Does Genesis belong in the Rock Hall of Fame? How 'bout KISS, Donna Summer...LL Cool J?!

You can rip on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for a lot of things: thin archives, a staid treatment of a wild art form, the fact that it’s in Cleveland. But you can’t trash the foundation’s taste in popular music: Peruse their honor roll, and while you might find a few omissions, you won’t find any folks who don’t belong.

Early next year, however, that might change. There are 12 nominees for 2010 induction. There are six first-timers: KISS, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Genesis, the Hollies, LL Cool J and Jimmy Cliff. There are six returning candidates: ABBA, the Chantels, Darlene Love, Laura Nyro, the Stooges and Donna Summer.

Five of those 12 will be chosen for induction. The announcement will be made sometime in January, and the ceremony will go down March 15 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City.

As far as I’m concerned, KISS is the only obvious choice here. Their contributions to rock, showmanship and Halloween masks are awesome. Gene Simmons & Co. also have a ton of  great songs. KISS advanced the art form, and that should be the main criteria for inclusion.

If I had to pick four more, I’d go with (2) Jimmy Cliff, the award-winning Jamaican who took Bob Marley’s reggae and gave it bladed edge (3) ABBA, the Swedish pop icons with a talent for dancey hooks (4) Darlene Love, the soulful mouthpiece for Phil Spector and (5) the Stooges, led by Iggy Pop, who were instrumental in the rise of punk.

No offense to LL Cool J or the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but the crotchety old critic in me sees their names and thinks of the stereoid era in baseball. (Wait until we get to ’90s bands. Hmm, let’s see there’s Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Radiohead and...and...and.) I love Genesis, but I just don’t know if Phil Collins’ crew qualifies as royalty. I’d rather see such famously ignored bands as Journey and Rush finally get into the hall than the rest of the noms.

The Rock Hall celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. There’s a big two-day party at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 29-30, where the alums will be playing each other’s songs. Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Metallica, Simon & Garfunkel will all be there. Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder, too. Now I ask you: Do Donna Summer and Genesis belong in that company?

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Which of these 12 nominated acts most deserves induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
ABBA
The Chantels
Jimmy Cliff
Genesis
The Hollies
KISS
LL Cool J
Darlene Love
Laura Nyro
Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Stooges
Donna Summer

Review: Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Ford Amphitheatre, Tampa

 Springsteen performs at the Ford Amphitheatre in Tampa. [DANIEL WALLACE | Times]

TAMPA – Bruce Springsteen turns 60 on Sept. 23, which means Jersey’s blue-collar bard probably only has, oh, another 60 years of touring left in him. Immortals are stubborn like that. There’s just no quitting with those people.

But as the Boss took the stage at Ford Amphitheatre on Saturday, the three-hour show's most poignant plot line involved the players behind him, who of late have proved all-too-painfully human. If Springsteen is a superman, the venerable E Street Band -- founded in1972 -- is the collective cape that helps that dude fly higher, faster. But for how much longer?

Last year, E Street lost resident organ maestro Danny Federici, a victim of melanoma; the first show without him was an emotional haymaker in Tampa. The “Big Man” Clarence Clemons, 67, is racking up more surgeries these days than tasty sax solos. And there are now whispers that drummer Max Weinberg, 58, could bid adieu in a few months.

Seeing as how Springsteen & Co. have set up shop on our shores a bunch lately – including that 12-minute stomp at the Super Bowl -- this one felt like a loose, chummy tumble in our ongoing affair. But it was also a fitting time to appreciate, possibly for the last time, the greatest backing band in pop history. (Commence debate over your Fruit Loops.)

Flanked by trusty guitarmen "Little Steven" Van Zandt and just-plain-little (but wicked!) Nils Lofgren, Springsteen opened with the thunderous "Badlands," which featured a clean plump solo by Clemons. The crowd of 15,500 roared...and roared...and roared. Next up, "Out in the Street" then the new "My Lucky Day."   

The "Working on a Dream" tour has been trucking since April, but Bruce drove his crack staff like a football coach in the heat of camp. He ran here, hollered there, stringing together "Spirit in the Night," "Outlaw Pete." Weinberg looked tired but sounded triumphant, adding classic rumble to "She's the One." Violinist Soozie Tyrell, taking Patti Scialfa's spot on the stage (have at it, gossip hounds), added lovely work to "Waitin' on a Sunny Day."

Casual fans might have grown a little restless in the middle of the show (although they eventually got their "Born to Run," their "Hungry Heart," their "Thunder Road"). But all those diehard Backstreeters must have left tizzied and spent. The gritty "Seeds"! The driving "Johnny 99"! The pensive "Point Blank"! Deep glorious album cuts!

Springsteen likes to pull homemade requests out of the crowd, and Saturday was a veritable barrage of stump-the-band: "All or Nothing at All" ("a lost masterpiece!" Bruce joked), "Growing Up," and "Jole Blon" ("hasn't been played since 1981!" Bruce promised the collectors). One poster had a picture of his old car and fat bold letters: RACING IN THE STREET. Wistful and poignant, it was the song of the night.

And through it all, Bruce's band just couldn't be stumped, couldn't be brought to their knees. Why? Because they're the flippin' E Street Band, that's why. They do what their Boss tells them. And heck, maybe if he keeps barking orders, they'll have no choice but to stick around a little bit longer.

 

The Boss and E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons. [DANIEL WALLACE | Times]

Questions for Nils Lofgren?

