Last Night at the Waldorf

I feel a little guilty for not liveblogging the entire Rock n Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony last night. I'm really, really sorry, but I had, unbelievably, more interesting things to do. I was fortunate enough to catch the Patti Smith segment, though, and I want to make sure everyone knows if you're looking for a model of aging gracefully, you can't find a better one. Her presence is majestic, and it's hard to believe her voice ever sounded better than it does now. She did a smoking version of "Gimme Shelter," thanking Keith Richards, who was present, for "writing such a great anti-war song"; you could almost feel him squirm. She dedicated the song "Rock n Roll Nigger" to her mother, and in the part where she lists people, she sang, "Gandhi was a nigger, Jesus Christ and my mother too!" But why am I telling you this? You can see it, and any other segments you choose, here.

I thought it was very cool that VH1 Classic aired the event in its entirety live, so that you got to see all the dead time for set-ups and breakdowns between performances and inductions and speeches. Very Brechtian. But I also just love moments of breakage in television "flow."

There was also a weird moment at the end of the Ronettes performance, where Paul Shaffer came up to the mike and read a little note of congratulations from Phil Spector, whom Ronnie had consipicuously not thanked in her incredibly long and drunken acceptance speech. The response was tepid, and if I'm not mistaken, there were a few boos.

Second part of my post on Spector aesthetics still to come. . .