Monday at Universal Preservation Hall, musicians, families, fans and friends gathered to honor seven area music community culture heroes in the 8th Eddies Hall of Fame induction.
The inductees appeared onscreen in video and at the podium live, speaking their thanks. Four were honored by live tribute performances of respectful/revved band-mates, including deceased inductees blues singer Ernie Williams and jazz pianist Lee Shaw.
On a large screen over the stage, videos showed photos, interviews and performances of the inductees. Their acceptance speeches told tales of challenges and sacrifices that talent, persistence and support of fans and families, which several acknowledged had been neglected, enabled them to overcome.
The live tributes sparkled, punk-rockers Dryer honoring Dominick Campana’s great punk band Dirty Face; a reassembled Wildcats remembering the charismatic Ernie Williams, Lee Shaw’s sidemen playing one of her originals and jumping into “C-Jam Blues” with Nick Hetko courageous and skillful at the piano, and Johnny Rabb’s rockabilly crew “The Sound Minds” rocking almost as hard as Dryer when they honored Eddie Angel.
It all added up warmly and persuasively to a group portrait of community and continuity. Just as the sharp tribute live segments engaged the crowd ably in the here and now, videos and speeches alike framed achievements as collective enterprises. The crowd at tables and seats in the pews and balcony contained numerous past (and future?) inductees, and it surely felt like a community, united and energized by music.
The Heavenly Echoes gospel group – the first to be honored and the best-dressed crew all night – spoke onscreen and at the podium of longevity by dedication and community engagement. Their hard work, shared in friendship, has powered a decades-deep career with no signs of ending. They both mourned departed members and introduced newcomers.
Punk-rock musician turned audio engineer and Paintchip Records chief Dominic Campana honored his mentors including QE2’s Charlene Shortsleeve, in attendance; also both the performing musicians who inspired him and the audio engineers and producers who trained him in those skilled, essential trades.
Video of Ernie Williams showed folkies Pete Seeger and Ruth Pelham guesting with his band, which included dozens of players including the late David Malachowski, another past inductee. Guitarist Mark Emanation marveled that, after Williams invited him to “play a few gigs,” they performed 287 live shows the next year.
Lee Shaw’s bandmates, bassist Rich Syracuse and drummer Jeff “Siege” Siegel recalled her leadership and inspiration. Her eclectic, energetic style spanned decades of jazz history and enabled them to continue to this day, respecting what came before and exploring what’s next. Hat’s off to Nick Hetko for daring to play piano in her place.
Like the Heavenly Echoes, running the Van Dyck jazz venue is the work of generations; all got respect onscreen and in acceptance speeches: founder Marvin Friedman, then Don Wexler, Peter Olsen and current impresario Chris Sule. (The McDonald family, between Olsen and Sule, wasn’t represented.) Donna Wexler spoke of heritage, Olsen recited dozens of jazz heroes who’ve played the room, and Sule spoke with dedication of the future.
Jim Furlong, like Campana, mixed performing with a backstage role; leading punk-rockers the A.D.s and buying and selling records for 36 years at his Last Vestige shop. Humble, humorous, Furlong – again like Campana – thanked his mentors in music retailing, a tough trade in a changing marketplace, but with its own satisfaction in getting music into the ears that need it.
Last, and arguably the biggest star of the evening, guitarist Eddie Angel first appeared onscreen in the leather Mexican wrestling mask he wears in his surf-rock instrumental combo Los Straitjackets. Then came the raucous live salute by longtime bandmate Johnny Rabb. Angel’s remarks offered a performing veteran’s perspective on the persistence and luck music-making requires; like other speakers, he spoke of this calling as inevitable, inescapable. He cited writers Mario Puzo and William Kennedy, recalled how playing with 60s area pop-rockers Tino and the Revlons put him through college and how “40 years just flew by” since his move to Nashville. And he told happily how he loves coming back home here to play with friends.
In this, Angel sounded a note the other inductees all played; the bands honored Monday are all friends; mentors and presenters, too.
Proctors Collaborative’s Kelly Auricchio and WEXT’s Chris Weink and Andy Gregory hosted, introduced the segments and wrapped up the efficient two-hour induction event.
Ed Conway, who travels with wife Cathy to more music than anyone else I know, photographed the Hall of Fame event Monday. See his pictures at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=61578823102301&set=a.122153735072960770
Proctors Main Stage will host The Eddies Awards on April 26.
Hoke's Jukebox 