Vid: Jane's bro chats with a rock hall member responsible for ignoring Brian all these years....
Video: Paul Shaffer Meets Peter Asher on Friday, December 3, 2010
Paul Shaffer is a member of the Ahmet Ertegun Awards committee, the group that decides (without conducting any vote like the performer inductions do) who the non-performer inductee will be each year for the rock and roll hall of fame.
Peter Asher, of Peter & Gordon fame from the 60s, is of course Jane Asher's brother.
In this very short video clip, Paul Shaffer chats a bit with Peter Asher backstage at the Late Show with David Letterman. Shaffer, since 1982, has been (as you probably know) musical director for the Late Show's band, the CBS orchestra. He has also served as musical director and producer for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony since its inception in 1986.
I wonder. Does Shaffer not know that, if not for Paul McCartney, nobody would ever have heard of Peter Asher? And if not for Brian Epstein, nobody would ever have heard of Paul McCartney?
I personally do not have much trust anymore that the signing of the petition will actually accomplish the induction of Brian into the hall. That's been going on since 1998, and there has only been under 35,000 collected so far, not much more than 1/3 of the signatures desired.
However, promoting the petition does not hurt, and we still must try to get the numbers up to 100,000 ~ it's a simple thing to do ~ but it's not worth any extra effort, IMHO. When the number hits 100,000, Martin Lewis did pledge to bring it to the committee's attention. Hopefully both Mr. Lewis and I will still be alive at that point. At this rate, it'll take another 26 years. I will be 86 years old. Mr. Lewis will be 85.
The course of action that would be most effective is to find a way to directly convince the Ahmet Ertegun Award Committee members (including Paul Shaffer) of the simple fact that Brian Epstein must finally achieve his long-overdue status in the hall. My FB cohort Rose and I are brainstorming on that one. Wish us luck.
From what Rose has hinted, this plan will have to be somehow Bruce Springsteen-connected. For some odd reason, everyone on that committee (and indeed the majority of the hall's hierarchy) are fanboys of Springsteen. Oy.