Community Voices

A Diamond experience

Our weather of late proves the truth of the axiom, "Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it."

This past summer was hot and dry in our neck of the woods. Summertime conditions were so sizzling that an expectoration would evaporate before it could reach the ground.

Thanks to modern technology, we all have access to weather radars on our smartphones. This proved to be a form of torture. The radar would display a rain cloud, plump and heavy with moisture, headed our way and our hopes would soar as high as the tops of a cumulonimbus thunderhead.

But just when the promising cloud got close to our place, it would either split in two and go around us or fizzle into nothingness. The rain clouds were often close enough to hear their thunder. This was the ultimate rain tease.

At such times we might receive what my erstwhile county agent guy Mel Kloster would call "a three-inch rain," meaning that there were three inches between the raindrops on the sidewalk.

About two weeks ago (although it feels like much longer), somebody threw a switch somewhere and it began to rain. Our endless sunshine was abruptly replaced by endless fog and drizzle. Every sunrise brought the same gray, featureless gloom. The sky looked the way that a hangover feels.

The moisture arrived too late to be of any help to the crops. This was yet another rain tease.

After living under a sky that was as glum as a kid who had just learned that he's on Santa's "naughty" list, my wife and I opted for a bit of escapism by attending a Neil Diamond concert.

Neil Diamond has retired from performing live concerts due to health issues. We instead took an opportunity to enjoy a Neil Diamond tribute show that was headed up by Matt Vee with help from some of his family members.

If you're of a certain age the surname Vee might ring a bell, musically speaking. This is because Matt is the nephew of the rock 'n roll icon Bobby Vee, who was a native of Fargo, North Dakota.

Matt was joined onstage by drummer Bennett Vee, Bobby's grandson. Backup vocals were provided by Matt's wife, Julie. Matt and Julie's 17-year-old son, Will, played the electric guitar.

"This is just Will's second time onstage!" Matt announced after introducing his son. Will launched into a solo that revealed an astounding level of virtuosity. He must have spent a lot of time playing the video game "Guitar Hero."

Matt's interpretations of Diamond's songs were dead-on. He often took time between tunes to share tidbits of his family's and Diamond's musical history.

"In 1959, Bobby Vee and his band decided that they needed a piano player, so they ran a newspaper ad," Matt said. "A scrawny, curly-haired guy named Elston Gunnn -- that's Gunnn with three n's -- answered the ad and said he had been playing piano for Conway Twitty. He played some stuff for Bobby in middle C and was hired. It turned out that he could only play in middle C, so he was let go. That scrawny, curly-haired guy's real name was Bob Dylan."

Diamond's first hit was "Solitary Man", which was released in 1966. I was just nine years old at the time but felt a deep connection to the song's title due to my chronic inability to win games of Solitaire.

Matt belted out "I'm a Believer" with all the gusto the song deserves. That tune was popularized by four goofy guys called The Monkees, who had a half-hour weekly TV show. For those too young to recall the group named after our simian cousins, "I'm a Believer" was part of the soundtrack for the original "Shrek" movie. It seems as though that tune can't escape its association with nonhuman characters.

Matt and Julie crooned a poignant duet of the song "You Don't Bring Me Flowers."

"He probably didn't bring her any wildflowers because they had hot, dry summer," I whispered to my wife.

"You're such a cheapskate!" she replied.

The first time I heard the song "Sweet Caroline," I was listening to a static-plagued AM radio and was operating a thundering Johnny Popper tractor. That's why I initially misinterpreted the title lyric as "sweet gal of mine."

Matt and his troupe performed "Sweet Caroline" for their finale. My wife sang along enthusiastically and punched the air with her right fist during the "so good, so good!" refrain. It's fortunate that I was sitting on her left.

The concert was a powerful antidote to the perpetually gloomy weather. And I was happy to be out and about with that sweet gal of mine.

-- Jerry's book, "Dear County Agent Guy," is available at Amazon.com and in bookstores nationwide.