Crabb Bits: RnR HOF, Kim Jung II, Novak Heating

It's all hash today to quote the late Gus Schrader.

I swear I haven't done anything but in the ratings department, three came from the infamous Dumor Ru site.  No, I didn't click on it but these fuckers will not go away quietly it seems. Just like that 3 more views came from them again on the updates.   On a related subject, Bob Lefsetz continues to repeat himself.  Mostly, http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2011/12/19/10000-hours/ and this http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2011/12/19/reframing-the-debate/

Jeff Tamarkin wrote a note about the rock and roll hall of fame and it's credentials.

Like Toure and Joel Selvin I spent time on the R&R Hall of Fame nominating committee, albeit almost 20 years ago, and like Joel I was kicked off, in my case for writing a guest editorial for "Billboard" on the inequities of the nominating process (which earned me a public tongue-lashing from none other than Phil Spector at my last committee meeting).

Perhaps things have changed since I was involved, but my observations at the time were that the process was anything but democratic. While I’m sure Toure means well with his statement that "rock n roll is meant to be defined by the Hall as the broadest possible definition of that term so all the genres considered pop music are in our purview," therein lies the committee’s biggest problem - the committee is trying to define rock in its own image rather than reflect what history actually defines as rock. I can’t say that I’m all that familiar with Eric B & Rakim, and I’m not one of those who feel rap shouldn’t be included at all, but I think I can safely say that 99% of the audience that has bought rock records and gone to rock concerts over the past half century would have a hard time understanding why that act is considered rock by the committee when so many artists that are indisputably rock by history’s reckoning remain out in the cold. ??The following is a list of artists that have yet to be inducted into the R&R HoF. The majority of the list was supplied to me by the proprietor of a website called the People’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I’ve added a few names myself. Whether all of these deserve induction is questionable, but I think it’s safe to say that the majority of actual rock fans would at least consider these rock. Would they include Eric B & Rakim in this list, not to mention several other artists already inducted (Is ABBA really rock? Is Madonna?). I’m guessing not.

The list of the un-inducted (and mostly un-nominated), to which I’m sure each of your readers can add at least a few blatant oversights:

The B-52s, Badfinger, Black Flag, Blues Project, Roy Brown, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Johnny Burnette & the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio, The Cadillacs, Glen Campbell, Captain Beefheart, The Cars, The Chantels, Cheap Trick, Chubby Checker, Chicago, Joe Cocker, The Crystals, Dick Dale, The Dead Kennedys, Deep Purple, Def Leppard, Devo, Dick Dale, Dire Straits, The Dominoes, The Doobie Brothers, Electric Light Orchestra, Fairport Convention, Marianne Faithfull, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Peter Gabriel, Grand Funk Railroad, The Grass Roots, The Guess Who, Ronnie Hawkins, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Heart, Herman’s Hermits, The Jam, Jan & Dean, Jethro Tull, Joy Division, Judas Priest, Albert King, Ben E. King, Carole King, King Crimson, Kiss, Al Kooper, Love, John Mayall, The MC5, The Meters, The Steve Miller Band, The Monkees, The Moody Blues, Mott the Hoople, The Neville Brothers, The New York Dolls, Randy Newman, Gram Parsons, Paul Revere & the Raiders, Procol Harum, Cliff Richard and the Shadows, Roxy Music, Todd Rundgren, Rush, Otis Rush, Neil Sedaka, The Smiths, Sonic Youth, Steppenwolf, T. Rex, Thin Lizzy, The Turtles, Stevie Ray Vaughan, War, Dionne Warwick, The Marvelettes, Mary Wells, Link Wray, Yes, Warren Zevon, The Zombies

