It's always fun to try and figure out who will be presenting at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's induction ceremony. Often, they try to keep it a secret up until the event, but this year they've announced it.
Billy Joel will be doing the honors for
John Mellencamp. I would have thought that they would have gotten one of his Farm Aid homeboys -
Neil Young,
Willie Nelson or
Dave Matthews. Or
Bruce Springsteen. But Billy is a good choice, and in fact, I think Mellencamp was asked to do the speech for Billy Joel a few years, but when
Ray Charles agreed to do it, John bowed out (as Ray Charles is an obvious huge influence on Billy Joel). Billy and Mellencamp are both artists of the people: regular-seeming guys, with lots of talent and tons of unforgettable songs, who never seemed to get their due respect from critics.
Justin Timberlake will induct
Madonna. He's working on her album, and is an ambitious pop artist like Madonna. I was thinking they'd try to get one of her influences, but Justin is a good pick for that. He and his bandmates did a decent speech for
Michael Jackson a few years ago. But now Justin has proved he at least has staying power.
Lou Reed will be making the speech for
Leonard Cohen. Makes sense to me. Ditto for
John Forgerty and
The Ventures. Ben Harper will be doing the honors for Little Walter, which I think is great - just that the Hall is acknowledging Ben as an important enough artist for the event. I was thinking it would be Clapton, but I'm glad to see Ben getting some shine. He belongs in the Hall one day.
Tom Hanks will be bringing some star power, as he'll be inducting
The Dave Clark 5. Apparently, this makes sense because of a role he played in the film
That Thing You Do. That's cool - although I don't see how it isn't
Little Steven, who has campaigned on the band's behalf for years. Maybe Bruce has a gig that night though.
