So, for the last eight years or so — apart from during COVID — I’ve been lucky enough to attend the annual Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremonies at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square.
Basically, the organization I work for volunteers its services to capture video of the inductees and presenters, so I go with a small crew and set-up in the “production corridor,” hoping to catch various luminaries as they’re coming offstage to try to get them to share a few words about the honor and the experience, and all that. It’s usually a very long night, but it’s quite fun and I’ve gotten to meet and talk with a pretty wide array of songwriters.
Last night was this year’s ceremony, and —as you may have read — among this year’s class of inductees came R.E.M. There were other names on the list, of course, like Donald Fagan of Steely Dan, SZA, Timbaland, Hillary Lyndsey, Dianne Warren and Dean Pitchford, but R.E.M.was the big fish I was looking to reel in.
We did pretty well, although Donald Fagan blew us off, as did SZA. But, pretty much everyone else came down, including the fellas in R.E.M., who truly couldn’t have been nicer. After asking my requisite questions, I broke from the script and mentioned how much their music had meant to me, over the years, and each of them broke into a wide smile and shook my hand. Bill Berry took it a step further and complemented my tie. So, yeah, that happened.
Meanwhile, on Monday, I was incredibly flattered by my fellow writer/music journalist/bug-eyed rock freak Joel Gausten for having me on his YouTube channel on Monday to discuss our respective professional trajectories, some mutual favorite bands whose names I probably don’t even have to invoke (you can probably guess) and other geeky fanboy minutia.
Personally, I have a very hard time watching/hearing myself speak, but if you can tolerate my seemingly constant fidgeting, strange hair and ponderous bloviation, there’s a chance you might enjoy….
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