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Dear Garrison, How did you

February 4, 2004 |

Dear Garrison,
How did you manage to keep breathing after Irma Thomas sang "Hold Me When I Cry"? I listened to it on both weekend broadcasts from WHYY Philadelphia and it took my breath away. It is hours later and her amazing voice and lyrics are still a haunting refrain in my mind. If only each of us could have someone to hold us when we cry. Thank you for the pleasure of her music.

—Sharon H.

Sharon,
I loved Irma too, her singing and her salty sense of humor. Right after, "Hold Me When I Cry," as the audience was applauding, she sidled over toward me and in mid-bow, she said, "That's my menopause song." After the show, Irma introduced me to a friend of hers who was working at the theater and who was an original member of the Dixie Cups who recorded "Chapel of Love." Irma was going to do a benefit for the Jesuit high school afterward, and the Dixie Cups and the Neville Brothers and other luminaries were going to be there. Irma is a trouper.

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