World of Weird Al Yankovic

childofthespiral @ Nov 5 2007, 04:19 PM wrote: Seth Green and Brian Posehn signed? And we're past the 8,000 mark? AWESOME!!!!

Cleveland fans vote John Mellencamp as their No. 1 choice for Rock Hall
Saturday, November 24, 2007
John Soeder
Plain Dealer Pop Music Critic

Ain't that America? Little pink houses for you and me, and a first-place finish for John Mellencamp in The Plain Dealer's eighth annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame poll.

The heartland rocker from Seymour, Ind., declined to comment, despite a clear mandate from the people of Northeast Ohio. Life goes on, long after the thrill of winning our mock election is gone, apparently.

Then again, perhaps Mellencamp doesn't want to jinx anything. He received two previous Rock Hall nominations, only to fail to get enough votes for enshrinement.

The Farm Aid co-founder had a No. 1 smash 25 years ago with "Jack & Diane," back when he went by the stage name John Cougar. Among his other hits are "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.," "Small Town" and "Pink Houses."

We asked newspaper readers and visitors to cleveland.com to tell us which nominees on the latest official Rock Hall ballot are most worthy of induction.

In order of popularity, pop superstar Madonna, British Invasion band the Dave Clark Five; disco sensation Donna Summer and rock 'n' roll instrumentalists the Ventures were the other top vote-getters in our poll, conducted just for kicks. More than 170 ballots were cast.

Besides our finalists, the other hopefuls who are in the running for a spot in the Rock Hall are Afrika Bambaataa, the Beastie Boys, Chic and Leonard Cohen.

Our call for write-in candidates generated a landslide of support for "Weird Al" Yankovic (who knew?), whose fans have mobilized online (check out www.allthingsyank. com/rockhall) to get the parodist of "Eat It" fame into the Rock Hall. Supporters of Harry Nilsson, the Moody Blues and Yes also made themselves heard.

The induction ceremony is set for Monday, March 10, at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The five incoming honorees will be announced in January, after the votes of an international pool of music-industry insiders and previous inductees are counted.