So yesterday I took the time to watch a little of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony for 2013. I tuned in a little late and got there just in time to watch Heart's induction. It made me especially happy since a very old friend, Howard Leese, had performed with them from the beginning through the mid-nineties. I have to admit that I was a little reticent to watch them perform...after all...we have all gotten a little longer in tooth and sadly some of those honored in the past have been diminished by age. It took Ann Wilson about three seconds into the intro of Crazy On You to let me know that all was alive and well as the original band, including a now white haired Howard Leese, absolutely ROCKED. They were truly great.
After Heart came a most amazing moment with the induction of one of the legends of contemporary music of the twentieth century...Mr Quincy Jones.
In his acceptance speech, he spoke eloquently of his life in music, shared humorous anecdotes, and then ended with the words that motivate me to write this blog today. He spoke of the indigenous musical art forms of America - jazz, blues, R & B, and how they are slowly but surely being forgotten. The magic of these styles being lost to the new music being favored today...with the rest of the world knowing about and honoring, far more than we, the indigenous music of America! Sitting listening to him speak and having traveled as extensively as I have, I knew that what he was saying was, sadly, very true.
Shortly thereafter the show took a moment to honor some of those that passed in 2012. A face would appear on the giant screens. A name would be announced and there would occasionally be a smattering of applause to honor one person or another. This tribute definitely allowed me to reflect on my life. Both the wondrous experiences I have realized and the ultimate mortality we all will face one day. In those twenty minutes I was reminded of just how indifferent we have become to the history of an integral aspect of our lives...music. How the roots of all that we love are being forgotten. That the true pioneers of all that we have today are virtually unknown, and that without their sacrifice (and trust me when I say that, on some very deep and personal level, they all gave far more than they got), none of us that have chosen music as our chosen journey would be doing what we do today simply because neither the inspiration nor the technology that allows us to do this thing would exist. I said a word of thanks to them all, got up, and did that other thing that i truly love to do...I cooked dinner. Then...
...later last night came the Billboard Awards with it’s crowning moment when Justin Beber took the stage to receive his Milestone Award (after also taking top male artist and top social artist).
"I'm 19 years old. I think I'm doing a pretty good job. And basically, from my heart, I just really want to say it should really be about the music. This is not a gimmick. I'm an artist and I should be taken seriously, and all this other bullshit should not be spoken of."
There were cheers. There were boos. I shook my head and thought about Quincy Jones (27 Grammy’s awarded out of 79 nominations) and how it took him THIRTY years to be inducted. I thought about some of those that had been chosen over him for so many years before. I thought about the list of people that had passed in 2012 and how I had known some of them. I thought about Heart and their nearly four decades of kicking serious ass. Of how they had not lost one step and just how proud of them I felt. I thought about all the people famous and not that have dedicated their lives to their musical craft. HARD work with no guarantee other than the satisfaction of knowing that they had just played their very best...and it was prety damn good...where ever that might be. And...I though about Justin Beber and how he would soon surely join the iconic MR.QUINCY JONES in the pantheon of musical greats...The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
OK...cool. I got up and went in our kitchen, poured myself another glass of wine, and relaxed in the quiet of my little control room for a few minutes. When I was done I went back to bed, read for a while, finally shut off the light, thought one last time about Ann Wilson hitting those huge fucking notes in the chorus of Crazy On You, smiled, and went to sleep.
See ya soon to tell a story of a great man and how he showed me that the future of music is still very alive.
Have fun...just remember to tune first :)
M
After Heart came a most amazing moment with the induction of one of the legends of contemporary music of the twentieth century...Mr Quincy Jones.
In his acceptance speech, he spoke eloquently of his life in music, shared humorous anecdotes, and then ended with the words that motivate me to write this blog today. He spoke of the indigenous musical art forms of America - jazz, blues, R & B, and how they are slowly but surely being forgotten. The magic of these styles being lost to the new music being favored today...with the rest of the world knowing about and honoring, far more than we, the indigenous music of America! Sitting listening to him speak and having traveled as extensively as I have, I knew that what he was saying was, sadly, very true.
Shortly thereafter the show took a moment to honor some of those that passed in 2012. A face would appear on the giant screens. A name would be announced and there would occasionally be a smattering of applause to honor one person or another. This tribute definitely allowed me to reflect on my life. Both the wondrous experiences I have realized and the ultimate mortality we all will face one day. In those twenty minutes I was reminded of just how indifferent we have become to the history of an integral aspect of our lives...music. How the roots of all that we love are being forgotten. That the true pioneers of all that we have today are virtually unknown, and that without their sacrifice (and trust me when I say that, on some very deep and personal level, they all gave far more than they got), none of us that have chosen music as our chosen journey would be doing what we do today simply because neither the inspiration nor the technology that allows us to do this thing would exist. I said a word of thanks to them all, got up, and did that other thing that i truly love to do...I cooked dinner. Then...
...later last night came the Billboard Awards with it’s crowning moment when Justin Beber took the stage to receive his Milestone Award (after also taking top male artist and top social artist).
"I'm 19 years old. I think I'm doing a pretty good job. And basically, from my heart, I just really want to say it should really be about the music. This is not a gimmick. I'm an artist and I should be taken seriously, and all this other bullshit should not be spoken of."
There were cheers. There were boos. I shook my head and thought about Quincy Jones (27 Grammy’s awarded out of 79 nominations) and how it took him THIRTY years to be inducted. I thought about some of those that had been chosen over him for so many years before. I thought about the list of people that had passed in 2012 and how I had known some of them. I thought about Heart and their nearly four decades of kicking serious ass. Of how they had not lost one step and just how proud of them I felt. I thought about all the people famous and not that have dedicated their lives to their musical craft. HARD work with no guarantee other than the satisfaction of knowing that they had just played their very best...and it was prety damn good...where ever that might be. And...I though about Justin Beber and how he would soon surely join the iconic MR.QUINCY JONES in the pantheon of musical greats...The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
OK...cool. I got up and went in our kitchen, poured myself another glass of wine, and relaxed in the quiet of my little control room for a few minutes. When I was done I went back to bed, read for a while, finally shut off the light, thought one last time about Ann Wilson hitting those huge fucking notes in the chorus of Crazy On You, smiled, and went to sleep.
See ya soon to tell a story of a great man and how he showed me that the future of music is still very alive.
Have fun...just remember to tune first :)
M
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