The K-ZAP Short Tail (A Blog) – When I Forgave “The Boss”

The K-ZAP Short Tail (A Blog) – When I Forgave “The Boss”

Today is the 27^th Anniversary of the grand opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Sept 2, 1995. The Awards have always been a point of controversy…favorite complaints for wags are: 1) the R&R secret cabal that nominates and votes, 2)who isn’t in yet…3)who is in and shouldn’t be…and 4)why does Rock and Roll need awards in the first place. Oh yes, and WHY Cleveland?? In 2022, it’s a probably better drinking game than a real argument. We K-ZAP listeners NEVER question the relevancy of rock. Music is engrained in day-to-day living for most everyone I have known, and always has been. It never went away at age 30, trust me.

I was there that day in 1995 with 10,000 of my closest rock fan friends packed into the 65,000 square-foot plaza and it was pretty outrageous to be standing 25 feet away from Yoko Ono and Little Richard cutting the ribbon to let us all swagger in. Equally stunning was (and is) the building itself-the brilliant I.M. Pei designed it, a bold geometric pattern of cantilevered spaces, steel beams and glistening glass, and depending on where you are standing looking up, it can look like Jah’s turntable and a massive neck of a guitar. Look below, there I am.

One of the reasons I was in Cleveland was a record release party I had set up for Black Top Records artist Bobby Parker at Wilberts, a live music club in the Flats, and only 10 blocks from the new Hall of Fame. Invites had been mailed out to national media, record store owners, AND through various means, I HAD gotten word from Bruce Springsteen’s people. I knew he LOVED Bobby Parker, this brilliant pompadoured 1960s guitarist/songwriter/singer legend from Washington DC who was making a comeback with his 1995 record, SHINE ME UP. “Bruce wants to come. We can’t make any promises yet, but we know Bobby is there…”

So my closely-held secret was burning a hole in my “Paving the Way to Your Soul” ballcap I wore for the entire weekend.  The place was packed out….I had a reserved booth in the back for BROOOCE. Bobby was on fire and so was the crowd..word has leaked out…and there were lines out the door. It was glorious rock, R&B and blues.. and when he hit the opening notes to his 1961 hit “Watch Your Step,” you know why John Lennon had long said that their song “Day Tripper” was based on Bobby’s hit. Bruce knew all this history and if he would have shown up, I KNOW he would have jumped on stage and joined Bobby.

The next night 80,000 of us saw an all-star concert held at the old, rickety Cleveland Stadium, lovingly dubbed by locals as “the Mistake on the Lake.” But Rock and Roll ruled that night–Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, Al Green, Jerry Lee Lewis, Aretha Franklin, Iggy Pop, John Fogerty, John Mellencamp and Bruce Springsteen. I forgave BROOOCE for not coming and had a great time. Hail, Hail Rock and Roll!

-Mindy Giles

FYI, here are the 2022 R&R HOF inductees:

Performer Category: Pat Benatar, Duran Duran, Eminem, Eurythmics, Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie, Carly Simon

Musical Excellence Award: Judas Priest, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis

Early Influence Award: Harry Belafonte, Elizabeth Cotten

Ahmet Ertegun Award: Allen Grubman, Jimmy Iovine, Sylvia Robinson

The induction ceremony is set to be held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on November 5 and will air at a later date on HBO and HBO Max.