Usually I don't dwell much on acknowledgments of death anniveraries of those I miss, but two reasons in particular cause me to make an exception today in Tammi's case.

FIRST, there have been so many exciting and overall happy recent developments concerning her growing legacy in recent years, that such an observance isn't draped in negative feelings. In recent years, many great vault releases, especially the "Come On & See Me" masterpiece solo collection, a TV documentary, a newly found "live" Johnny Carson Tonight Show performance, a Philly Walk of Fame induction and her own biography have all been delivered for her fans and music lovers.

SECOND, I happened to find the article linked below while surfing the web a couple of weeks ago. It appeared in the The Afro American, a nationally distributed paper back in the 60's and 70's. It brought back a lot of memories for me since I attended Tammi's huge funeral, seated very close to the front. Rather than sadness for what must be accepted, I feel the love of all of those people who attended in the rain, many because of a real feeling of love for one young artist. The official count was over 5,000 -making it the largest ever for Philly up to that point.

I had been told that Smokey & the Miracles were there, but I didn't see them and this is the first picture I've seen proving it! How great it is to see the great late songwriter Al Cleaveland closely following. Al would later become my buddy. I was only a few months shy of 15 at the time of the funeral. In some ways -many happy- it all still feels like yesterday.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...+terrell&hl=en