A Follow-Up to Treacherous Double-Dealing from June

I woke up to the sad news this morning that Harry Nilsson was not among the those nominated to be inducted into the 2016 class at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Back in June I published a post called Treacherous Double-Dealing, which concerned my horrible treatment at the hands of two people who wanted to claim all the credit for the campaign. Now, as far as I am concerned, they should share all the blame for it not happening. Step right up Gabriel Szoke and Todd Lawrence to take your bows.

After I was summarily kicked off the triumvirate committee that was spearheading this drive, those two crazy MoFos came up with what I always thought was a stupid idea. Milo Bender, Willie Aron, and Rob Laufer wrote a cute little jingle called “Let’s Put Harry in the Hall.” Sure it was a catchy little number, but the last thing that was needed was to turn it into a We Are The World-style vanity project. Watch:

I have no idea how much time, energy, and money was wasted on this vanity project, but I can tell you, without fear of contradiction, that it all would have been better spent actually doing some of the things that we had discussed, and agreed upon, before I was dumped.

It was my idea that we needed to start a grassroots campaign for Harry’s last birthday, something that was actually done. However, we knew that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame committee ignores grassroots campaigns because all bands and artists have those. The bigger idea, which never seems to have been implemented, was to use this grassroots campaign to influence the next level of influencers, who would then influence the next level of influencers, until it became a snowball rushing down the mountain that couldn’t be ignored.

But, a cute little video?

Oh, puh-leeze!!!

And, yes, at this point this is sour grapes. I was never in this for the credit, but merely to get Harry in the Hall. However, those two MoFos were all about getting credit. They made sure to get their credits on the video (and Gabriel made sure he got his name on there twice) and they were delighted whenever their names were mentioned in the scanty press they were able to garner.

Had I still been part of the committee, I guarantee that there would have been far more publicity. Furthermore, I would have been able to attract much bigger names to sign onto the campaign. I can’t say we would have succeeded getting Harry nominated, but it would not have been such an anemic and fruitless attempt.

Back in June I tried to warn people about these two. Sadly no one listened.

Since it’s Thursday, this seems like an appropriate way to end this post.