Pre-show ZEP! Double-neck-12 string-6string-Plant's pubic snail trail-4 way mirror shot.... WOOOOOOOOOO!

Not sure. But I think Jimmy might be high.

OH. Bonham's solo. Time to take a piss.

2000 hits, baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

WOOOOOO. JAY-Z! OWWWWWW.

Jann Wenner is boldly letting the grey show, at least in the beard. You go, boy! Too bad many of the people watching right now don't have any idea who he's talking about.

Say, when is Jandek being inducted? ;)

Who was Joel Shumaker?

They honor a Grateful Dead ROADIE?! Big ups for the awesome Bruce Gary, though.

The graphic guy shit a brick when he read about Brad Delp.

WOOOOOOOOOOO! TURKISH DIPLOMAT!!!!!!
WOOOOOO!

We can LOVE Stills out of it!

Actually, this is definitely the kinder, gentler Stills.

WOOOOOOOOOO! STILLS! WOOOOOoooo....
OK, I'll stop now.

How come when they cut to the audience it looks like film instead of live video?

Steve Stills -- aka "the turtle" -- went to my high school in Costa Rica. And -- to bring this to a weird RTH anecdotal close -- that guy who sold Mike Mills the acid? I met his aunt recently, and it turns out she *dated* Steve Stills in high school!

Strange but true!

Listen to that drummer play that shuffle! Fuckin' A! Who is that guy?

How come when they cut to the audience it looks like film instead of live video?

It's a pretty standard feature now on digital cameras- you can turn on the film look anytime. They probably do it on the audience as the lighting would not be so great, so the film look can mask it some.

Clive Davis ass-kiss! Excellent!

I can't see the drummer very well. Luckily it's tough to see Paul Schaeffer.

OK, Aretha, enough testifyin'...back to the music.

Clive Davis ass-kiss! Excellent!

Good thing he doesn't have to return the favor. We'd be here all night.

Who's talking in the background: "Hello, can you hear me?" Did you hear that?

That first Aretha number kind of blew, but this one is hot!

WTF?! Mystery voice from the heavens?

What's the frequency, Kenneth? Was that a nation-wide flub?

Nice Clive Davis exchange, you two!

Sammy, you are one funny dude! Hilarious!

She should work the cough into her vamp.

That piano player rocks too. I wish I could turn down the tasty licks on the guitar though.

The house guitarist is a schlub.

Man, this is getting aweome! I loved that "I'm a little husky tonight..." thing. Let it ALL hang out, Aretha!

This is just so fucking NOT rock and roll. I realize I'm stating the obvious, but shit, it's a travesty.

I don't mean Aretha, I mean the event, the black ties, the chardonnay, and so forth. Like I say, not an original thought.

Somewhere, Brian Wilson is laying a turd in his Depends.

For a second I feared that Dick Clark had just died.

Here comes our first disputed nominee. Let's see if we change our minds?

That dance in the green sparkly dress was convincing; this version of "I'm All Shook Up" is NOT.

I think it's funny they have this 'event' on a Monday night. I guess everybody's busy on the weekend.

BigSteve's a tastylicksphobe!

I dunno Fritz, nothing necessarily un-rock about a tux. A wise man once said that every girl's crazy about a sharp dressed man.

I hate to say it, but Aretha kinda sucked. It's sad really. She's lost a step or ten.

Do the other Ronettes even exist, or are they constantly replicating, like Menudo? Let's see...

Oh, here comes Keef. Look at that cigarette! How fuckin' cool! Skull ring: Check! Kind of dreads: Check! I'm layin' $10 he refers to The Ronettes as "spades."

Keith! That 'stache is AWESOME! Fucking A!

Hey, there are...the other two.

STIPE sighting!!!

Hey What Happened?! Those aren't the Ronnettes. These ladies aren't remotely hot.

Phil Spector wrote her speech.

He does have a 'stache, doesn't he? My picture sucks ass. If he doesn't, he should.

Fritz, your picture sucks ass? What happened to the fancy new hi-def?

EDDIE MONEY shout-out! What were the odds on that? (Notice the piano note, too?) Man, this is heading toward Sly & the Family Stone Reunion territory, and don't you think she should learn to pronounce her idol's name?

Retract the induction!!!

zzzzz

Keef's definitely working on a 'stache. Your picture's fine, Fritz.

Standard-def looks crap on it. But never mind that! Does Keef have a 'stache or not???

Who'd have thought anyone could appear more loaded than Keith?

Clearly, Phil and Ronnie were a match made in hell.

Thank god the other 2 Ronettes kept their shit together over the years. This third woman is a welcome shot of dignity.

Sheesh! Now I know what a favor they are doing everybody when they play people off at the Oscars after 30 seconds!

whew

I have a fgeeling this part will be edited severely for the re-broadcast.

I guess one of the Ronettes can't sing no mo

Just got home and found out we don't get VH1!!! I wish I could see the 'stache in all it's rock glory. I wish I could see the production! *&@#!!!

