The 4th Long Island Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony took place last night at the Paramount in Huntington with much fanfare like classic cars dropping off recipients and presenters.

Around 7:30 Jason the WBAB Marketing Director, my girl and I rolled up to the theater in a 1971 Mustang convertible and stepped out on to the red carpet. After a barrage of pictures and a quick interview we traveled through the venue to our seats upstairs in VIP.

It was an interesting amalgam of peeps with Kurtis Blow sitting on one side Salt ‘n’ Pepa on the other Suffocation in front of us and Zebra and Taylor Dayne next to them. My gig was to induct the boys in Suffocation.

They were scheduled as the last induction, right after Zebra. According to the “grid” the main event was to last 2 hours 58 minutes. I knew going in that this was a stretch. I mean I have been to all four events and it is hard to keep rockers on point especially when you add booze lol. At 8:30 the evening officially started and at 12:20AM I inducted Suffocation. I know!

But the evening had some wonderful high points LIKE Charlie Daniels banging out “Devil Went Down to Georgia”, Taylor Dayne’s performance of “Tell it to My Heart”, Salt ‘N” Pepa cranked a medley of their hits, Zebra did “Who’s Behind the Door” and the Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Do You Believe in Magic” was a wonderful flashback for me. I also ran into a bunch of old friends like Denis McNamara, Mark Mendoza, Bob Buchman, and rubbed elbows with some legends like the aforementioned Charlie Daniels, Gary US Bonds, Felix Cavalieri of The Rascals, and Whodini.

We had a blast but truth be told after waiting around in jury duty all day and then waiting all night I was done waiting so it’s no wonder that when I went on stage to induct Suffocation in front of a crowd that had diminished by 80% the first words out of my mouth were “WTF”? Which got a chuckle and everyone knew why, it was way late!

The complete induction class includes hip-hop pioneers Salt-n-Pepa, singer Connie Stevens, The Lovin' Spoonful's Joe Butler and Steve Boone, singer Taylor Dayne, songwriter Ellie Greenwich, record industry executive Ron Alexenburg, classic rockers Barnaby Bye, songwriter Ervin Drake, Concert Security Systems, Inc. and Founder Ira Maltz, Jones Beach Theater, classical composer Leo Kraft , musicians from the Shinnecock Indian Nation, death metal band Suffocation, WALK-FM radio, jazz pianist Randy Weston, hip-hop/electro pioneers Whodini and progressive rock band Zebra. The 2012 Harry Chapin Award went to previous LIMHoF inductee Dee Snider of Twisted Sister.

Special congrats to my pals over at CSS nice work Ira and to Zebra you guys deserve this a long time coming. Thank you to Suffocation for asking me to induct them. I am honored my metal brothers to have been able to be a part of your extreme career, keep it real.

Thanks for listening and reading.