Going to Hall for the 22nd time...
What do this year's inductees have in common with the like of Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Elvis, Fats, James Brown, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke and The Everly Brothers? If your first thought was nothing you would be right. If your second thought was they're all in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, you would be right again. Any hall of fame is biased and flawed but this one really is...
R.E.M., Van Halen, The Ronettes, Patti Smith and Grandmaster Flash will be welcomed into the not-so hallowed Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tonight (airing live at 8:30 p.m. on VH1 Classic and streamed on AOL Music) at a time when we don't even know what constitutes 'Rock and Roll' anymore. The term started with Alan Freed and was defined as music with a beat and mostly performed by black artists but what does it mean now? No one seems to know. Grandmaster Flash is Rock and Roll? Of the 5 acts being inducted only 3 should be in - R.E.M., The Ronettes and Van Halen. The New York Daily News pop music critic, Jim Farber put it best when he said "Rock 'n' Roll is an elastic term." Elastic? It's more like Silly Putty...
I remember being at the first Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 1986 when the original 10 acts seen at the top were inducted. Alan Freed and Sam Phillips were also inducted in the 'Non-performer' category. Now that was a true Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction...
The tributes to WRKO on its 40th anniversary continue and there are 2 video links. First up is Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Domino jamming at the piano and ending with a medley: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6swDmjhqF4 and our next video is contained in the 'Grammy Gold' timeline...
Timeline Memories...
The Redcoats in Jersey: 1664] New Jersey becomes a British colony as King Charles II grants land in the new world to his brother James, the Duke of York after conferring with Tony Soprano who gets the 'vig'...
Bottle it up: 1894] Coca Cola is sold in bottles for the 1st time (what was it sold in before?)...
Girl Guide Cookies: 1912] Juliette Gordon Low founds the "Girl Guides" which later becomes the "Girl Scouts of America"...
Roll em: 1923] Dr. Lee DeForest demonstrates phonofilm, a technique putting sound on motion picture film...
Recorded on this date: 1957] "Maybe Baby" - Crickets (with Buddy Holly)...
Wedding Bells: 1969] Paul McCartney and Linda Eastman rock down the aisle. They will be married until Linda's death in April of 1998...
Grammy Gold: 1969] "Mrs. Robinson" is 'Best Record of 1968' at the Grammy Awards. This video link is Simon & Garfunkel's performance of the song at their special in Central Park: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE1dz6_u2JI ...
Debuted on this date: 1951] 'Dennis the Menace' created by Hank Ketcham, makes its syndicated debut in 16 newspapers...
A Hull of a hockey player: 1966] Chicago's Bobby Hull becomes the 1st NHL player to score 51 points in a single season in a game against the Rangers, of course, in Madison Square Garden...
"Guilty as Charged": 1980] A jury finds John Wayne Gacy Jr. guilty of murdering 33 men and boys. Gacy will be executed in May of 1994...1997] LAPD arrest Mikail Markhasev in the shooting death of Bill Cosby's 27-year old son Ennis. Markhasev is later convicted and sentenced to life with no parole...
Misery loves company: 1987] "Les Miserables" opens on Broadway...
In living color: 2002] Homeland security chief Tom Ridge unveils a color-coded system for terror warnings. If you're color blind - you're out of luck...
"Reunited and it feels so good": 2003] Elizabeth Smart is reunited with her family 9 months after being abducted from her home. She was taken in June of 2002 by a drifter who had previously done work at the Smart home...
[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline]...
"Happy Trails":
Brad Delp, lead singer of Boston passed away on Friday at 55. Atkinson (NH) police found Delp dead in his home. Police said his death was 'untimely' and that there was no indication of foul play. Ironically, Delp died the day before Boston band mate Tom Scholz' 60th birthday...Comedian Richard Jeni, 45, died of a gunshot wound in an apparent suicide on Saturday. West Hollywood (CA) police have not officially confirmed Jeni's death as a suicide, an investigation is continuing...
Sales executive Bill Wayland remembering the day that WRKO was born - March 13, 1967
"Perry (Ury) flattered me by asking my "youthful" view of flipping the format to "rock". Can't recall my words but I was 'for it'. All of us were aware of what was happening at KHJ & KFRC. WMEX had a great signal in Nova Scotia, not so hot in Natick (west of Boston). WBZ was doing whatever it was doing 'professionally' but this 'youth' found it boring. Did I know any jocks who might fit in? Well there was this crazy kid in Pensacola (FL) named J.J. Jeffrey, and so it went. One summer day, before our 1st book, I walked the length of the Irish Riviera in Southie, Carson Beach to Castle Island and I could hear WRKO all the way and back. Wow! On March 13, 1967, thanks to a lot of hard work by other people (thanks Perry), the balloon began to rise and I happened to be holding on to the string."
Record executive Bob Sherwood remembers WRKO in the late 70's. "I flew up to Boston for a non-music day, early morning meeting with MD Christy Wright, arranged by the late Ed Hynes, then the local Columbia promotion man in Boston. Ed and I showed up with bagels and every other form of early morning delight, enough for the entire staff of WRKO. In comes Lenny Collins, Epic's legendary promotion guy who clearly discovered our cunning plan. In his excitement at trying to trump us in our otherwise exceptional visit to Christy, Lenny had somehow misplaced his promo records thus becoming the 1st promotion man in history to lose his records inside the music room of a major market radio station. To this day I can't recall if we got our record on WRKO but I know Lenny didn't get his. At least that week." (Bob was head of national promotion for Columbia Records at the time - Mel)...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Darryl Strawberry (45), Jon ("Timmy" from "Lassie") Provost (57), James Taylor (59), Mitt Romney (60), Liza Minnelli (61), "Get Smart's" Barbara Feldon (75), Al Jarreau (75) and former astronaut Wally Schirra (84)...
Timeline Countdown: 3 days until March Madness, 9 days until spring and 20 days until Opening Day...
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