Where's andyr's fave percussion guy when you need him?

Also, the Ronette in the gold dress still knows how to shake it! Sorry for these thoughts I'm havin', Jesus!

I forgive Nedra for the speech. She looks so cool now that she's singing!

why did the missing Ronette have to go AWOL, given the fact that there are four or five backup singers belting away in the back? Just turn her damn mic off!

She seems scared shitless. Nedra is having a blast though.

So are we getting the trainwreck out of the way early or does anybody see a group rendition of "The Message" later in the night?

No commercials? Wow.

Wow -- that Spector reaction was pretty interesting.

What was the reaction?!?

Someone's going to recap this, right?!

Yeah,everybody seemed pretty excited to hear that a guy who recently killed his girlfriend and used to beat up the girlfriend/wife who just left the stage had sent warm wishes on an index card.

!!!!! crazy!!!! thanks cj!!

Shut up MAN.

Zack de le Rocha?! That's a stretch. Does anyone care about this guy anymore?

Who is this pud? Did anyone ever care about him. Did he have an incident at a tanning salon or what? He looks like something you could make at Build-A-Bear.

If you're going to quote this famous line, dude, maybe you should get it right. And dissing Van Morrison? Fuck you. Your speech sounds like a book report.

Rage against your lameness.

Michael Anthony is wondering who she is.

That speech was awesome, but the Michael Anthony moment was transcendant!

And if he'd ever been with her.

Porkpie with a smoke behind the ear! I've got bingo!

Not a huge Patti Smith fan but she does a nice job with this song. Apparently it's from a new covers album she's releasing. You can download this song as a free MP3 on the Pitchfork homepage today.

Does anyone here feel that what Patti stand for is far greater than her actual music?

I like this drummer.

I like the IDEA of Patti Smith a lot more than I actually dig the tunes.

This may be the only time I've ever actually seen Lenny Kaye, and I know him way more from having curated the 'Nuggets' sets than I do from him having been Patti's guitarist.

Rock 'n Roll... finally.

Alright, this is officially smokin'! I need to re-evaluate this chick. Seriously!

Plant, in the holster!

This Zep/Young thing is "classic"? or did they say "flacid"?

Haven't you always wanted to hear Plant solo on this song? This is what I remember -- Page looking like he thinks Neil is some kind of joke.

PLEASE stop dancing, Plant!

That Plant shuffle was inappropriate.

Press conference as footnote ... and damage control.

Fuckin' A! Al Sharpton. Please, please let him sing...

Press conference as footnote ... and damage control.

Especially before the Rev. came out!

That Patti Smith segment was beautiful. What a great dose of humanity and humility. What a sincere embodiment of The Power & Glory of Rock! As much as I love Townshend's love for The People, Patti Smith outdoes his 10 times over. I felt like I was being inducted in the HoF. Awesome!!!

The Plant holstering reenactment was particularly lame.

Listen up, BigSteve: BigAl's gonna explain why Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five are being inducted!

I want to hear Al Sharpton pronounce 'genre' again.

The more I thought about it today, there;s lots of people in the HoF that are not technically rock & roll, Jamees Brown among them.

Who woulda guessed that Al Sharpton would crib his James Brown tribute speech from 'Grapes of Wrath'? Wild!

Good luck to whoever follows JB.

Has anybody seen Eddie? I heard he is in rehab with Britney. No joke!

And WHERE is Gary Cherone?

What does Sammy Hagar get to be involved with this? Seriously. I'm confused.

Velvet Revolver?!?!

Trading fours on a speech, what a concept.

Are you happy, Fritz?

Are you telling me that only Hagar and Anthony are coming out? Not even a Van Halen? No DLR? CROCK!!!

Never mind that! Where's the fucking band?! Unbelievable!

Dude, Van Hagar BLOWS!

Fuck. Not even Wolfie? Valerie?

Shneider? No one?

Daughters or dates?

This is the lamest HoF induction ever.

Props for Gary Cherone.

Where's Alex???

DLR much be home washing his hair. Singular.

Sammy Hagar, a class act. Who knew?

You should be humbled you slack shit son of bitch.

Man, I can't watch this Scott guy dance.

Oh, how I wish the Accuser was watching, so we could get his take on this singer!

Is Weiland always this much of a spaz? His 'dancing' looks like a parody.

BigSteve, a question: who's better, Van Halen or these guys?

Does Weiland's horizontal stripe shirt count as one of those French mime/new wave shirts? I keep having to avert my eyes.

What a pathetic chapter in the VH legacy.

That was fucking awful.

Oh, dude! Did you just hear that guy in the audience shouting: "That wasn't Van Halen!" Priceless!

I don't know Fritz, it's like choosing between being shot and being strangled. It's not fair to judge the Velveteen Popgun playing someone else's material.

Hagar wearing a Van Hagar T-shirt. bad rock form! Major rock fashion faux pas!

Oh, and the song sucks ass, too.