A Neil Diamond fan community
Funny, funny stuff
I am in the process of reading a book by David Wild HE IS…I SAY. In so many places I was almost in tears laughing at some of the analogies this man makes. He is so tongue and cheek about it…almost every sentence starts with “I’m a believer that…”. In the first chapter he talks about Elvis Costello seeing Neil when Neil stopped by in his tour bus at a small venue where Elvis was playing (he, Elvis, was just getting started). Elvis said something to the effect that Neil turned around with a baseball hat on that said Arch Angel on it and Elvis though that he might be having some sort of religious experience. He talks about “Longfellow Serenade”, and during his raunchier moments wondered if Neil isn’t talking about another type of “longfellow” and goes on to say that “come on baby, ride” and “let me make it warm for you” both sound like lusty come-ons to him. He also talks about a comic who worked with Neil when he was playing small colleges and said that toward the end, just before he priced himself right out of that type of venue, it was getting really strange, the owner's of the buildings would be so thrilled that they’d hand over the title of said building to Neil. The last one I will mention just cracked me up. He states that to paraphrase his words, “Neil quite possibly deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for playing a cantor’s son AND recording two Christmas Albums”. This was right after he said that due to the Theory of Relativity, Neil quite possibly might be the greatest actor in the world.
Anyway, I thought I would share those funny little items from the book. Apparently they are friends, and David Wild does think of Neil as a music God. David Wild also appeared in Neil Diamond, A Solitary Man. Interesting and funny stuff.
Views: 204
Tags: Neil Diamond
Comment
-
Comment by Suzanne Stroop on February 13, 2012 at 4:08pm -
It would be nice if he had given us a little more depth but he's a man in the "business" and I suspect he put himself out there just writing the story. Too bad some of the other "critic's" can't come to grips with the fact that Neil Diamond is the very best singer/songwriter in the world and always will be. Yes, he's human and I'm sure he wears his warts with pride, like most men do. And as time has passed I am sure there are some things that he would have changed. Unlike David Wild, I think the guy who wrote Solitary Star has a gripe of some kind to pick - perhaps he was denied an interview or some other stupid thing but I do believe the book was a little biased - as was David Wild's. David makes no bones about the fact that Neil is a musical god to him.
-
Comment by DiamondLori on February 13, 2012 at 2:49pm -
Haven't got to the Jazz Singer yet, but it is interesting finding out how he worked to get what he wanted. If he stepped on a lot of toes, I'm sure many others in the tough world of show business have too.
-
Comment by Jewel Diamond on February 13, 2012 at 12:53pm -
I found Solitary Star very interesting regards JLS and Jazz Singer, it went into a lot of detail about them. This book doesnt always say nice things about Neil, but thats fine by me as long as the opinions offered were honest ones. No one is perfect, and if we really want to get to know Neil, then a warts and all book is better than one that only says nice things, imho
-
Comment by DiamondLori on February 13, 2012 at 12:40pm
-
I agree, David Wild's book was fun to read, only problem was that whenI finished it, I wanted to read more of it. Since then I have read Laura Jackson's book, and now reading Solitary Star slowly, when I read a chapter about a song, or time, I put on a CD of it. Yes Trisha, quite a mixed bag, especially about the JLS songs and music.
-
Comment by DiamondGirl on February 4, 2012 at 10:52pm -
That's interesting Trish. I will have to look for that book. I adore our Neil unconditionally so i am a bit bias myself!
Thanks for the post Suzanne! Sounds like a fun read!!
-
Comment by ruth jacobs on February 2, 2012 at 2:52am -
read the book too, good huh?
-
Comment by Jewel Diamond on January 31, 2012 at 7:19pm
-
I've read this book, the only other one I have read so far is Solitary Star. Its interesting to read both as they are both so different. The David Wild book is written by someone who is a fan, so is mostly nice about Neil, and the S.S. one is written by someone neutral, who interviewed a lot of people who knew Neil, so is a very mixed bags of comments and views.
Neil declined to be interviewed for S.S., but maybe if he had have done there would have been a more balanced result.
© 2012 Created by Sweet Caroline.
You need to be a member of Sweet Caroline to add comments!
Join Sweet Caroline