For Fans On Halloween, Surreal Neil Sings

Local Neil Diamond tribute band Super Diamond brings a full set of earnest AM radio hits from the 1970s to stage, delighting the group's campy, nostalgic fan base. Singer Randy Cordero started playing around with Neil Diamond covers back in the late '80s. San Francisco when he moved and started performing his uncanny imitation as "the Surreal Neil" in local clubs, the idea of a full band tribute to Diamond soon started to take shape.
Cordero and company have become one of the most in demand cover bands in the country over the course of the last decade, selling out venues on both coasts. The act was even tabbed to play the premiere party for 'Saving Silverman,' the Jason Biggs/Jack Black comedy that prominently featured Diamond's music. The celebration culminated with the real Neil sharing the stage with the band.
Super Diamond gives die hard Neil fans a fix when they're jonesing for the real thing, providing the right mix of emotive camp and affectionate tribute. While the Halloween weekend is sure to bring out a variety of costurmes from attendees, but bellbottoms, platforms and period attire are recommended. Knights of Monte Carlo open the show.

The Chanukah Song for A Cherry Cherry Christmas Neil Diamond sings

'Cherry Cherry Christmas' Neil Diamond's newly released Christmas CD, includes Adam Sandler's original 'The Chanukah Song '. Although not as comedic as Sandler's version, Diamond finishes the album with taste by including all Sandler's favorite personalities.
Neil Diamond's see the artical A Cherry Cherry Christmas CD Includes Sandler's The Chanukah Song for the rest of the story and a complete playlist.

Effect Neil Diamond

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Rough in the Diamond

Neil Diamond Tribute showJoey Purpura his brings, Diamond In The Rough, Friday, October 16 at 8 p.m. at the Royal Canadian Legion hall on Nelson Street, Hawkesbury.Call 613) 632-5136 for tickets. Purpure for more information.“Not only does Joey master the nuances of Diamond’s vocal tones and phrasing (so completely that some conference members have mistakenly believed him to be lip synching), but his occasional anecdotes describing the background behind Neil’s compositions add to the impact of the performance and his show impresses even the most devoted Neil Diamond fans,” according to a press release. “Joey’s Neil Diamond Tribute Rough in the Diamond, serves up a feel good tonic of dance’ n’ cheer, celebrating the power, energy and emotion of Diamond’s music to joyous and heartfelt perfection.”

Neil Diamond Christmas CD To Feature Guns N' Roses Produced Song

Neil Diamond Christmas CD To Feature Guns N' Roses Produced Song was a top story for this week. Here it is again: (Columbia Records) Columbia Records announces the release of A Cherry Cherry Christmas, the new Neil Diamond holiday collection, available in stores and online Tuesday, October 13.The title song, "Cherry Cherry Christmas," is filled with references to many of Diamond's greatest hits. Newly written and recorded by Neil Diamond for Christmas 2009, it is destined to become a new Christmas standard. Newly included with the re-mastered classics are a transcendent "Amazing Grace"; another new Neil Diamond original, "Christmas Dream"; and a time of party version of Adam Sandler's comedic "The Chanukah Song," produced by DJ Ashba (Guns N' Roses).

Neil Diamond still a Brooklyn cowboy

For all his fame and fortune, at heart, Neil Diamond is still a Brooklyn cowboy.
In “Neil Diamond is Forever,” an illustrated history of the musician, with exclusive photos and interviews, including coverage of his 2008 tour and this year’s Grammy gala salute, Jon Bream chronicles the pop icon’s rise to fame, starting with his Coney Island roots.
“There’s a lot of stuff about Brooklyn in there,” says Bream. “I think one of the things I didn’t know was that he was born and Brooklyn and grew up there, but lived for four years in Cheyenne (Wyoming). That had a big impact on him. He fell in love with cowboys and riding horses. He thought of himself as a Brooklyn cowboy.”

As much himself Diamond says, telling Rolling Stone in 1988, “I think Cheyenne had a big influence on me. That’s where I got my love of cowboys. Because I always thought I was one after I came back from Cheyenne.”
Back in Brooklyn, the book details, Diamond attended Erasmus High School, where he sang in the same choir as Barbra Streisand, though the two didn’t know each other at the time, and then for his senior year went to Abraham Lincoln High School, which Diamond has described, says Bream, as “moving from the inner city to a school that was more like Greece,” with the school more arts oriented.”
In addition to singing in the choir there, he also took up fencing, a skill you can still look to this day, believe it or not, in Diamond’s stage swagger, which he says is inspired by fencing moves.
It was also at Lincoln that he saw current graduate Neil Sedaka perform. After seeing that, his own performance roots became to take shape, as he started to perform as a duo with a friend.
Not much longer after that, Diamond became famous, writing hits for the Monkees and following with his own, including “Solitary Man,” “Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon,” “Cracklin’ Rosie,” “Song Sung Blue,” “Sweet Caroline,” “Love on the Rocks,” and “America,” with 115 million albums sold worldwide. (By now, Diamond has earned himself another nickname, this one from his fans: the “Jewish Elvis.”)
Bream, a music critic for the Minneapolis Star Tribune since 1974, has been covering Diamond’s career for nearly just as long, following every tour since 1976 and talking with the star seven times.
In his new book, he goes through these interviews, salvaged from old cassettes, collected fan memorabilia from all over the world, including rare posters, t-shirts, record sleeves, and tickets.
Bream is brimming with trivia about Diamond. Last year, he notes, the musician, at 68, was the oldest solo artist to headline a major arena tour. He was also the oldest person to get a number one record, with “Home Before Dark.”
The author has asked Diamond about this drive, as the star approaches his 70s, to keep performing, which he answered with a fencing analogy.
“In fencing they have a thing called blade hunger, that when you’re on the sidelines you want to get in and fence,” says Bream. “He feels the same way about performing. It’s just in him, something he’s got to do.”
And through it all, adds Bream, Diamond has remained consistent, always gracious, always striving to be better, whether he was a superstar performing before millions or a kid playing stickball on the streets of Coney Island.
“His love of Brooklyn,” says Bream, “clearly shines through.”