Bizarre Moment of the Week, er, Year, um, Ever

The Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame ceremony was last night live and uncut on VHI Classic. And I watched every bit of that four hour monstrosity. Why? Because two of my all-time favorite bands, R.E.M. and Van Halen, were inducted. Each of these bands has had an enormous effect on me in ways that are as different as the bands themselves. In fact, it would be difficult to choose two more polar opposite artists in terms of music and presentation. The inductions were well worth the wait, in spite of 3/4 of the original VH lineup being absent from the proceedings.

Each artist, including the other inductees- Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, The Ronettes and Patti Smith (who I've only recently begun to admire)- had a short film and introduction shown in their honor. They would then accept their award and step over to the music stage where they would perform. Patti Smith rocked, R.E.M rolled and Velvet Revolver did only God knows what to the VH classic, Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love. The bizarre moment occurred at the end of the show during the all-star jam segment. These were the participants onstage at the same time: Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, Peter Buck, Keith Richards, Eddie Vedder, Stephen Stills, Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye, Ronnie Spector, Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, Paul Schaeffer and members of Grandmaster Flash. An interesting collection indeed.