[Harp-L] Re: Rock and roll hall of fame ; bah humbug

["Rick Dempster" <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Well said, David;
This business is a double-edged sword, and the 'gatekeepers' know it. On the one hand, the performer gets the broader recognition bestowed on them by the industry; on the other, the industry gets the kudos of the great performer being aligned with the it. Although I'm forced by circumstance to go along with it, I object to the term 'roots music', when to me ethnic and regional music represents a tree in full flower, not merely the 'roots' of the great (!) pantheon of commercial rock 'n' pop. Rock has long been not so much a musical style, but a marketplace that processes the 'trees' of music, founded at the hearth, on front porch, honky-tonk, barrel-house, taverna, calypso tent etc. etc. into chip-board, cardboard and generally disposable ephemera.
RD

>>> David Fertig <drfertig@xxxxxxxxx> 16/12/2007 6:02 >>>
Well I visited the so-called hall of fame (years ago) and I didn't get the feeling "it" respected the roots of rock, as much as it respected the fruits of rock marketing.  

More to the point, it brought home almost painfully the notion that "Rock n' Roll" early became an industry flowing from the pop-marketing of a genre that arose fresh from blues/jazz/folk/indigenous/home-made/avant garde, etc.   

So R&R's source material is often treated as discards and lesser stuff.    Ergo, Marion Little Walter Jacobs is cast as a mere "sideman."  

Sideman!?  I guess Jimi Hendrix was a sideman too, as were any member of bands like the Who, Cream, Creedence, the  Beatles, Tull, Dead, Airplane, etc etc.  

To hell with an institution that takes the name of Rock 'n Roll, it ain't rock n' roll if it ain't fresh and rebellious to the status quo, and this one's just another marketing gimmick worthy of no respect.  

-Dave Fertig 


<ndavid.coulson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: [Harp-L] Re: Rock and roll hall of fame Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2007 12:44:59 -0800 To:harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx 
Why was he only inducted in the sideman category? According to the  

R&RHoF website he had fourteen top ten hits on the R&B charts,  
including two #1 songs, Juke and My Babe. I assume that's all as a  
leader, because they separately mention his recordings with Muddy  
Waters, Jimmy Rogers, etc.

David


On Dec 14, 2007, at 10:39 AM, harp-l-request@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:

>
> Little Walter inducted into the hall of fame
>
> http://www.rockhall.com/pressroom/2008-inductee-announcement 
>
> ===================
>
> Two questions for you guys: Who do you think will induct Walter?  
> And who do you think SHOULD induct him? Me, I think it'll be Dan  
> Ackroyd or Bruce Willis, god help us. My preference would be Buddy  
> Guy or B.B. King.
> MN
> ___________________________________________

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