and how I am coping with you.

Stay well.