This Diamond replica is a gem

Brookfield CT

05 October, 2021

10:39 AM

Description

By Scott Benjamin Rob Garrett was there the night when Neil Diamond hit a grand slam into the balcony economy seats - putting his name on the same billboard marquee as Elvis and Sinatra. It was 1976 – the 200th birthday of the U.S. of A. The Tall Ships were in New York City and the Liberty Bell was being celebrated in Philadelphia. But in Vegas, Diamond was opening the Aladdin Hotel's 7,500-seat Theater for the Performing Arts. By the time Diamond finished the third encore with" I've Been This Way Before" it was history. In phone and e-mail interviews with Patch.com, Garrett, who has performed a Neil Diamond tribute show for 27 years, said Diamond had "turned down crazy money" to perform in Las Vegas through the years because he did not want to play a traditional Las Vegas showroom where dinner and drinks were served while the shows were going on." He explained, "At that point in time, he was already a huge arena draw and wouldn't entertain the prospect of performing in Vegas until the Aladdin built the Theater for the Performing Arts which they specifically chose for him to open." Rolling Stone has reported that the hotel even named a suite after Diamond. Garrett – who recently performed at the Bethlehem Fair - said that Diamond "broke all concert records at that time - originally booked for 3, then 4, and then finally 5 consecutive nights, and he also was paid the highest salary ever at that point for a multi night engagement -eclipsing both Elvis and Sinatra's paychecks." Garrett states on his web site that, "While Neil Diamond may 'Thank the Lord for the Nighttime,'I thank the lord for Neil Diamond." Is there any artist who was so versatile? Upbeat pop hits. . . country. . . ballads. . . gospel. . . jazz. . . classic. The Monkees took his "I'm A Believer" to the top of the charts when transistor radios were tuned to Dan Ingram. "Sweet Caroline" became the biggest attraction at Fenway Park this side of the Green Monster. What would Independence Day be without "America"? How many singers did a duet with high school classmate Barbra Streisand? Through his first 24 years Garrett would "literally impersonate Diamond until near the end of the show then would mention as a joke to my audience by telling them that I have to come clean and inform you I'm not Neil Diamond"- which always produced laughs. I would then follow that up by saying (again, with humorous intent) that 'you should have known I was not Neil Diamond by the price you paid to see tonight's show.' Or by saying, 'I checked my bank account this morning and knew right away I'm definitely not Neil Diamond.' " He continued, "Once Neil announced his retirement from the stage due to Parkinson's in 2018, I completely ceased talking to my audience as if I were him and began talking about him. It was too uncomfortable for me to speak as if I were him at that point." Like Diamond, Garrett was born in Brooklyn, but his family moved to Las Vegas when he was a child. It became his home, and Neil Diamond become a role model. His break came in 1995 when Paul Revere – the namesake of the Raiders – hired him for a huge theatrical show in Hawaii. "I do know that for the last 27-years, I have headlined more rooms in this town than any other tribute artist by far," he remarked. He was named Vegas' male tribute artist of the year in 2013. JoAnne Smith in the Laughlin Entertainer once wrote, "This is one of the rare instances where the tribute is as close to the real Neil as it is going to get." How is he able to replicate the Diamond man-about-town look. Garrett said a seamstress replicates Diamond's wardrobe for him from photographs of Diamond's 1980s stage shirts. By then, he was wearing more sequins. Garrett appears sometimes at the WestGate Hotel and Casino - although not in the showroom where Barry Manilow is a regular and where Presley once performed. On January 8 he will perform his largest show ever in the City of Lost Wages at the M Resort/Casino Pavilion, which seats 1,800. He will be accompanied by a 14-piece orchestra. Said Garrett, "Since Vegas is known globally as being the 'Entertainment Capital of the World', 'it seems to be a little more significant when people find out you're the VEGAS 'Neil Diamond' (or the "Vegas" Elvis, Sinatra, Rod Stewart, Cher, Elton, Lady Gaga, etc)." He saw Presley 23 times – starting with the first of the concerts that the King did at Madison Square Garden in 1972. Interestingly, he has only seen Diamond just 17 times. What are the comparisons? "If we are talking specifically about stage presence, they both shared an enormous command of the stage and charisma where you could find yourself easily hypnotized and/or awestruck just by being in the same room as them," remarked Garrett. He added, "If you are referring to similarities and differences in their stage presentation, the similarities would be that they were both real good looking, charismatic, dark haired, side burned, bigger than life, figures with guitars and sparkly outfits who scrunched their faces into the mic while belting out songs with legs spread apart and hands flying all over the place." "Both very animated and exuded sex appeal, although their way of delivering it was quite different," Garrett explained. "Elvis had the edge when it came to vocal chops but Neil was something Elvis never could be - a writer and/or composer. He was also a better musician." However, Presley became a movie star. Said Garrett, "During the 70's, as a young man, Neil was offered several movie contracts but waited until he was 39 to finally accept one." "Neil made one feature film – the remake of The Jazz Singer from 1925 - and Elvis made 31," he related. "Neil's one movie doubled its cost and produced a double platinum soundtrack that he wrote while none of Elvis's movies ever lost money - most had extremely low budgets." "The critics were brutal to both Elvis and Neil regarding their debut roles on film," Garrett added. He said, "Elvis made a handful of movies that showed he had the potential to be accepted as a serious/respectable actor but ultimately went on to make some really awful films - one worse than the last." "Neil made one movie (which most people who have seen it, like) and, after being panned by most critics, decided movies weren't his thing," said Garrett. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times awarded it one star out of four and wrote that the remake "has so many things wrong with it that a review threatens to become a list." Garrett exclaimed, "I think Neil should have given it another go and Elvis should have quit while he was ahead. A lot of the blame for Elvis's critical downfall on the big screen can be put on Colonel Parker for caring only about how much money they were paid but Elvis deserves some of the blame as well for going along with it." He added, "It goes without saying that Elvis longed to be a respected movie star much more so than Neil did," How has Las Vegas changed over the last 47 years? "There is a lot more traffic," Garrett lamented. Instead of being a city of about 130,000, Las Vegas itself is over 641,000 people and the metro area has nearly 2 million. There are big-league sports teams: The Golden Knights of the National Hockey League, the Raiders of the National Football League and the Aces of the Women's National Basketball Association. Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan has stated that she doesn't expect that New York City will fully rebound following the pandemic. What about the City of Neon Signs? Garrett said that Las Vegas has steadily climbed forward over the recent months. "Are things back to 'normal' yet?" he said. "Of course not. Pending any other unexpected setbacks, we won't see "normal" until at least spring of '22, but the second this city reopened (with limited restrictions), it was bombarded by tourists. It's almost as if they (the visitors) have talked themselves into believing that the virus has no (or little) effect on "Sin City" - which we know for a fact is not true. "The town was pretty packed for Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends (the 2 busiest weekends annually in Vegas)," Garrett exclaimed. "Again, not 100% normal, but enough to be close. Also, our properties are skyrocketing because Californian's are leaving the west coast and moving here in droves. For the big city it has become, Vegas is still relatively inexpensive to live in -and doesn't have a state tax." He remarked, "It still is not normal for performers like myself who are used to working bigger showrooms. Many are still closed and won't open here until 2022."