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Post by Biff McFly on Jun 9, 2021 16:03:55 GMT -5
When "Hummin' To Myself" came out that's when I heard something wrong. I was alarmed by it. Now that I had something to listen for I started going backwards. First I listened CDs and then to performances. I traced it to early 1990 in the performances. Not sure about 1989. All of 1988 and before she's fine. The only time I didn't hear this was on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on February 9, 1999 with Trio.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2021 17:45:06 GMT -5
When "Hummin' To Myself" came out that's when I heard something wrong. I was alarmed by it. Now that I had something to listen for I started going backwards. First I listened CDs and then to performances. I traced it to early 1990 in the performances. Not sure about 1989. All of 1988 and before she's fine. The only time I didn't hear this was on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on February 9, 1999 with Trio. If you watch Linda in that clip, she does not look relaxed, & even a bit unsure, compared to Emmylou & definitely Dolly. Trio II was a nightmare for her getting it done, and Linda preferred studios always.
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Post by sliderocker on Jun 9, 2021 21:05:47 GMT -5
I have to say that, even though she said that the pinpoint accuracy of her voice started to go on her after the turn of the millennium, I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary when I saw her in concert here in Los Angeles in both 2004 and 2006. She sounded like she was in as good a vocal form as she had ever been...but then again, she knows a hell of a lot more about Voice that I ever would (LOL).
I think Linda did fine, as long as she was performing as a solo artist. When she sang with Dolly and Emmylou live, I couldn't really hear her voice and that bothered me. Of course, I thought maybe Linda was just taking the lower harmonies and it was just my hearing that was off kilter.
And if any of us did notice that things were starting to go sideways with her voice, we probably didn't want to believe it was happening, and we didn't say anything, perhaps out of kindness and sympathy to Linda. After all, this was someone who once said that she hoped to be singing until she was 80; and I think all of us thought that she would.
Adieu False Heart was where I noticed Linda didn't really sound like Linda. It was a good album and all the songs were good, but Linda sounded tired here and there. And I wondered if her heart was in it or if she had been ill during that time, which could've accounted for how she sounded. And then not long after that, she went in her self-imposed retirement and didn't really say anything. Many thought it had something to do with how she looked and some even heartlessly criticized her on her appearance, and said her claims of being sick were bogus. Except we know she had been ill off and on, even before she was diagnosed with Parkinson's and then progressive supranuclear palsy. I cheered that she's always been able to bounce back and fight back, but I know the state of her health is so fragile, that, well, I'm prepared for the worst. Though I still hope that day doesn't come until she's 90 and I'm out of here long before she is.
But now that she knows what she has is in fact Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, which is far more insidious and serious than Parkinson's, her voice is likely just the first of her worries at this time.
She has, I think, already outlived the average number of years a person with PSP lives after diagnosis (4-7 years). Actor-comedian Dudley Moore lived about seven years after he was diagnosed with the illness. I think they have made some advancements on the illnesss, and since it is a derivative of Parkinson's and Alzheimers, some advancements have been made on medicines which treat the Alzheimers disease rather than the side effects. So, there may be something there for people with Parkinson's and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy to hope for.
Even if the new advancements was found that it could help Linda, maybe restore her voice, I think she would remain retired. The worry with all the advances they make with medicines is there's not a single one of them that doesn't have side effects. And you don't know if Linda would be whammied by a side effect or if it wouldn't cause her any harm. At this stage, if something was to help her, all I would want is for Linda to get well and not be waylaid by an illness caused by a new medicine.
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Post by erik on Jun 9, 2021 22:28:01 GMT -5
Quote by sliderocker:
I wouldn't doubt it. If her voice was not cutting the muster like it had been doing for forty years before that, it was necessary to work in a musical form, completely acoustic folk/country/Cajun, that would allow her voice to shine in whatever way it still could.
Of course the critiques (I'd quite frankly call them gratuitous slams) of her appearance and her health always made my blood boil--and I still see some of those slams being made on YouTube almost eight years after she announced that she had Parkinson's. Such is the nature of the idiot trolls that stalk the Internet.
