The Rochester Music Hall of Fame Wednesday morning announced
its inductees for 2016, and it seems to have got it right. The induction
ceremony, scheduled for Sunday, April 24, is Rochester, baby! No six degrees of
separation or artists that have nothing to do with the city. This year’s lineup
is wonderfully diverse and the performers relevant. It’s gonna
be one helluva show.
The inductees are:
Pee Wee Ellis — saxophonist and band leader for James
Brown and Van Morrison.
Howard Hanson — former director of Eastman School of
Music and Pulitzer-winning composer.
Joe Locke — living jazz legend and vibraphone master.
James Rado — Grammy-winning
creator of the musical “Hair.”
The Rustix — The first white band to be signed to Motown Records.
Wendy O. Williams — punk rock queen, performance
artist, and leader of The Plasmatics.
Scheduled performances for the induction ceremony will
include Pee Wee Ellis with Christian McBride, Maceo
Parker, and Fred Wesley doing an all-star send up to James Brown; an ESM
student string ensemble playing the compositions of Howard Hanson; Joe Locke will
perform with Prime Time Funk, and vocalist Tessa Souter will add some va-vavoom to the man’s legendary
vibes; The Cowsills will perform hits from the
musical “Hair”; the four surviving members of The Rustix
will rip up some Rochester rock ‘n’ roll; and guitarist Wes Beech of The Plasmatics will front a tribute band to Wendy O. Williams with
Runaways singer and chainsaw artist Cheri Currie.
The fifth annual Rochester Music Hall of Fame induction
ceremony will take place April 24, 7 p.m., at Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, 60
Gibbs Street. Tickets are on sale at the Eastman Theatre Box Office, at 454-2100,
or online at bit.ly/RMHFtickets. Tickets are $30-$60.
For more information, check out rochestermusic.org.
This article appears in Feb 24 – Mar 1, 2016.
