I've been too consumed with work and the move to realize that I missed Neil Diamond's birthday, which was yesterday. (Thanks for the reminder, Aunt Toni!) I was stumped at first on how I'd give the man a celebratory shout-out this morning without pre-empting the Friday 'Fro — and then I remembered the cringe-tastic scene in The Jazz Singer, where he actually dons blackface AND an afro wig in order to "pass" as black for a gig at a downtown nightclub. Unfortunately, try as I might, I could not find that clip anywhere on Youtube; and though I scoured several search engines at length for a photo, the best I could do was this tiny screen-grab:
Ah well, you get the gist. Let's just listen to Neil's "Pot Smoker's Song" instead, and wish him a happy belated birthday while enjoying the moving testimonials of people who used to shoot acid into their spines. (And if you haven't heard this particular entry in the extensive Diamond song catalog, you are in for quite a treat...)
(Now also seems like an appropriate time to re-run the my round-up of ten essential Neil Diamond choons, which I penned for Rolling Stone.com a few years back.)
NEIL!
Posted by: MJ | January 25, 2008 at 08:31 AM
Um, thanks Dan.
My usual insomnia was just on the mend. Therefore, haunting visions of that still frame will most likely pick up the slack.
Posted by: Sarah Parker | January 26, 2008 at 11:30 AM