Pretty soon, I will be the proud owner of a Black Diamond CD.

Well, my mom will be anyway.

Decatur’s love affair with Theron Denson — a.k.a. The Black Diamond — rubbed off quite easily on the Hoak family this summer when he performed at Decatur Celebration. We posed for a picture with him. My brother wanted a tie-dyed shirt like his.

And my mom asked for a Black Diamond CD for her birthday. (He was sold out at Celebration, or she would have taken one there.)

I ordered a CD by e-mail, sent my $15, and it’s supposedly autographed and in transit right now.

I don’t know how many tribute acts sell CDs. But in the case of Denson, anyone who has seen him knows that it isn’t just the novelty of seeing a black man so closely resemble Neil Diamond in voice. (Though the novelty is strong enough to translate across borders — when in Italy last year, friends I made there were thoroughly amused when I told them about one of Decatur’s favorite guilty pleasures.)

But it’s also Denson’s charm, his personality, and the fact that he seems to remember just about everyone he meets that seems to keep giving him momentum for return performances. In his e-mail, the Diamond said he hopes to return to Decatur Celebration this year.

We’ll see if his past promise to relocate to Soy City comes true as well.