Someone once e-mailed me to ask, “Who are you and why do you have this web site?” Here is the answer:
Who am I? I’m one of Eva’s many cousins (her father and my late mother were brother and sister). I’m not a journalist or a web designer. The web site is not an “official site,” as far as I’m concerned, because Eva is not here to assign that designation. It is strictly a personal endeavor. I try to make it readable on a variety of equipment, and to load easily without unnecessary gadgetry. Many wonderful people have given me assistance, however, and I thank them very much.
When I started the Eva Cassidy Web Site in early 1999 (25 years ago!!!), it was hard to get information about Eva Cassidy. She was completely unknown in the music world, but the people who heard her voice tended to become instant fanatics. I wanted to help Eva’s fans find out more about her music, and to help them find her CDs. (Remember when on-line shopping was brand new, and paid downloads and streaming services were not yet invented?) Creating the web site was intended both to promote Eva’s music and to honor her memory, with a focus on her music and recordings rather than her personal life. Before long, the “What’s New” page began to fill with links to reviews and online mentions of Eva Cassidy. In the early days, even the tiniest of these was cause for excitement.
Since that time, Eva’s fame has grown enormously, and the web site has grown too. I am proud of the interviews and articles I have researched and written for the site, as well as the screenplay that nobody wants to make into a movie. One of my earliest features, the Eva Cassidy Guestbook, has been a source of much interest and pleasure – to Eva’s family, friends, and musical colleagues as well as to her fans. The Amazon Associates fundraiser contributed over US$ 20,000 to melanoma research at Johns Hopkins University.
In 2015 the site joined the 21st century and received a much-needed make-over. The goal is to be readable on smartphones and tablets as well as computers, and accessible for people using screen readers and other assistive technology. If you are having any difficulties with the site, please let me know.
The Eva Cassidy Web Site is about Eva, not about me, so I prefer to be something of a “mystery woman,” hence this coy photo from 2002 that doesn’t show my face. Yet the “How to Promote Your Website” articles insist that readers want to know about the writers, so in case the articles are correct and you’re really interested, here are some fun facts: I’m three years older than Eva. I live in the Virginia suburbs of Washington DC, and I have two adult kids, one a singer-songwriter, one a video journalist. I used to play the flute pretty well; I realized long ago that I’d never be in Eva’s league, and I haven’t performed in public in years, but I still practice often just for fun. Someday* I would like to be on the game show “Jeopardy!” I love daffodils and daisies, and thorny roses that have an actual fragrance. I think the best television show ever made is the Canadian sit-com “Corner Gas.” My favorite chocolate is Cote d’Or milk chocolate, my favorite author is Diana Wynne Jones, I believe Richard III did not murder his nephews, and I prefer my commas inside the quotes. Grammar, spelling, punctuation, and copyright laws matter to me. When I make political comments on Facebook they’re usually in the form of haiku. My children would tell you that I am likely to quote Dr. Seuss far too often. Musically I enjoy Wagner’s Ring operas, the political songs of Roy Zimmerman, old-fashioned musical theatre cast recordings, symphony orchestras, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Eva Cassidy (duh), and “anything but that pop crap.” You are free to imagine that I look like Nicole Kidman, though I don’t, and if you find me dressed in anything other than jeans and a T-shirt and Birkenstocks, it must be a special occasion. There, is that enough?
The British newspaper The Guardian actually wrote about me once: Mike Anderiesz had e-mailed me in connection with an article he was working on about fan tribute websites. The article is called “KEEPING THE FLAME.” It was in the print edition Thursday, April 4th, 2002. Mike A. e-mailed me that day to say, “Sorry for the hash they made of two lines which make it sound like it’s a site about you rather than Eva – I can’t believe they messed that up!”
Anderiesz quoted me a lot more than I expected. One of the things I told him that didn’t make it into the article, I shall add here, for the record: “My website is not in any way responsible for Eva’s posthumous success. The credit goes to Eva herself, and to her producer and band members who made the albums with her… I enjoy working behind the scenes to help spread the word about Eva, but I don’t think the website introduces people to her music. They hear it on the radio, perhaps, and are instantly hungry to know more. They look her up on the Internet and find my website. It gives people access to more information about Eva and makes them feel they are part of a worldwide community of fans. The people who fall in love with Eva’s voice want to share their wonderful discovery with their friends. I call them ‘Evangelists.’ One Evangelist in Vermont has given away over 100 Eva CDs as his own personal promotion effort! Many of the people who write in my guestbook also correspond with each other via e-mail. It all helps the word-of-mouth.”
*which I achieved in 2024! 
