A personal note: I was discussing this photo via e-mail with Seiko fan Doogie. When I mentioned how much I liked this sequence from "20th Party Live," and the single frame above in particular (so much that I've included it in my SMF III site banner), he commented "why did you choose it?... I thought you liked pics of Seiko with her eyes wide open?" I replied to him, and it wasn't until I wrote the reply that I realized why this one photo stood out from the thousands I've seen.

Some of you may remember the hit song "Drift Away" by Dobie Gray, which is one of my all-time favorites. The chorus includes the lines "Give me the beat, boys, to free my soul, I want to get lost in your rock and roll and drift away."

So here is Seiko, in the middle of her "20th Party" celebration, in an auditorium filled with her adoring fans, doing all of the costume changes, working through all of the routines with the dancers, putting on a great show. And in the middle of this, while Shinji Harada is singing, she sings softly to herself, sways from side to side, closes her eyes and places her hand over her heart. For one brief moment during the "20th Party," Seiko gets lost in her rock and roll and drifts away.

So, my friends, you now understand the real reason why I do SMF. You understand why a gaijin who understands very little Japanese devotes so much time to following Seiko's career and sharing his feelings with you. This is the Seiko that I attempt to present to you: human, vulnerable, emotional, beautiful. Much of what I do on SMF is an attempt to communicate what I feel about Seiko's music visually. Take a look at the picture above. This is the Seiko that I see, this is the Seiko that I present to you.

Thanks, Doogie. If you hadn't asked the question, I probably wouldn't have thought about the answer...:-)

Mike DeAngelis, 7/25/01