Monthly Archives: April 2020

Why the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Needs a Veteran’s Committee

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The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has been around for almost 40 years now. It was established in 1983 by 2020 Rock Hall inductee Ahmet Ertegun and the first class was inducted in 1986. There was not an actual physical Rock Hall until it was built and opened in Cleveland back in 1995. It has served to be the pantheon of rock history, honoring the artists that have contributed to rock (and other) forms of music – truly the crème de la crème of music history.

There are something along the lines of 235 artists, groups and assorted industry insiders that have been inducted by the Rock Hall over the years, so you would justly be correct in that the truly immortal have been inducted into the hallowed shrine already. Still, there are those that have complained that “(insert your personal favorite artist here) hasn’t been inducted into the Rock Hall!” While there is some credence to some of these arguments, overall the Rock Hall, its Nominating Committee and the Voting Committee (a roughly 1000-strong contingent that is made up of the living members of the Rock Hall and select industry executives, music historians, DJs, music journalists and others) have gotten it right.

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One thing that could be done better – and would put an end to some of the complaints – is a way to handle those from the past that some think should be in. The Baseball Hall of Fame has (or used to have) a Veteran’s Committee – a group whose sole raison d’etre is to look at the distant past and see if there are any credible entries for the Hall that have been overlooked. The Rock Hall would be well served in looking at creating such an entity like this, but there would have to be some significant parameters set on what this Veteran’s Committee would look like and how they would come to their decisions.

With that said, here are the initial parameters that should be set.

1) The Veteran’s Committee will consist of a 100-member panel, of which 10 members will nominate 15 artists, groups, early influences, industry executives or “insiders” (DJs, normally, or producers/managers) for induction. This Veteran’s Committee would be much like the Voting Committee that chooses the inductees for the Rock Hall – a group of artists from more than 50 years ago (more on this in a minute), DJs, industry executives, music historians and the like.

The nominations will have had to have made their first actions in the industry – a record release, entry into the business, something like that – no more recently than 50 years prior to the current calendar year. For example, if the Veteran’s Committee were to come to life this year, eligible artists for the first ballot cannot have had their first impact after 1970 – anyone who had their first interactions in the business prior to 1970 would be eligible for consideration.

Under the current rules for consideration, a candidate must have made their first release more than 25 years ago. That gives current candidates a 25-year period for consideration by the Nomination Committee of the Rock Hall and, if they are nominated, by the Voting Committee. It doesn’t infringe on their work and can truly be said to be reexamining what the two Committees might have missed. Thus, the 50-year guideline is an important one.

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2) The Veteran’s Committee is allowed ONE (1) inductee per year. That inductee will have had to have earned 80% of the 100-member Committee’s votes (80). If no candidate gets 80% of the vote, then the Veteran’s Committee does not get an induction slot that year. If there are more than one candidate that gets the 80% voting margin, then the one who gets the most votes will be inducted – the runner up is going to have to wait until next year.

This is done to ensure that there is an overwhelming consensus of quality of the inductee. It would not be right for someone to simply get a majority of the vote from the 100-member Veteran’s Committee – that isn’t a hugely significant number (51). There has to be a slam dunk majority to signify that there is nearly a unanimous agreement to bypass both the Nomination Committee and the Voting Committee to induct someone they passed over.

3) If an artist, group, early influence or industry executive or “insider” is on the nominee list and receives under 10% of the vote from the Committee (10), that person is removed from consideration for the Rock Hall forever.

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This is arguably the biggest criteria and the one that would put an end to some discussions of “they should be in the Hall.” Once again using the Baseball Hall of Fame as an example, if you can’t get a certain percentage of the vote once you become eligible (in baseball it is five years after your retirement), then you are stricken from future ballots. The same criteria should be used by the Rock Hall…if you cannot get 10 people to vouch for you in a 100-member group, you are not a viable candidate and should be removed from overall consideration.

This part of the criteria will upset some who back fringe artists (not saying that Gordon Lightfoot, pictured above, is a “fringe artist,” – in fact, he should already be in the Rock Hall…wait, that’s why this essay exists!) that they believe should be inducted. Those who are this vehement on a particular artist, group or other person are the true definition of “fan,” which is a shortened version of “fanatic,” or someone who has an unnatural support for a cause or person. “Fanatics” should not be allowed to overwhelm the vote of any organization that looks to honor those that were truly immortals.

