Saturday a large group of
Saturday a large group of my friends (including Barry) went to see Super Diamond, San Francisco’s own Neil Diamond tribute band, at Bimbos 365, one of the city’s great nightclubs. Suzan and I were the only ones who had seen them before and everybody had a rockin’ good time. I get the feeling though that SD is a band you can only see once in a while, since the show is exactly the same from one date to the next. But even if you turn up your nose at Neil Diamond, I would highly, highly recommend it. The hokeyness alone is worth the price of admission.
It all got me thinking about tribute bands and their unique place in our own musical pastiches. They’ve got their own booking agencies, managment companies and webrings. They emulate everyone from pop megastars, to art rock wonks, to late 80’s metalheads. My favorite, although I’ve never seen them, is a San Francisco Jackon 5 tribute act composed entirely of white men. Their name? Wonderbread5.