A Special Honor

Your scribe to be inducted into the LI Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame

No matter what happens this Tuesday, I can confirm that two weeks from today, I will be inducted into the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame. This brief biography that Critical Conditions subscriber and longtime friend Norm Prusslin got together quickly might be a useful introduction to those readers who don’t know much, or only know certain parts, of my background.

I believe I’m the first and only journalist in the hall. The year of induction here says 2020, because that’s when Norm called me to say I had been accepted, thanks to the many letters of support from musicians, writers, students, teachers, former co-workers and the kind of rabble that for one reason or another would admit to being associated with me in some fashion. Covid came and knocked out the 2020 and 2021 inductions.

In the interim, the board found a home for the Hall and its collection, which will now include on loan such artifacts as RIAA gold records presented to me by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and Queen. There will be copies of my three books, some newspaper articles and magazines. It’s not John Lennon’s Epiphone guitar, or Jimi Hendrix’s letters home from the Army, but it’s what I got. The pre-opening ceremony for my induction will take place on Tuesday, November 25. On Friday, as the announcement below says, it will open to the public.

The LI Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame will open on Friday, Nov 25th at 12PM at 97 Main St. Stony Brook, NY and will feature “Long Island’s Legendary Club Scene”—a “club crawl” through the nightclubs of the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s, a theater, performance area, and official “Hall of Fame Museum” filled with memorabilia from over 120 Inductees.

This will be a very special day to me, and I thank you for subscribing to keep allowing me to have a meaningful place to write.

Photo credit: Meline Odermatt