There are probably some other rules that could be put into place, but these would be the baseline that a Rock Hall Veteran’s Committee should be founded under. The above rules will maintain the integrity of the Rock Hall vote because the threshold of induction is high, would allow for consideration of artists from the past that some might believe have been overlooked and will eliminate those who aren’t able to garner support to warrant induction. If the Veteran’s Committee were something along these lines, I could support it. Anything less would be an insult to the Rock Hall and its inductees who actually earned the honor the first time around.

Views from the Coronavirus, Part Two: What Will Happen to Sporting Events and Concerts?

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Anyone who knows me knows that I love sports and music. Sporting events and concerts are major parts of my life (and enjoying them with my lovely wife is one of the things we like to do together), but that all changed when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. Now, we’re facing a strange new world – just what will sporting events and concerts be like after a sense of “normalcy” has returned to the world.

With sporting events and concerts, people will be screened before they can enter the arena. If someone even has an elevated body temperature, they will be forbidden from entering the arena (I am sure (HAHA!!) that they will refund the ticket price). And there will be several instances of violence when security has to physically remove someone from the gate.

The arena itself will have something very much like what Walgreens or grocery stores are doing – there will be little dots on the floor to indicate how close people should be standing together in the concession lines. Once again, if someone is to violate those rules, they will be removed from the arena. Bathrooms will be the same way and you’ll probably have some sort of monitor to ensure that people wash up afterwards.

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Finally, the actual arena themselves. You will have one seat in between each fan – in essence, you’re cutting the crowd in half. There will no longer be the “fan lines” where the kids can high-five the athletes before they enter the field/court/rink, they will probably back the fans up about 10 feet from the playing field and they will NOT be sitting close to the teams. And say goodbye to the T-shirt cannon and the cheerleaders going around the stands to do giveaways during timeouts.

Are ticket prices going to go up? Damn straight they will. The owners aren’t going to eat those profits from half the crowd being prevented from entering the arena, so more $$ will be charged for the individual tickets. Also expect to see the concessions/souveniers prices will go up too…just another way for the owners to pull in the money they’re losing from not being able to put the butts in the seat.

Outdoor sports may be slightly different, but you’ll probably see some similarities (distancing at concessions, seats left open) and concerts will be the same. We’re going to enter a brand new world and, for some, it is going to suck. But if it prevents outbreaks like we’ve just gone through, do you think it is worth it?

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Views From the Coronavirus, Part One

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Something I’ve been thinking about after getting “out and about” for essentials yesterday.

 
1) Our commerce system is NOT set up to allow for separation between people. Whether it is a grocery store, pharmacy, or other retail outlet, the aisles are set up so that you basically HAVE to have people close to each other. There’s barely room to pass people if you’re walking down the aisle and, with “social distancing,” you’re going to violate that within moments of walking into a store.
 
This will require a complete redesign of retail outlets, allowing more for a freedom of movement. It will also further reduce the ability of stores to carry merchandise, something that will significantly harm grocery stores. (I haven’t even considered dressing rooms in clothing outlets…think about that while I go on.)
 
2) We may see a permanent limit placed on “essential” purchases. Even to yesterday, there are outages in what some would call “essential” goods – paper products, eggs, meats, breads, etc. Even once we’ve returned to “normal,” we may see limits placed on what people can buy – and what people can return.
 
3) We are more concerned with how business is going to come out of this than how people are going to come out of it. I was discussing this issue with a friend and we’ve both decided that it is OK for businesses to continue to ravage people with interest payments on their mortgages and credit cards, but it is EVIL for people to have to pay this and maybe forced into bankruptcy. (And if you fail to see it, that’s sarcasm.)
 
The problem is that, if financial institutions, credit card companies and the like were forced to suspend collections, the entire economy would tank. Not sure whether that would be a good thing or what at this point, but we are (as my friend said) putting more burden on people who make $500 a week versus the billion dollar companies (we’re also bailing them out more than we are the people, but that’s another discussion).
 
4) Finally, people are fucking idiots. Everything should be shut down, outside of grocery stores, gas stations and pharmacies. But people who want to “go live their lives” have got to realize that, if they don’t follow the guidelines stated (and this means YOU, you idiotic charlatans running these “churches” that you say must be open), you MAY NOT HAVE A LIFE. It’s that simple…and the people not adhering to the guidelines are extending this current situation rather than helping it.
 
OK, rant over. I feel better…how about you?