TMBJon wrote:To me it seems the main strategy of this forum needs to be to primarily appeal to Jann Wenner. It's not unreasonable to think he could get behind a push, though honestly Al is way far down on the list of artists that article mentioned, ranking only slightly more likely than Fine Young Cannibals.
Well, I didn't even see Al mentioned in that article, but I get what you're saying.
It's not that I disagree with the idea of targeting one specific person to appeal to (this last project, for example, was meant to contact individual nominating committee members), but I have serious reservations about assuming Jann Wenner is the guy. Everything I have read or heard about him in regard to supposedly sabotaging or controlling the nomination process has been in a vague, secondhand sort of way. I am strongly under the belief that for the most part it's a myth and that he's just being used as some sort of scary bogeyman for all the snubbed acts and anti-Rolling Stone journalists to target. There's a number of very easy analogies I could make, but I want to respect the forum's stance on shying away from political discussions. Ultimately, I think Jann Wenner is being used as a red herring.
I mean, the Rock Hall has been inducting acts since the mid-80s. If someone could point me to a serious account of a credible source detailing how it all comes down to Wenner, I would be grateful. Let's face it, there's been a revolving door of people on the committee, so surely someone would have an axe to grind if Wenner was sticking his privates in the way, right?
I'm being serious, mostly because I want to know for sure. I'm sure a number of us would like to know for sure. But honestly, I have not seen anyone really in the know to confirm any of that. I do think a lot of "articles" like to name him just because it's easier to focus on one person in order to create a villain and he has this elitist sort of aura around him.
Really, though, let's make a list of people who have claimed that Jann Wenner is the "bad guy."
This is by no means a complete list, but just off the top of my head right now I can think of:
1. Roger Friedman - former Fox News entertainment writer, whose credibility has been in question for about a year now in general. AFAIK, he's never sat on the nominating committee, and his recent article that was posted didn't quote or cite any actual sources.
2. Bill O'Reilly and/or Davy Jones - Jann came up in an interview years ago about whether or not the Monkees would ever get inducted. I don't remember exactly who invoked his name first, but I believe it was O'Reilly, who would have no doubt got his information from then-colleague Roger Friedman. But still, these are not two guys who I trust with knowing what's really going on in the music industry.
Everyone, feel free to add. I want to see how many names turn up with direct connections to the Rock Hall and the foundation.
I mean, don't get me wrong. I would love to find the answer and say, "Yes, this person!" I honestly think we were working our way to that point this summer by contacting specific nominating committee members, trying to find our one champion (or more!) to plead Al's case...and like I said earlier, it would have been great if more people participated with that. But I don't want to
guess and direct everyone to the wrong person. It wastes time, energy, and resources. A couple of years ago someone on here really shot the campaign in the foot by not working on the thing they volunteered for, so I don't have the luxury to leave things to chance. The margin of error in things getting done is too razor-thin, let alone getting it done correctly.
I mean, cripes, look at that Future Rock Hall site (or whatever it's called this week). They still post form responses people get from writing to the Rock Hall
museum...and they treat it like actual news! There is intentionally a lot of bad information out there about this process.
I do hope none of this sounded argumentative or stubborn or whatever. I just want to make sure we don't get steered into the wrong direction.