{"id":10104,"date":"2013-06-24T17:47:14","date_gmt":"2013-06-25T00:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=10104"},"modified":"2013-06-24T19:53:02","modified_gmt":"2013-06-25T02:53:02","slug":"songwriters-hall-of-fame-2013-induction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2013\/06\/songwriters-hall-of-fame-2013-induction\/","title":{"rendered":"SONGWRITERS HALL OF FAME 2013 INDUCTION"},"content":{"rendered":"

SONGWRITERS HALL OF FAME 2013 INDUCTION<\/h1>\n
\"Alison

Alison Krauss<\/p><\/div>\n

Due to the nature of the annual Songwriters Hall of Fame [SHOF] Induction Gala, the VIP cocktail party always brings out a motley bunch of old-guard music business luminaries, celebrated songwriters and the major recording artists who made them celebrated.<\/p>\n

Previous inductee (2009, with Eddie Brigati) Felix Cavaliere got there early Thursday evening. Of course he was asked how The Rascals: Once Upon A Dream<\/em> tour is going, following the show\u2019s three-night December debut at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, N.Y., and its boffo April-May run at Broadway\u2019s Richard Rodgers Theatre.<\/p>\n

He said that the so-called \u201cBio-Concert,\u201d which was written by co-producer\/director Steven Van Zandt and combines a Rascals rock concert with a Broadway show (including narration, filmed scenes of actors depicting the Rascals\u2019 history, news and band archival footage), has been a \u201chealing\u201d for both the band, which was riven in the early 1970s by personal and professional issues, and the fans.<\/p>\n

\"John

John McEnroe & Patty Smyth<\/p><\/div>\n

Patty Smyth came in with husband John McEnroe. She was there to sing \u201cThe Warrior\u201d for its songwriter\/inductee Holly Knight, and I was most excited to learn that she has a new Christmas album forthcoming with some original songs. In separate interviews following the induction, both she and Knight saw themselves as somewhat symbolic of a female rock contingent that has been wrongly overlooked by awarding bodies\u2014though neither like defining themselves by gender; Knight, too, noted how she realized, after a journalist pointed it out, that so many of her songs\u2014\u201cThe Warrior,\u201d \u201cLove Is A Battlefield,\u201d \u201cInvincible,\u201d \u201cThe Best\u201d\u2014dealt with empowerment via fighting to overcome some sort of adversity.<\/p>\n

Of course I had to mention to Smyth how I still marvel at how she chewed gum during her entire show the first time I saw her with Scandal. Gum\u2019s gone now, she replied, replaced by apples; both keep her mouth from drying out while singing.<\/p>\n

Got quite a kick out of McEnroe, whom I\u2019d met a couple times, once years ago when he had a photography studio down town and hosted Muhammad Ali\u2019s great friend\/photographer Howard Bingham, and once with Patty at a Judith Owen show, I think. He turned to me at the cocktail party and wondered if they\u2019d let him back in, since he couldn\u2019t find his VIP laminate. I told him not to worry.<\/p>\n

\"JD

JD Souther<\/p><\/div>\n

The great Andy Paley, was there, too, with longtime associate Seymour Stein, Sire Records\u2019 founder, whose role at Warner Music Group has just been expanded to senior label A&R executive for independent music. Andy was kvelling about the forthcoming reissue of Paley Brothers, his 1978 power pop album with brother Jonathan, to also feature bonus tracks including Phil Spector-produced material.<\/p>\n

Just before the dinner Paley took a call from his longtime prot\u00e9g\u00e9 Mandy Barnett, who\u2019s working on an exciting project that I don\u2019t think I\u2019m at liberty to say anything more than it\u2019s an exciting project.<\/p>\n

No surprise that the queen of the cocktail party was Alison Krauss, though the ever-gracious but always camera-shy thrush<\/em>, to dust off an old Variety<\/em> showbiz term for female singer, stayed long enough for starstruck inductee Steven Tyler to commandeer her for a photo op.<\/p>\n

Krauss was there to sing \u201cFaithless Love\u201d during JD Souther\u2019s induction. But she\u2019d have been just as happy singing for Mick Jones and Lou Gramm of Foreigner, who were also inducted, as she\u2019s a huge fan. In fact, there she was, in the green room backstage, watching them on a monitor and singing along to \u201cI Want To Know What Love Is\u201d\u2014at least as angelic as Anthony Morgan\u2019s Inspirational Choir of Harlem, who actually sang with them on stage.<\/p>\n

Staying backstage, Tyler\u2019s Aerosmith songwriting partner and fellow inductee Joe Perry was deeply moved by the honor, he said, after first lighting up a clove cigarette. Benny Blanco, who received the Hal David Starlight Award (presented to young songwriters who are making a significant impact in the music industry with their original songs) was likewise overwhelmed, as was Tony Hatch, writer of \u201cDowntown\u201d and so many other Petula Clark 1960s hits (Clark sang it during his induction, and kept her arm around him backstage while he did post-induction interviews).<\/p>\n

Jody Klein recalled how his late father (and 2006 SHOF Abe Olman Publishers Award recipient) Allen Klein loved Sam Cooke, whose \u201cA Change Is Gonna Come\u201d received the SHOF Towering Song citation. Allen, of course, was Cooke\u2019s business manager. And it is indeed true that he loved Sam deeply, in fact, he regarded his work with Sam to be more significant personally than managing the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. After inviting me to a studio to hear the spectacular mix of his 2003 Sam Cooke at the Copa<\/em> reissue\u2014you could hear the tinkling glasses on the trays as the waiters walked by\u2014he said it was the happiest moment of his life.<\/p>\n

\"Nicole

Nicole Cooke Johnson (of Three Brown Girls)<\/p><\/div>\n

Cooke\u2019s granddaughter Nicole Cooke Johnson was with Jody, and spoke of how \u201cA Change Is Gonna Come,\u201d which came to symbolize the Civil Rights Movement and was introduced by President Clinton\u2019s taped comments, has since transcended generations. Meanwhile, Smokey Robinson, who presented Berry Gordy with the SHOF Pioneer Award, made note of the Motown mogul\u2019s lesser remembered success as a songwriter, having co-written Robinson\u2019s hero Jackie Wilson\u2019s hits \u201cReet Petite\u201d and \u201cLonely Teardrops.\u201d<\/p>\n

And there was Elton John, who with Bernie Taupin received the prestigious SHOF Johnny Mercer Award\u2014the highest honor bestowed by the Songwriters Hall of Fame, presented to a past inductee whose body of work is of such high quality and impact that it upholds the gold standard set by the legendary Johnny Mercer.<\/p>\n

But I could only watch, hopelessly, as he walked down the hall and past my post-induction interview room, not bothering to stop and look in, let alone enter.<\/p>\n

Jim Bessman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SONGWRITERS HALL OF FAME 2013 INDUCTION Due to the nature of the annual Songwriters Hall of Fame [SHOF] Induction Gala, the VIP cocktail party always brings out a motley bunch of old-guard music business luminaries, celebrated songwriters and the major recording artists who made them celebrated. Previous inductee (2009, with Eddie Brigati) Felix Cavaliere got […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4976],"tags":[6768,6769,6750,6762,5670,6775,6773,6739,1063,6740,6752,6764,6746,6748,6774,6759,6767,6763,6744,3890,6756,6749,6761,6758,6760,6747,6771,6743,6766,2680,6772,4125,6753,6777,6776,6770,6754,6074,3723,6742,6690,4074,6755,6741,6745,6765,6757],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10104"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10104"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10111,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10104\/revisions\/10111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}