Bad American

Where it began. . . I can’t begin to knowin’

(Oh man, the UPS guy just caught me listening to “If You Know What I Mean” and I find out HE’S a big fan too - we’re all coming out now!)

Some good news today if you’re a Sirius radio subscriber and you like Neil Diamond. And even more good news if you live in Cleveland.

Starting at noon today on Sirius channel 3 - Neil Diamond Radio!

And Monday morning tickets for Neil Diamond’s one night only Cleveland performance August 3 go on sale.

New CD out as well.

Tickets? Yikes! - not cheap. Tickets start at $55 and go to the stratosphere from there.

OK, I don’t know if this OK to admit now but I was a fan when it wasn’t cool for someone at my age to be a fan. What critics hated about Diamond I always liked - his overwrought, emotional, bombastic style (of the 70s I should add) which showed up in albums like “September Morn,” “Beautiful Noise,” “Serenade,” and the ever-reviled “Jonathan Livingston Seagull.”

I loved them all. It’s a schizophrenic thing to be such a hard ass realist on one hand and have such a sappy romantic musical side on the other. Perhaps it’s the hope side in me, I don’t know. If I ever need cheering up, I know who to listen to.

I last saw Neil Diamond at the old Richfield Coliseum back in 1984. Great show, especially the wonderfully bombastic “Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show.”

I know some of you are shaking your heads in disbelief right now - HE likes THAT? Yeah. I guess it’s the wonderful thing about being 45. You don’t have to worry about being cool anymore.

One of my earliest radio memories was hearing “Cracklin’ Rosie” on my dad’s transistor while waiting to go to school one morning back in 1970 on the old WKYC Radio 1100. And the vacation to Florida in 1972 hearing Song Sung Blue about fifty times.

And at old Municipal Stadium they’d play “The Good Lord Loves You” among other pre-game selections.

Eighth grade - Beautiful Noise; freshman year in high school - September Morn, a favorite of Larry Morrow in the morning on the old 3WE. And on and on. “Cherry, Cherry:” one of the quintessential songs of the sixties. And Neil Diamond wrote “I’m Not Your Steppin’ Stone” and “I’m A Believer” for the Monkees, in case you didn’t know.

I spent about the same amount of money to see Bruce Springsteen. Neil Diamond is one of my few ‘bucket list’ artists and I guess I’ll take my shot Monday morning.

In the meantime, one hour to Neil Diamond Radio.