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Post by eddiejinnj on Jun 10, 2021 5:00:59 GMT -5
For me, I did not really hear a definite quote decline. On the album "HTM", I wasn't sure about some of the vocals on "Day Dream" and "I Fall in Love Too Easily", most notably the former. The chorus which she performed alike each time just seemed not in her range (not sure if that is the correct term). I have listened to others do the songs and Linda's fares well if not the best, imo. I just think for me they just weren't the best songs for her to do. As far as "AFH", I think "King of Bohemia" is a masterpiece and belongs with Linda's best work. Her and Ann were working on that quiet but profound model, imo. eddiejinnj
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2021 7:21:15 GMT -5
I have to say that, even though she said that the pinpoint accuracy of her voice started to go on her after the turn of the millennium, I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary when I saw her in concert here in Los Angeles in both 2004 and 2006. She sounded like she was in as good a vocal form as she had ever been...but then again, she knows a hell of a lot more about Voice that I ever would (LOL).I think Linda did fine, as long as she was performing as a solo artist. When she sang with Dolly and Emmylou live, I couldn't really hear her voice and that bothered me. Of course, I thought maybe Linda was just taking the lower harmonies and it was just my hearing that was off kilter. And if any of us did notice that things were starting to go sideways with her voice, we probably didn't want to believe it was happening, and we didn't say anything, perhaps out of kindness and sympathy to Linda. After all, this was someone who once said that she hoped to be singing until she was 80; and I think all of us thought that she would.Adieu False Heart was where I noticed Linda didn't really sound like Linda. It was a good album and all the songs were good, but Linda sounded tired here and there. And I wondered if her heart was in it or if she had been ill during that time, which could've accounted for how she sounded. And then not long after that, she went in her self-imposed retirement and didn't really say anything. Many thought it had something to do with how she looked and some even heartlessly criticized her on her appearance, and said her claims of being sick were bogus. Except we know she had been ill off and on, even before she was diagnosed with Parkinson's and then progressive supranuclear palsy. I cheered that she's always been able to bounce back and fight back, but I know the state of her health is so fragile, that, well, I'm prepared for the worst. Though I still hope that day doesn't come until she's 90 and I'm out of here long before she is. But now that she knows what she has is in fact Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, which is far more insidious and serious than Parkinson's, her voice is likely just the first of her worries at this time.She has, I think, already outlived the average number of years a person with PSP lives after diagnosis (4-7 years). Actor-comedian Dudley Moore lived about seven years after he was diagnosed with the illness. I think they have made some advancements on the illnesss, and since it is a derivative of Parkinson's and Alzheimers, some advancements have been made on medicines which treat the Alzheimers disease rather than the side effects. So, there may be something there for people with Parkinson's and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy to hope for. Even if the new advancements was found that it could help Linda, maybe restore her voice, I think she would remain retired. The worry with all the advances they make with medicines is there's not a single one of them that doesn't have side effects. And you don't know if Linda would be whammied by a side effect or if it wouldn't cause her any harm. At this stage, if something was to help her, all I would want is for Linda to get well and not be waylaid by an illness caused by a new medicine. Linda I believe is resigned to her condition, and I believe knows what she wants or is prepared to tolerate, facing the inevitable. Its so good she has her new book to focus on, and has Joe Biden as her President. Linda has a loving family, a brother, her children & in-laws, and is comfortable. She is 75, harder for fans with her whole life's work online to watch & listen to, a manmade immortality.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2021 8:24:04 GMT -5
I can't remember the actual year, but I started noticing stories and interviews on Linda did during the 2000s, where she said she had retired because she was very sick. She didn't elaborate as to what was wrong with her, but given her other known health issues - her thyroid issue, her diabetes and the breast cancer issue she dealt with when she was 60, it's possible any of those health issues could've been causing her not to feel well. And I've wondered about the possibility if her Parkinson's - now Progressive Supranuclear Palsy could've been caused by any of the medications she was taking for her other ailments. That includes any chemo she took for her breast cancer. All pharmaceutical drugs have potential side effects, doesn't mean someone taking the medication will get them. Linda could've been one of those poor unfortunate souls who, if she was taking the pharmacy drugs, suffered from the side effects. I've seen some stories linking Parkinson's and the like to drugs for diabetics. And I've always wondered if Linda has suffered from the diabetic peripheral neuropathy, which I am afflicted with, and which of course is nerve pain and affects the hands and feet. And which also impacts one's neurons. Chemo is also a possible suspect as cancer patients deal with neuropathy as well, which is caused by the chemo treatments. If Linda has issues with diabetic peripheral neuropathy, it could be that condition plus any drugs she was taking for the problem could've affected her ability to walk and her ability to hold things in her hand. If she stopped taking any drugs prescribed for it, that would only have allowed the condition to worsen and open the door for something like Parkinson's and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy. sliderocker, I have read your post again. What is know is that people in their 50s & over, can get brain damage started more easily from general aneasthetics. I have had 3 family members affected thus, all having had later life operations. I did not know poor Linda had diabetes and cancer too. Any procedure can affect the body, Linda has been through a lot, she is remarkable in the circumstances. Now she looks like 1970s Linda aged gracefully and sweetly. AFA voice changes, "Feels Like Home" sounds most like "Don't Cry Now", with a deeper voiced Linda instead. Not as refined as her HLAW & other albums to & including "Cry.....Wind", but still true Linda.
