I remember California as a friendly, and yet exotic place. The air felt warm, but not the intense kind of heat we had in Brooklyn. And when we went to visit a more distant cousin, they had a swimming pool in their back yard! A swimming pool – where only a few of us would be! My brother and I Mom and Dad, my cousins and just the family around the pool. The pool I used in Brooklyn during the summer held almost a thousand people. This was almost decadent!

I also remember the little lizards zipping around on the land next to my uncle’s house, and how my cousin Rick would let me use his BB gun to plink them off the rocks. A BB gun was not a toy in Brooklyn, but a useful weapon

Now it was 1966, I was grown up and in the midst of having my first professional success as a recording artist. Mt brand new record "Solitary Man" was getting played in a few cities around the country and in L.A. it was really looking like it could be a hit

Every station in town was jumping on it, and then the big enchilada came aboard: KHJ was the powerhouse in this town, and if you had KHJ playing your song, you had a hit record in L.A.

And so it was with great eagerness that I accepted the offer to perform at the Hollywood Bowl as part of a rock ‘n’ roll show in the summer of "66. It seemed like a once-in –a- lifetime opportunity to travel to the California of my dreams again, and to relive the memories of that great two week visit. This time I stayed at the Riviera Motel on Sunset (still there), rented a car from a dollar-a-day place (still there) – they were out of those of course (still are), so I got a fancier $4 model. I prepared myself for a big chance to prove in L.A., land of sunshine, swimming pools and lizards, that I was worth all the fuss

The promoters had wired me to do three songs in the show, but I only knew one song- my hit. Fortunately I remembered that in summer camp I had sung "If I had a Hammer," and I knew "La Bamba" from my teen years as a budding rhythm guitarist . I thought I knew them well enough to play them live, so I made these three songs my set

The night of the show at the Hollywood Bowl!- squeezed between Percy Sledge and the Beach Boys, were more than a dozen musical acts, all with hot records on the charts, including one preposterous dude dressed in a black shirt, black pants, black boots and a black Stetson cowboy hat. Add that to the Black Everly Brothers guitar slung over my shoulder and you’ve got the picture

When my turn in the show came, I cocked my hat forward and sauntered out in front of a sea of California party animals. They had only heard "Solitary Man" on the radio and had no idea who or what this Neil Diamond fellow was all about. I guess they expected a "folkie" based on the sound of the record. Or maybe a hippie even, but the sight of this cowboy in Black drew a collective gasp from the audience, followed by a burst of applause. This was probably the high point of my presentation.

I open with "Solitary Man" and it went over well. I moved smartly into "If I had a Hammer" and then moved for the big close a crank- up –the – guitar – and – shout version of "La Bamba" here in the city where the great Richie Valens had created that fantastic record. What chutzpah! What nerve! What fun!

True, I had been warned about the revolving stage at the Hollywood Bowl , that it would begin to turn at the end of my last song bringing the next act into view. I had not been warned however that the power of that enormous stage kicking into gear would dump the Cowboy in Black unceremoniously on his backside, leaving him scrambling for whatever dignity could be salvaged. The charade was over, the image shattered. They new me for what ! I was a hoax. Off with his head!

Mercifully, the stage continued to revolve out of sight, carrying me shaking into the backstage area.

There, despite my own personal embarrassment, I felt a quietness, almost peacefulness, I could see the movement of the people preparing for the next performer, but I could also see groups of musicians standing around the sunlit backstage area, chatting amiably among themselves.

The world went on, I thought, I was not dead. There was hope. And those people in Los Angeles might let me come back again someday. It did not occur to me at the time that it would lead to 10 sold out "somedays" at the Forum

Thank you Los Angeles, for so many chances

N. Diamond

aka the Cowboy in black

© 1989 by Neil Diamond