Concert date: 8/01/99 San Francisco, CA

Review of the show:
Rachel, I applaud the tremendous job you have done with this webpage. You've created much more than a form of communication...for many of us it's a daily vacation!

I am writing after having withstood the trauma of Sunday night's cancelation. Before you read this, I must tell you that I am one of those Nippy fans who thinks she is the #1. I relate completely to your enthusiasm for our girl but I still have to voice what's on my mind and more importantly in my heart: What an incredible disappointment!

The cancellation of last night's show was a tremendous let down but the big disappointment is in Ms.Houston herself. Like it or not, the advent of the internet and television have made it almost impossible to deceive the public or hide an ugly truth with clever spin.

I hate to add to the speculation about her substance abuse but what are we left to think? Saying Ms.Houston was "not well enough to perform" does not excuse a cancellation minutes before the show.

"Not well enough?" Who does she really think believes that?!? How did she feel 12 hours before the show? If she was so ill that she couldn't perform, I'd think her condition 12 or even 24 hours earlier would have indicated that the show couldn't go on. Common decency among casual acquaintances dictates ample notification of regrets, not to mention how one should treat "paying customers," if I am reduced to my real value to her. She says that about being a star, her mother taught her to "look at Barbara, look at Sarah and Dinah" well I'm sure Cissy didn't only mean their vocal techniques but their sense of professionalism, too! I am still numb from the realization that she didn't think thousands of people deserved early notification of her crippling "illness" or even an apology (to date, I haven't heard or read a statement of apology issued from her camp).

I am a HUGE Whitney Houston fan... her artistry, her gift, moves me like no other artist's work but this behavior is too much to ignore. To cancel a show just minutes before is unexcusable. I am a professional man with many obligations. Like thousands of others, I gladly rearranged business commitments and social obligations to attend this concert. I was actually depressed when I heard that I had made these arrangements and driven in traffic two hours for such an insult. It's hard not to take a last minute blow-off like this one personally.

Not that long ago, this girl was a normal darling from Jersey. It's insulting and shameful to see her now act as if the God she loves to publicly praise decided to gift her to earth without a need for the rules of conduct the rest of us learn to honor. Our God teaches us humility. Perhaps it's time Ms. Houston took time out of singing the Gospel and spent some time reading it.

After spending so many years defending my admiration for her, I'm begining to wonder if my judgement has been clouded and my respect for her misplaced.

After reading the many email messages from fellow fans who were distraught by Sunday night's concert-that-wasn't, I am saddened even more to realize that I'm not just feeling anger. There seems to be strong consensus that this angel has fallen. Truly: God bless her, she needs it.