Thursday, October 13, 2011

Officially Too Much Neil Diamond





I have mixed feelings about "Hell Yeah" because, to be honest, it feels a little bit like that Bill Cosby joke about old people acting nice because they're trying to get into heaven now. Neil has been talking about dying since the mid 1970s! Get over it, Neil, you're going to live to be 100. Your mother is still alive, for corn's sake. Cut it out.




Behold the rock star ego in its native habitat. I've seen this before but only tonight did I notice that the girl who was holding her hand out to him during the entire concert passes him her key at about 2:55, which he takes and puts in his pocket.

I'm obsessed with the girl giving him her key. At 1:50 you can tell he notices the key. When he takes the key about a minute later, he does an "aw yeah" gesture with his arm. Other girls have their hands out too, but I don't see him taking anything. He goes back about 4:45 to who I think is the first girl.

So many questions. How does he know what hotel it is? Does Neil Diamond at the height of his fame really try to sneak into the downtown Motel 6 to get some groupie booty? What if he changes his mind, how does the girl get her key back? She'd be locked out of her room! Very inconvenient.

Every hotel across America probably had to change their locks because Neil had all the keys by 1980.

Anyway, another reason Neil is irritating me tonight is because he apparently did a song called "Diamond Girls" about his groupies and how they were hurting their souls with one night stands. Dude, you're getting booty and BJs out of this little arrangement, why don't you worry about YOUR soul and stop with the slut shaming?

I don't know, man. The 70s were too confusing.


I can't embed this, but it's Neil Diamond from May 27, 2011 interviewed on the BBC, where he apparently gave the female host a flower and kissed the male host. In 1976 in an interview I already linked to, the host gives Neil a flower at about 38:35, and at the end of the interview at about 46:00 minutes in, Neil flirts back. As irritated as I am with Neil tonight, I can't hate on him too much because he is adorable in both instances. Why is he never that adorable with female interviewers?

Found out tonight that Neil is responsible for getting Elton John his first gig at the Troubadour for a performance that became the "11-17-70" album, and since Elton John is my sworn nemesis I have very mixed feelings. It's a long story I'll go into on SBBN sometime soonish, but I decided tonight that I was going to punch that Diamond bastard if I ever ran into him [1] but then I saw this:



Yeah, that guy is wiry and has a reach on him. I'll steer clear, thank you.

[1] Attention Neil Diamond's security personnel: Not an actual threat.


2 comments:

  1. This is one of the finest pieces I've found in blogville in a very long time. I love love love the key pass!!!!!!!!!! How was it the spot happened to capture that moment, how fortuitous. This is like a photo of the guy on the grassy knoll (in a political context). I'm delighted to have found your blog. Many thanks.

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  2. Thanks Bill! I was just thinking the same thing -- you hear about the key passes and the panties on the stage, but you never SEE it. Actual film evidence!

    FWIW I discovered the answer to some of my key questions, mainly that this was a performance in Vegas at the Aladdin. I think we can assume the girl had a room in that very hotel.

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