[Roy]

Warning: mushy emotional content ahead

I'm quite saddened by the closure of TTD. There's too many names of contributors to specifically mention, so I just wanna say how thankful I am to have been a participant here. There's nothing really else I can say than thank you thank you thank you. Without really getting due credit, your generosity made my hobby an amazing fucking blast.

I'm now entering the final innings of my life & when I reflect back to the early 80s when the mere idea that, for example, I'd some day be able to enjoy Led Zeppelin's entire 1971 tour of Japan (from multiple tapers!) and how all those magnificent, amazing, historical artists who I loved would honor us fans by playing live for us one more time..... and now knowing they never will (or can't) again.... it's like the tragic sudden slamming of a door shut.

I'll never ever be able to see Paul McCartney or Brian Wilson or Dave & Ray Davies or The Zombies or Jimmy Page or Elton or Crosby Stills & Nash again. These amazing heroes rocked it to the end & I was so lucky to have seen (and recorded) their performances... and to all who are reading this message, God bless you for sharing these naughty unofficial recordings -- even to the extent of learning how to tastefully use modern software to enhance our enjoyment of them --- I am popping-open & raising my cold Heineken to you.

These wonderful memories are but mere zeros and ones on our hard drives, CDs & DVDs.... but they sure represent a whole lot more, don't they?

Does anyone remember a time when only a handful of The Beatles' BBC performances existed and they were on awful multi-gen vinyl pressings titled "Yellow Matter Custard" ???

If you're a fan of late 60s rock, did you ever think The fuckin' Zombies would reunite and perform "Odessy and Oracle" live?

I never thought in a million years I'd get to record Crosby Stills Nash & Young from the 2nd row. But I did. Just a few feet away from Neil's son, seated in his wheelchair.

The last time Sir Paul McCartney performed at the United Center in Chicago, I stretched my arm out (nearly dropping my recording gear) and as he left the stage, he jumped up and high-fived me.

Seeing the 2003 iteration The Yardbirds at the Abbey Pub in Chicago. Wow.

Getting caught at the 2001 Chicago Blues Festival by a rent-a-cop who asked me if I was "making illegal bootleg recordings"... and at the Neil Young concert in Tinley Park in 2000 when I argued and argued for over an hour about how I was doing nothing morally wrong and NO, I am not surrendering my MiniDiscs. HAHAHAAH!

Why did these experiences happen? Because sharing live recordings is fucking cool to the tiny few who understand and I wanted to be there to get a tiny sample of the thrill and share it here. So, it's because of you on TTD that I had these experiences. I want to tell everyone that. You are why I got those wonderful memories.

I'm hoping heaven includes a listening room for us to meet and have a laugh and a listen forever. See you there.