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Post by PoP80 on Jun 16, 2021 12:42:19 GMT -5
I can't remember the actual year, but I started noticing stories and interviews on Linda did during the 2000s, where she said she had retired because she was very sick. She didn't elaborate as to what was wrong with her, but given her other known health issues - her thyroid issue, her diabetes and the breast cancer issue she dealt with when she was 60, it's possible any of those health issues could've been causing her not to feel well. And I've wondered about the possibility if her Parkinson's - now Progressive Supranuclear Palsy could've been caused by any of the medications she was taking for her other ailments. That includes any chemo she took for her breast cancer. All pharmaceutical drugs have potential side effects, doesn't mean someone taking the medication will get them. Linda could've been one of those poor unfortunate souls who, if she was taking the pharmacy drugs, suffered from the side effects. I've seen some stories linking Parkinson's and the like to drugs for diabetics. And I've always wondered if Linda has suffered from the diabetic peripheral neuropathy, which I am afflicted with, and which of course is nerve pain and affects the hands and feet. And which also impacts one's neurons. Chemo is also a possible suspect as cancer patients deal with neuropathy as well, which is caused by the chemo treatments. If Linda has issues with diabetic peripheral neuropathy, it could be that condition plus any drugs she was taking for the problem could've affected her ability to walk and her ability to hold things in her hand. If she stopped taking any drugs prescribed for it, that would only have allowed the condition to worsen and open the door for something like Parkinson's and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy. sliderocker, I have read your post again. What is know is that people in their 50s & over, can get brain damage started more easily from general aneasthetics. I have had 3 family members affected thus, all having had later life operations. I did not know poor Linda had diabetes and cancer too. Any procedure can affect the body, Linda has been through a lot, she is remarkable in the circumstances. Now she looks like 1970s Linda aged gracefully and sweetly. AFA voice changes, "Feels Like Home" sounds most like "Don't Cry Now", with a deeper voiced Linda instead. Not as refined as her HLAW & other albums to & including "Cry.....Wind", but still true Linda. I've never heard about Linda having breast cancer. Where did you find that information? I knew about the Hashimoto's and of course the Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, but this is the first time cancer has been mentioned to my knowledge.
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Post by sliderocker on Jun 16, 2021 13:55:19 GMT -5
I wouldn't doubt it. If her voice was not cutting the muster like it had been doing for forty years before that, it was necessary to work in a musical form, completely acoustic folk/country/Cajun, that would allow her voice to shine in whatever way it still could.
I quite agree, although my love for Linda is such that I always preferred her as a rock and roller. I believe Linda actually enjoyed her success with rock, despite whatever misgivings she may have had about her beautiful voice. I'm thankful Linda was able to complete Adieu False Heart but who at the time knew it would be her last?
Of course the critiques (I'd quite frankly call them gratuitous slams) of her appearance and her health always made my blood boil--and I still see some of those slams being made on YouTube almost eight years after she announced that she had Parkinson's. Such is the nature of the idiot trolls that stalk the Internet.
I'm with you, Erik. Makes my blood boil as well when the trolls talk or write about Linda's appearance. I always give such slams the thumbs down and I will respond and defend Linda and her appearance. People out there need to know her appearance are caused by her health issues and not by overindulging on food. The one response that p***ed me off big time was from someone who claimed to be a friend of Linda's and who said Linda had been but also added that she was lazy and fat. I'm like, if you're a friend of Linda's, she doesn't need any enemies. I had my doubts the person actually knew her, but if he or she knew Linda, Linda needed to lose their friendship. Not good talking out of turn.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2021 16:42:25 GMT -5
I can't find anything online about Linda having cancer or diabetes herself. But David Crosby has diabetes, and Olivia Newton John had cancer, and have been mentioned as same-era rock stars as Linda with serious health issues.
