What a lovely tribute. He deserves it.
Thanks for writing what many of us can't find the words for.
Lydia Deutsch | Email | Homepage | 02.22.08 - 4:37 pm | #

Tom, I don't know you, and I just stumbled upon your Web site when searching on Dan Fogelberg. What a tribute to Dan you posted! And what a terrific writing style you have! I myself am a musician (whose style is based on Dan's), a major Dan fan, and a former technical writer by trade, so I have some basis on which to praise you. I just wanted to briefly comment: Nice job, sir!
Michael Shogi | Email | Homepage | 03.21.08 - 10:31 pm | #

Tom,
I came across your page while seeking information of any kind on 'Nature of the Game', as it has had the same impact on me (albeit it's been 20 years ago) as it's had on you and anyone else who's had the fortune to hear it.
I agree with those who've gone before me; you my brother are a very gifted wordsmith.
I wish you the best, and hope someday our roads collide.
Stay strong.
All the best
Jim
Jim Walenciak | Email | Homepage | 03.25.08 - 11:55 pm | #

He was my idol and hero too and the world feels so empty without him in it. I did not know him personally and yet it feels like I lost a member of the family. His music has been such a big part of my entire adult life. Going to his concerts was the highlight of each year and the anticipation of each new album was one of the great joys of my life. I still can't believe he's gone. Thank you for your incredible tribute to Dan. Knowing other people feel the same way I do is very comforting.
Mary Romanowski | Email | Homepage | 05.15.08 - 11:00 pm | #

Tom,

You said it all about Dan. Nothing else can be said. I still can't believe he is gone!!
Barb furano | Email | Homepage | 07.12.08 - 2:37 pm | #

All I can say is "WOW"!You were very insightful to Dan Fogelberg.I can't wait to see you at Sellersville on 08/13.
Amy | Email | Homepage | 08.11.08 - 9:00 am | #

Dan was my idol, my musical inspiration. You've put everything I've been feeling over the past 8 months into beautiful words. I play and sing a Dan Fogelberg song almost every time I sit down at the piano...I still can't believe he's gone.

Best wishes,
Greg Ralls
Greg Ralls | Email | Homepage | 08.11.08 - 10:31 am | #

You spoke for me, and others, but you spoke my heart since I first heard the man's music in my teens. Thank you, and thank you, and thank you. I wish I could be there to hear you today, but we will be with him in spirit together.
Linda Barnes | Email | Homepage | 08.13.08 - 1:00 am | #

Wow. I've spent the all of today (Dan's birthday) 'doing Dan' on the computer as I did the day I heard he was gone. As said previously, you've eloquently described many feelings in my heart since he died. Dan has been simply a part of who I am for 30+ years. I was surprised to read your reaction to his last few albums, as I felt the same but didn't want to admit it. Since 12.16 I have gained a new & greater appreciation for them and almost feel guilty about my initial disappointment. I hope you have as well. Its still so hard to believe he's gone and how much his death has affected me. Its helpful to know I'm in good company. Thank You!
Renay Patton | Email | Homepage | 08.13.08 - 4:14 pm | #

Tom...I too stumbled across your site, actually while searching for a tab to "Comes and Goes" (see, there's this woman who breaks my heart each day and never knows...) in hopes of learning how Dan rang those elegant harmonics. I grew up during the 70's, flooding my ears with ZZ Top, Foghat, et. al. But I was also so very fortunate to have been introduced to "Souvenirs" by a friend, then also found "Home Free". A concert in Nashville in 1979 was one of the first dates with my future wife, and a friend sang "Longer" at our wedding. OK, so the marriage didn't go so well, but I never held that against Dan.

I feel I have Dan to thank for the softer side of my guitar love and style. I'll never play with anything like the passion or precision that he had, but when I pick up an acoustic, I always end up picking at least part of one of Dan's tunes. I tended away from his later, more orchestrated offerings. His gorgeous voice and touch on a Martin never really needed any other adornment, in my humble opinion.

His death was heartbreaking, I felt as if I'd lost a mentor of sorts. I watched a clip of "Leader of the Band" on YouTube the day he died, and was in tears at my office desk.

Thanks you for your wonderful writings here. It made my day.

Sincerely,
Floyd Switzer
Floyd Switzer | Email | Homepage | 11.05.08 - 10:44 am | #

Tom...all I can say is finally.

Finally someone has put into words that which I have been trying to reconcile since I heard the news that Dan had fallen ill back in 2004. When I heard he had died, now 14 months ago, I sat and cried. A 50 year old man sat and cried over a 56 year old man that he had never met dying.

I was much more than sad, really, I was pissed. I was pissed that the one person who 'got me' had left me to figure out the rest of this screwed up life all on my own.

I too, had kind of decided that Dan had gotten away from the energy and freshness that came with the passion of youth in his earliest work. But you know, with a renewed, intensified listening to 'Full Circle' I have decided that it was the start of a rebirth of the origins present in 'Home Free'. The high harmony was diminished, but the spirit was there.

Perhaps it is fitting (an not ironic) that he brought his career back around to the starting point with 'Full Circle'. It was as he said in a late 2003 interview, a good a place as any to have it end.

But I sure do hate the idea that I'm never gonna have another 'Nether Lands' or 'Phoenix' to make the world make a little more sense ever again.

"...the voices you hear at the top of stairs are only echoes of unanswered prayers" TK
Tom Kohlmeyer | Email | Homepage | 02.13.09 - 3:09 pm | #

Stumbled upon your blog and thought "what the heck? When did I write that description of the night of John Lennon's death?". I was dubbing "Old Lang Syne" off the radio...holding a cassette deck up to the speaker...a little lo tech old style stuff (you don't think the RIAA will come after me, do you?) ...when they broke in to say that John Lennon had been shot in NYC. So the parallels were probably shared by a lot of people. I can't hear that song without thinking of being in a dorm room in South Carolina...hearing the news that one of the Beatles had been killed.
A lot of memories tied up in Dan Fogelberg's music...thanks for the blog. I bookmarked it...
Peter Rorvig | Email | Homepage | 03.07.09 - 7:11 am | #

It has been forever since Dan passed and I still mourn. Much of my early "Dan experience" was similar. KSHE radio in St. Louis would play Gambler back to back with 2112, Better Think Twice, Cashmere and The Last Time I Saw Richard. I devoured all that music, but felt a kinship with Fogelberg. Maybe the Illinois connection, maybe the strange and strong pull of the water, I don't know. Already a guitar strummer, I learned to fingerpick to the Homefree LP. Needle down, needle up, needle down, needle up. To this day, there is usually a Fogelberg cover lurking in my set. He made me want to write songs, he made me want to be myself. He made me. Yes, I do miss him, still.

If you have an electronic copy ripped off vinyl of "The Lady Loves The River"..... please email. Please.
Paula Brown | Email | Homepage | 05.26.09 - 7:05 pm | #

why is it, i still hum his tunes in my head almost daily? i cannot understand the grief process, i have lost family members, you grieve and move on..but fogelberg wrote my life.. like everyone else,there were times when it was not cool to be a fogelberg fan, but i always was.. i live close to louisville home of the ky derby, 2 weeks before they play run for the roses,still brings me to tears...i never met the man, never was able to see him in concert, but i still grieve for what i thought i would have time to do, i never thought the troubador of my youth, would age, get sick and leave me here..who will write my llife now?thank you for your post.
bev corydon ind
bev | Email | Homepage | 06.15.09 - 4:47 pm | #