One World Cinema

The entire show was OFF THE CHARTS, but especially “BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND,” as they rocked out “E Street Shuffle,” “The River,” and “Kitty’s Back”.

The 5 hour Induction will be condensed down to 2 hours and shown on Saturday, May 31, 2014 at 9pm EST on HBO.

The manager for James Taylor, and Linda Ronstadt, Peter Asher, got the evening started, followed by Peter Gabriel, who stated he “followed his heart, and that is what made his life interesting.’ ‘Let imagination guide you, and surround yourself with brilliance.’ ‘What you are is where your heart is.’

He played “Digging in the Dirt” from 1992’s “Us”, “Washing of the Water,” along with Chris Martin, and “In Your Eyes” along with “The King of Senegal,” Youssou N’Dour.

Chris Martin’s induction speech for Peter Gabriel was very witty and clever.
It was a play on words with the Bible, and went something to the effect, “I turned to the Bible and an angel of the Lord appeared, Phil the Collins asked and ‘who are you angel?’ ‘I am Gabriel, I am bringing you good news, Ye should be in ‘Genesis’, and after leaving ‘Genesis’ you will create, “Peter Gabriel 1,” “Peter Gabriel 2,” “Peter Gabriel 3,” “Peter Gabriel 4,” “So,” “Us,” and “Up.”

American guitarist, Tom Morello from “Rage Against the Machine,” and “Audioslave,” is currently touring with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, and had the honor of introducing ‘Kiss’.

Tom stated how when he first saw ‘Kiss’ his ticket said ‘a partial view’ on it, which he misunderstood to mean that ‘the band was going to reveal some new secret corner of their artistic souls. In reality it meant that my seat was behind a pole. Still, that concert was the most exciting, cathartic, loudest and most thrilling two hours of live music I’ve seen to this day. All four guys were great lead singers, and made him and many others love rock and roll. “What Elvis was to the Beatles, Kiss was to us, influencing everyone from “Metallica,” “Lady Gaga,” “Pearl Jam,” “Alice in Chains,” and “Lenny Kravitz.”

Tom continued on by stating, “What if you wandered into a dive-y club in your hometown and saw Kiss in all their glory, crashing the place to the ground? One guy belching fire and spraying blood past his gargantuan tongue? A guitar player so incredible, his axe billows smoke and shot rockets? A frontman flying back and forth across the joint like a superhero Tarzan? All of them, in frightening, horror-movie sexified Kabuki makeup, wearing high healed platform shoes. The place blowing up with explosions and heavy duty, liberating rock & roll? What would you say if you saw that? You’d say, ‘That band’s fucking awesome!’ and that they are the “fierce-some foursome.”

This speech was absolutely hysterical and had be giving the rock and roll sign with both hands and wanting to rock and roll all night, and party everyday, only to quickly find out that they would not be playing as they were unhappy that the Induction committee would not allow all the band members, past and present, be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Peter Criss stated it was good to be back home in Brooklyn, giving thanks to their first manager, Bill Aucoin, Casablanca Records, Neil Bogart, and being male breast cancer free for the past seven years, and how early detection saved his life.”

“In or out of makeup, I’ll always be the ‘Catman'”.

“It’s all KISS-TORY.”

Ace Frehley stated when he was 13 years old, he picked up the guitar and knew he was in for something big, then he was exposed to the Summer of Love. Ace shared how he was sober and alcohol free for the past 7 1/2 years, and that what people don’t understand is that most addicts are born that way, and it is not due to a lack of will power, ‘try using willpower when you have diarrhea.'”

The rare performance by Yusuf/Cat Stevens was one I will always remember.

Art Garfunkel joked how “Bridge of Troubled Water” had to get made so that “Tea for the Tillerman” could arrive, and how this bearded Hamlet who turned his back on money and world acclaim, walked away from it all and moved to Rio, and sought awareness as Yusuf Islam.” Yusuf stated, “I wanted to look elsewhere for my fulfillment.”

Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens shared, “The first thing that inspired me was my sister’s record collection, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, and the best pop song ever, Bach, Leonard Bernstein’s, ‘West Side Story,’ the grandfather of Blues, ‘Lead Belly,’ Bo Diddley, Buddy Holly, the Beatles (inspired us all), and Bob Dylan.

He thanked his wife (who is his biggest fan), and the all mighty who made us all, saying, “There is only ONE, and how within this strange Rock and Roll fraternity (that I still belong to), I don’t drink, or smoke, or throw tv’s out of hotel rooms, how I only sleep with my wife, and how the Rock and Roll Hall of fame made a brave decision to still induct me into it’s Hall of Fame. Peace!

He played, ‘Father and Son,’ ‘Wild World’ and ‘Peace Train.’

NOW, I have to say, the tribute to Linda Ronstadt brought me to my knees. She unfortunately did not make it as she suffers from Parkinson’s Disease, and no longer travels, however, Glenn Frey, Carrie Underwood, Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris, Sheryl Crow, and THE Stevie Nicks sang, “Different Drum,” “Blue Bayou,” “You’re No Good,” “It’s So Easy,” and “When Will I Be Loved.”

Stevie Nicks shared how when she first heard Linda sing “It’s So Easy,” she said she knew that “that is what I want to do. I didn’t look as good in cut off’s as Linda, but I knew that that is what I wanted to do.”

The harmony was so beautiful.

Then came Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band induction speeches,

Daryl Hall and John Oates who joked ‘Aren’t you glad there are only two of us’, and the remaining members of Nirvana, Dave Grohl with Krist Novoselic, along with Courtney Love, Joan Jett, Kim Gordon/’Sonic Youth’, Annie Clark of ‘St Vincent’, and Lorde.

Rock on!

One World Cinema
http://1worldcinema.com

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