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Post by sliderocker on Jun 16, 2021 22:43:59 GMT -5
For me, I did not really hear a definite quote decline. On the album "HTM", I wasn't sure about some of the vocals on "Day Dream" and "I Fall in Love Too Easily", most notably the former. The chorus which she performed alike each time just seemed not in her range (not sure if that is the correct term). I have listened to others do the songs and Linda's fares well if not the best, imo. I just think for me they just weren't the best songs for her to do. As far as "AFH", I think "King of Bohemia" is a masterpiece and belongs with Linda's best work. Her and Ann were working on that quiet but profound model, imo. eddiejinnj I would think with Linda that it wasn't the Parkinson's or Progressive Supranuclear Palsy initially, but just Linda getting older and her voice giving way to age. Everyone is different and it can start earlier or later than what it began with Linda. Many noticed a gradual decline in the singing of Frank Sinatra. And Paul McCartney has said he no longer has the kind of voice that allowed him to sing Long Tall Sally. One would also think there's some other songs Paul is no longer capable of singing, most of which are his own songs. Justin Hayward and John Lodge from the Moody Blues recorded new versions of Question and Isn't Life Strange, their singing voices still good but not capable of singing the songs like they used to. Where Parkinson's/Progressive Supranuclear Palsy actually began to rob Linda of her voice, I can't stay. There's no information on when she finally went to the doctor as it was said she was advised by a friend to go to see a doctor because they noticed something wrong with her.
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Post by sliderocker on Jun 16, 2021 22:49:44 GMT -5
Linda I believe is resigned to her condition, and I believe knows what she wants or is prepared to tolerate, facing the inevitable. Its so good she has her new book to focus on, and has Joe Biden as her President.
Linda is resigned to her fate, but it does not mean she has to go quietly into that good night. I'd advise her to fight death tooth and nail and to make death sorry it ever bothered fiighting with her.
Linda has a loving family, a brother, her children & in-laws, and is comfortable. She is 75, harder for fans with her whole life's work online to watch & listen to, a manmade immortality.
Linda is 74; she's not 75 yet. Let's not make her older just yet. That's something my brother does. He'll add five years to someone's age or say they're 90 when they're 70. I sometimes wonder about him. :-D
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Post by sliderocker on Jun 16, 2021 22:58:27 GMT -5
I've never heard about Linda having breast cancer. Where did you find that information? I knew about the Hashimoto's and of course the Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, but this is the first time cancer has been mentioned to my knowledge. I found the information online and I had actually mentioned the story about Linda having breast cancer (when she was 60) and being diabetic. I will look to see if I can find the information again. Of the breast cancer, it was denied initially when she was hospitalized. However, I found a later story which said she'd had cancer and had one of her breasts removed and had reconstructive surgery. As for Linda's diabetes, I believe I came across an interview with her where she said she was diabetic. Given the health problems she had, it's not surprising she would be waylaid by diabetes. Unfortunately, because of the weight gain she had because of the Hashimoto's, it made her a prime candidate for that disease. It's amazing the number of illnesses we can have which in turn can cause other illnesses. Or the meds we take for them. There's not a drug in the pharmacy that doesn't have side effects, including drugs which can kill you that you wouldn't think could kill you.
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Post by sliderocker on Jun 16, 2021 23:00:30 GMT -5
I can't find anything online about Linda having cancer or diabetes herself. But David Crosby has diabetes, and Olivia Newton John had cancer, and have been mentioned as same-era rock stars as Linda with serious health issues. Linda had breast cancer when she was 60. She was diagnosed as diabetic, I believe in her 50s. As I just told PoP, I will see if I can find those stories again. I should've provided the links to the stories when I first posted them here many years ago.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2021 23:57:12 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jun 27, 2021 15:36:46 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2021 13:46:59 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2021 4:34:38 GMT -5
From Linda's "Vanity Fair" interview
"Did that change at all as you got older?
Well, as I got older I got Parkinson’s disease, so I couldn’t sing at all. That’s what happened to me. I was singing at my best strength when I developed Parkinson’s. I think I’ve had it for quite a while.
You think you’ve had it longer than when you received the diagnosis?
I’m 67 now, so it may have started as early as 51.
