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| From | Michael Coxe <audities@sonic.net> |
| Subject | Al Kooper again - Re: Hall Of Shame |
| Date | Tue, 08 Jun 2004 23:55:50 -0700 |
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This post sums up my feelings re: the R&R hall, just had to
repost here. We've discussed RRHoF before but this is the
best comment I've read on the subject.
- michael
Al Kooper wrote:
> John Fox wrote:
>
>>So I went to the information desk and asked the man there if the Hall
>>had any video footage of Jackie Wilson. The guy's reply was, "Is she
>>an inductee?"
>
>
> That really sums it up better than anything I could say.
>
> That said:
>
> The RRHOF is run by fat record company presidents. They and their pals
> vote every year on who gets inducted. It seems to be based on people who
> earned a sufficient amount of money for them.
>
> They do NOT honor people outside their clique who served behind the
> scenes, i.e. Allen Toussaint, Marshall Sehorn, James Burton, Scotty
> Moore, Vinnie Bell, Chris Stone, Gary Kellegren, Chris Stainton and
> people like that. I attended the induction ceremony (as a guest of
> Stephen King) the year (1993, I think) that Cream reformed to play a
> one-off at the show. I really wanted to see that, but not enough to
> fork over the $1000 a plate ticket price, so I was excited to be
> King's guest. I had dropped out of the biz in 1989. I was snubbed
> that night by EVERYONE there except the musicians that were performing,
> because I no longer was of any use to any of them. That reinforced my
> decision to drop out as having been anatomically correct. While Frankie
> Lymon & The Teenagers were being inducted, Ertegun, Ostin and others
> retired to the lobby for cigars. When Del Shannon was inducted, Max
> Crook, who co-wrote Runaway and played his great solos for Shannon on a
> hand-built keyboard, was not given guest privileges and had to buy two
> tickets to attend. He should have been let in gratis just for his last
> name! It was then I decided that it was good that I wouldn't qualify for
> this Hall of Shame, and if by some miracle I was ever inducted, I would
> decline or give a speech that would prevent them from handing me their
> ridiculous "award."
>
> When I was putting together my last box set, Rare & Well Done, in 2001,
> Jaan Uhelszki, a great rockwriter who did the liner notes, went out and
> got quotes from my peers such as Bill Payne, Billy Gibbons, John Hiatt,
> Steve Winwood, Taj Mahal, Gene Pitney and Andy Partridge, and printed
> them in the accompanying booklet. That truly sufficed as a lifetime
> achievement award for me -- people that I actually admired said really
> nice things about me, unsolicited. Cleveland or not -- it don't get
> better than that for this guy in this lifetime!
>
> Old Al Kooper
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