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NEIL DIAMOND

Posted on 08/12/2005 4:03:44 AM PDT by 7thson

My wife and I went to the Neil Diamond concert the other night at the MCI Center in Washington, DC. There were about 18,000 people there and he puts on a great show. Did over two hours of songs with no intermission. Not bad for a guy in his 60's.

He brings in a fantastic cross section of people. People from their teens to their 60's; white, black, Chinese, Indian, etc.

My wife and I saw him for the first time in 2001. It was about a week after 9/11 and we did not know if they would still have the show. I think everyone was still kind of jittery but he opened with Coming To America and brought the house down. Back then, everyone in the audience rocked to that song? And four years later?

Though he did not open with Coming To America, when he sang it, he brought the house down. 18,000 people cheering and singing! It gives lie to the MSM saying there is no support for this country!

During the song on the jumbo screens, a film ran showing scenes of immigrants - the legal ones - arriving to our shores. The end of the film was the Statue of Liberty with a panaramic background of NYC. The last scene showed the Twin Towers. Brought a lump to my throat.

All in all, a good night and a great concert. Makes you wonder why the media ignores guys like Diamond, he openly praises the United States, and concentrates on arseholes like Jagger and his ilk.

One more thing. While waiting to take the esculators, my wife and I spoke with an Army guy and his family. He was ramrod fit and straight. I asked if he was Army - suspected he was - and he said yes. Came back from Iraq back in February. Was not bitter or angry or anything like that. Very upbeat. Kept calling me sir until I finally said he did not have to do that. He was there with his wife and two kids. Asked later why I thought he was Army and not Marine, I told my wife its because he didn't have a slopping forehead. Just kidding. I respect all you Marines out there. I then seriously said that while his hair was cut short, it was not Marine style. Also, I said all the service branches carry themselves differently and he did not carry himself as a Marine.


TOPICS: Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: comingtoamerica; concert; mcicenter; neildiamond; patriots; unitedstates; washingtondc
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To: 7thson

Neil Diamond! Let's rock.


21 posted on 08/12/2005 10:15:01 AM PDT by GSWarrior
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To: hobbes1

Isn't that horrible? He did a show in Nashville and when my neighbors told me they were going and they were pretty excited about it, I realized how different we were. We only have about 7 years difference between us but I wouldn't be caught dead at one of his shows or listening to him. Which movie was it with Jack Black and his band of ND impersonators?


22 posted on 08/12/2005 11:39:43 AM PDT by secret garden (Summertime, summertime, sum-sum-summertime)
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To: secret garden

Saving Silverman.


23 posted on 08/12/2005 11:43:19 AM PDT by hobbes1 (Hobbes1TheOmniscient® "I know everything so you dont have to...." ;)
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To: 7thson

Hooah.


24 posted on 08/12/2005 11:44:31 AM PDT by big'ol_freeper ("Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought." Pope JPII)
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To: hobbes1

That's it! Thanks!


25 posted on 08/12/2005 11:47:24 AM PDT by secret garden (Summertime, summertime, sum-sum-summertime)
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To: secret garden
Isn't that horrible?

Yes it is. Neil Diamond has written a dozen or so very hummable pop melodies, but though the lyrics aren't always excruciating, they are often so. That said, he is a consumate professional. He has taken a limited vocal range, marginal looks, and a handful of pop songs and made zillions. He accomplished this great feat (no sarcasm here, many others tried and failed, right?) mainly by keeping out of the public eye except when he can control all aspects of his presentation for maximum saleability. I'll bet his mother is/was extremely proud of him!

26 posted on 08/12/2005 11:52:36 AM PDT by rogue yam
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To: Xenalyte

Best Neil Diamond songs?
Brooklyn Roads
Shiloh
Girl,You'll be a Woman Soon
Solitary Man
Longfellows Serenade


27 posted on 08/12/2005 11:53:26 AM PDT by Riverman94610
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To: Riverman94610

"Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" is downright creepy.

It's right up there with "Young Girl" by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap.


28 posted on 08/12/2005 11:59:29 AM PDT by Xenalyte (Lord, I apologize . . . and be with the starving pygmies in New Guinea amen.)
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To: Riverman94610

However, the Urge Overkill cover of "Girl" rocks. (Find it on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack.)


29 posted on 08/12/2005 11:59:48 AM PDT by Xenalyte (Lord, I apologize . . . and be with the starving pygmies in New Guinea amen.)
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To: 7thson

I liked him fine before he took up with Barbra Streisand. "You Don't Send Me Flowers Anymore" makes me gag. His attempts at acting kinda sucked as well.


30 posted on 08/12/2005 12:07:20 PM PDT by Dionysius (ACLU is the enemy)
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To: 7thson; Do not dub me shapka broham; hot august night
On the boats and on the planes, they're coming to America...(legally and illegally).

Will somebody PLEASE post the cover of "Hot August Night?" DNDMSB did the honors a few months ago.

31 posted on 08/12/2005 12:09:23 PM PDT by Clemenza (Intelligent Design Isn't Very Intelligent)
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To: Xenalyte

You forgot to add "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" by Maurice Chevalier.


32 posted on 08/12/2005 12:10:04 PM PDT by Clemenza (Intelligent Design Isn't Very Intelligent)
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To: GraniteStateConservative
HANDS...TOUCHING HANDS...REACHING OUT...TOUCHING ME...TOU-CHING YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ah, memories of dad blasting that out of the car radio in his Riviera as we drove to Lido Beach.

33 posted on 08/12/2005 12:11:24 PM PDT by Clemenza (Intelligent Design Isn't Very Intelligent)
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To: rogue yam
He has taken a limited vocal range, marginal looks,

As a commentator in "I Love the 70s" noted: "Neil Diamond was sexy in a sense that he makes you think of your teachers having sex."

I always thought Cracklin' Rosie was a song about S&M, but that shows that I have a dirty mind.

34 posted on 08/12/2005 12:13:08 PM PDT by Clemenza (Intelligent Design Isn't Very Intelligent)
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To: Xenalyte

"Mr. Diamond, your Barcalounger is on line one."

- Dave Barry, in his column on amazingly insipid songs


35 posted on 08/12/2005 12:13:47 PM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: Riverman94610
Free Man in Paris is good too. Glory Road. Be. Play Me. Cracklin' Rosie. Etc.

I'm a big Neil fan and I take some heat for it but I don't care. Many times in a somewhat lonely childhood his music took me through many kinds of moods. I hope to see him soon in Atlanta for the first time. I know he's a Dem but I'm ok with that.
36 posted on 08/12/2005 12:15:36 PM PDT by over3Owithabrain
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To: Dionysius

Neil is no Olivier (his co-star in Jazz Singer), but the movie wasn't all that bad.


37 posted on 08/12/2005 12:17:22 PM PDT by over3Owithabrain
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To: 7thson
Nobody has mentioned Red Red Wine???
38 posted on 08/12/2005 12:22:03 PM PDT by OldEagle (May you live long enough to hear the legends of your own adventures.)
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To: 7thson
All in all, a good night and a great concert. Makes you wonder why the media ignores guys like Diamond, he openly praises the United States

Diamond is great, and make a lot of good songs. However, he isn't the Rolling Stones either. It's not the media alone that made the Stones. It was their music that made them the best rock band ever. If not the best, at least in the top two or three.

39 posted on 08/12/2005 12:26:05 PM PDT by Black Tooth
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To: Clemenza
Is this the one you're thinking of?


40 posted on 08/12/2005 12:28:21 PM PDT by DumpsterDiver
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