Are you going by your singing or other—
By my singing. They have a new way of diagnosing Parkinson’s; it’s with an algorithm and they record your voice and compare it to an algorithm. That’s a way they can get an early diagnosis, but it’s not in general use yet. I know somebody that has access to the research, so since my voice has been recorded over the years I might be able to pinpoint when it actually developed, and I think it’s been going on for a long time. I was sick for a long time, but as you get older you do develop aches and pains, and it’s harder to walk and stand up and you get stiff. You know, my hands were shaking and I thought, Oh, I’m old.
So you didn’t get that checked immediately.
It didn’t occur to me to go to a neurologist. I just went to my regular doctor, my chiropractor and said, just, my back hurts. [Laughs.]
Can you literally not sing, or you’re not supposed to?
No, I can’t sing. I wish I could. Ninety-eight percent of the singing I did was private singing—it was in the shower, at the dishwater, driving my car, singing with the radio, whatever. I can’t do any of that now. I wish I could. I don’t miss performing particularly, but I miss singing.
Did you read the A.A.R.P. piece on their Web site, referring to the piece they did on you, saying that there’s some kind of voice therapy?
There’s all kinds of stuff out there . . . but it’s nothing that can give you singing back. Singing is such a complex mechanism. You have to be able to do a whole lot of things at once that require repetitive movements of your vocal cords . . . I couldn’t do any of it [anymore]. I was onstage just yelling really, just shouting. And I can’t even do that now. If I try to put any pressure—I can’t project my voice very far. And my speaking voice is affected. I tried to do the audio version of my book, but I couldn’t do it. My voice didn’t have the strength, and I didn’t have enough range of expression.
Stuff that was easy—like, it used to be easy to brush my teeth, and it isn’t anymore. You wouldn’t think it would be something you would have to concentrate on, like a really difficult movement that you have to coordinate, like threading a needle. You’d think that brushing your teeth wouldn’t be like that. When it started to be hard to do things like that, that’s when I went to the neurologist.
Your last solo album was Hummin’ to Myself?
Yeah, and the last album I did was with Ann Savoy. It was called Adieu False Heart. I’m very proud of that record. Those two records I made with almost no vocal ability at all. But I just acted like I was working with a limited palette, like a painter would do—you know, it’s only browns and ivory and black.
You mentioned to someone that you felt you recrafted your voice to do Hummin’ to Myself.
Yeah, I did. I put a different voice together, and there’s a lot of stuff on there that I’m very happy with. If you compare it to What’s New, I had [on that record] way more color, more breath, more airiness, more access to the upper process of my voice. So I had to use what I had, and pitch was harder. With that stuff pitch is incredibly critical. I’ve usually had a pretty easy time with pitch; I tend to sharp a little bit, but—it was tough, I was really sweating the pitch on that record. But then I got there."
Related: The 1960s by Bryce Dallas Howard:
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Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2021 5:08:14 GMT -5
When I first heard Simple Dreams I was telling my college roommates Linda's voice had changed. There was something quite different about it...more nasal or something. Then I read an interview a couple of months later where Linda said she was suffering from the flu, bad cold and sinus infection when recording it. That worked out well for her. I believe Linda discusses it in her 1978 Rolling Stone interview with Peter Habst. Recording "Tumbling Dice" strained her voice most.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2021 15:15:13 GMT -5
Trio 1987 & 1999. Linda seems OK in both, but less bubbly in '99.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2021 15:31:13 GMT -5
1987
1999
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2021 15:39:33 GMT -5
Linda singing here sounds hoarse or voice-strained. Powerful bass.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2021 15:54:31 GMT -5
Back to 1987
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Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2021 13:46:51 GMT -5
1996, Linda singing "You're No Good" at The White House.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2021 12:33:40 GMT -5
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Post by ausfan2 on Jul 16, 2021 7:38:07 GMT -5
Around that time it was reported that Linda sang part of a song during an interview for USA Today.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2021 15:18:02 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2021 9:12:24 GMT -5
Performance in Kobe, Japan May 1993. Linda not getting the higher notes of old, especially on "Ooh Baby Baby", but she was 56 going on 57 then, so....
Nice that Andrew Gold was there with her.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2021 9:26:23 GMT -5
Singing "Lush Life" 1998 at Rosemary Clooney tribute.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2021 9:36:32 GMT -5
New York, Sept 1999
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