The Boss & Co. are coming to Tampa's Ford Amp on Saturday, Sept. 12. (TICKETS) And although Bruce isn't knocking on my office door, his E Streeters are. The last time the tour blew through town (well, not counting their halftime shenanigans at the Super Bowl), I interviewed the Big Man Clarence Clemons. This time, I have my tape recorder aimed at Nils Lofgren, who just might be the best musician in the band. (When I saw the show in 2008 -- the first show after the death of Danny Federici -- Lofgren's solo on Because the Night was flat-out incendiary, maybe the best guitar theatrics I've ever seen live.) Anyway, I know I have a lot of Backstreeters out there in Pop Life Land, so here's your chance:

QUESTIONS FOR NILS LOFGREN?

Photo courtesy of the Associated Press

The Sleep Deprived Playlist

I've been having that dream again, the one where I get up and brush my teeth and attack the morning with vigor and drive. And then -- poof! -- I wake up only to realize I'm exhausted and my joints hurt and I stumble to the bathroom and doze off on the toilet. A few weeks ago, the Forever Fiancee warned me that things would change in the fall, that we'd all be getting up earlier to prepare for school and daycare and work. We all needed to chip in and help, she said. To which I said "Mumblemumble" and kept watching the Rays game and waved it off like I could handle it. And now, working on five hours sleep for the third day in a row, with red itchy eyes and a swirling ball of cotton in my head, I hate everyone.

With that, I present the Sleep Deprived Playlist...

Dead Man Walking, Bruce Springsteen
Morning Has Broken, Cat Stevens
Drift Off to Dream, Travis Tritt
Wake Up, the Arcade Fire
Zzzz, the Cab
So Tired, Ozzy Osbourne
We Close Our Eyes, Go West
Bore Me (Yawn), Fantasia
I'm Tired, Lili Von Schtupp

Peeping Bob? Dylan gets nabbed by fuzz snooping around Springsteen's old house

This is a weird little story. Bob Dylan was wandering through Long Branch, N.J., last month -- in the rain, no less -- when a 24-year-old Garden State cop detained him with a few curious questions. She had no idea who he was, but in her defense, can you imagine how suspicious and scraggly a sopping wet Bob looked?

Anyway, turns out Dylan might have been searching for the home where Bruce Springsteen wrote Born to Run. In the past year, the 68-year-old has also visited the former writing homes of John Lennon and Neil Young. You can read the full story HERE.

Photo courtesy of the Associated Press

Bruce Springsteen, John Fogerty ponder the age-old question 'When Will I Be Loved'

Hey kids, awhile ago I wrote about John Fogerty's new album, The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again, out Sept. 1. The first single is out now, and it's a doozy. Here's the Boss and Fogerty doing a killer cover of Phil and Don Everly's When Will I Be Loved. The player is right under the album cover. GO HERE AND TWANG OUT!!!

Springsteen & E Street Band coming to Tampa's Ford Amphitheatre Sept. 12

Bruce Springsteen and his "Legendary" E Street Band will play Tampa's Ford Amphitheatre on Sept. 12. Tickets go on sale July 24 at ticketmaster.com. This is one of 25 brand-new U.S. dates added to the long-running "Workin' on a Dream" tour. The only other Florida date so far is Ft. Lauderdale's Bank Atlantic Center on Sept 13 (tickets for that also go on sale July 24). For more information, go to www.brucespringsteen.net.

Summer Reading: I Was a Walkman Baby

A few weeks ago, I told you I was working on a piece for the Walkman's 30th anniversary (July 1, 1979). Due to one of life's curveballs, I was unable to get the story done on time. But I still wanted to do something; after all, I grew up with one of those suckers attached to my hip, orange 'phones snugly over ears. So I wrote a story that blended personal, pop-cultural, etc. Maybe it's a little too personal? I dunno. You be the judge. Here it is. Enjoy. 

Fogerty, Springsteen, Henley team up for new "Blue Ridge Rangers" album

Way back when, in the year 1973, John Fogerty released an album called The Blue Ridge Rangers, a tribute to his country roots. It was made after his acrimonious split with Creedence Clearwater Revival; as a thumbed-nose to his former mates, John played all the instruments in his new "band." Jambalaya was the big hit.

Now, 36 years later, in a grammatically suspect sequel called The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again, Fogerty is having his roots done one more time. But this time, instead of going it alone, he's called on such pals as Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley, Timothy B. Schmit and drumming god Kenny Aronoff to help with such covers as John Prine's Paradise, John Denver's Back Home Again and the Everly Brothers' When Will I Be Loved. Should be a hoot(enanny). No release date yet, but he's shooting for late summer/early fall.

Springsteen's 'Born in the U.S.A.' turns 25

On June 4, 1984, Bruce Springsteen flashed his denimed derriere to the world. Photog to the stars Annie Leibovitz took that iconic ass shot, which remains one of the great album covers of all time.

I was 14 when I first heard Born in the U.S.A., Springsteen's seventh album. I was playing tennis with my dad on crappy, grass-strewn courts. Some kids in a nearby parking lot were cranking the album from a ginormous boombox, and I remember thinking that whatever this racket was sounded like the very essence of rock 'n' roll. I bought it on tape that very night and listened over and over in my room.

My buddy Steve Spears at the Stuck in the '80s blog has a nice tribute to the album with tons of trivia. He also ranks his favorite songs. It's weird, but as I get older, and the stakes are raised regarding job, family, etc., my favorite song from the album has become I'm Goin' Down, which is the third track on Side 2. It never fails to put me in a better mood -- or at least puckishly prepare me for any sh--storms that lie ahead.