I have a favorite story that I like to tell from my brief tenure on the committee. I think it reflects the committee’s prejudices. At the time I was editor of the record-collecting magazine Goldmine. When word got out that I was serving on the committee I began receiving dozens of letters from readers asking me to place into nomination a favorite artist. I explained that I didn’t have that power but they kept coming at me anyway. Shortly before my second and last nominating committee meeting I received in the mail a petition signed by 5,000 fans of the Moody Blues asking that they be considered. Now, I’m not much of a Moody Blues fan - I like "Go Now" and played that first symphonic album a bunch in college but haven’t really listened to them in the past few decades - but I felt an obligation to at least make the petitioners’ efforts known. So I carted the petition to the meeting and at some point I told the above story, that it was sent to me unsolicited, etc. After the laughter died down one of the big players in the room, the manager of a major rock artist, asked me if I was a fan of the Moody Blues and if I felt they deserved nomination. I replied that I was not a personal fan of the group but that a lot of people obviously do feel they were important enough to be considered. The bigwig immediately shot back with, "Well, if you’re not advocating for them personally, then forget it," and the efforts of the 5,000 died right then and there in that room. Nearly 20 years later the Moody Blues have yet to be nominated.

Personally I’d rather see Link Wray and the Dolls get the recognition, but that’s not the point. That’s my taste and the nominating process needs to not be about taste. Rock ‘n’ roll is not something that can be defined by a bunch of suits and critics meeting once a year to push their own agendas, sell tickets to a dinner and plan a TV show. The history of rock is not subject to filtering by a committee. It’s something that has been defined by record buyers, concert-goers, magazine readers, radio listeners, club people - fans, the people who decide what is rock and what isn’t - for some six decades now. And no amount of wishin’ and hopin’ is going to convince that audience that Eric B & Rakim belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Jeff Tamarkin

BEST POINT OF VIEW:

Rock ‘n’ roll is not something that can be defined by a bunch of suits and critics meeting once a year to push their own agendas, sell tickets to a dinner and plan a TV show. The history of rock is not subject to filtering by a committee. It’s something that has been defined by record buyers, concert-goers, magazine readers, radio listeners, club people - fans, the people who decide what is rock and what isn’t - for some six decades now. And no amount of wishin’ and hopin’ is going to convince that audience that Eric B & Rakim belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

This kind of idealism is probably got Jeff knocked off the RnR HOF committee.  Rock and roll is sex and drugs and fucking in the street rebellion, not kiss the ass of Jann Wanner or selling out to beer commercials or Cumulus Radio or MTV, which doesn't play most videos.  And Eric B and Rakim shouldn't be in the RnRHOF, if they are, just rename it the Jann Wanner's Favorite Music Hall Of Fame.  And fuck him anyway.

It's not been a good year for Terrorists or outdated Dictators and you can add Kim Jung II to the list of the deceased and goodbye and good riddance.  The Great Gook Leader suffered a heart attack on a train ride at age 69.  I'm sure the inner circle will miss the Great Gook as I call him, but he was nothing more than a clueless Communist dictator who was paranoid of the fact that the US was going to invade North Korea at any minute and this blind logic finally blew up his heart.  I'm sure the inner circle and the crying newcaster will miss the GREAT LEADER (bah) but the majority of starving North Koreans would like nothing more than a more sympathetic leader with a bit more freedom than what they had or what little they did have.  And so it goes.

The San Diego Chargers put on their best game of the year but we had other problems.  Namely the motor to the heater was burning up and making hideous noises and of course dealing with an upset GF and a frazzled boyfriend who had no idea what the hell to do.  Enter Novak Heating And Cooling to the rescue.  We placed an Emergency call at around 4 AM, somebody called back 10 minutes later and said somebody would call us at around 8 oclock, which they did and the repairman was out by 11 and replaced the Motor to which the bearings were just about shot and and the heater motor was only days to live.  Thank our lucky stars that the temps were not 15 below and blizzard like conditions like they usually are in December.  We caught a break with above normal temps and fairly nice weather.  Unfortunately, we put our trust into a former heating company that had some old coot that should have retired and said everything looked all right to him and then left and we took his word.  And the old coot should have retired.

Listen folks, when we like our music in winter, we like a bit of heat to keep things nice and toasty and the fine folks at Novak Heating & Air Conditioning didn't let us down or kept out out in the cold like Old Coot Heating Inc. (not the actual company).  They explain the situation, and they took care of it and they should great care of keeping the customer satisfied.  A big Crabb salute to the kind Novak Repairman, who even wiped his feet at the door before coming in.  http://www.novakheating.com/