.....Doubtless you've been wondering about THE CONCERT FOR THE ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME that you missed.

So the "Pre-Game Show" has Jon Stewart interviewing.....aaaaarrrrgh.... Newcomer Sheryl Crow, asking her, "So rumor has it that all the artists are gonna be pairing up on stage tonight--who do YOU wanna sing with?" And she blithely simpers, "Oh, you know, like Dylan, that'd be great...."

The show opens with Chuck Berry fronting the E-Street Band. He was great. It was mainly down from there. There were some good moments, though. It's been a week and I may have trouble remembering everything.

The highest highlight was Iggy Pop, in front of Soul Asylum, singing "Back Door Man" and "I Wanna Be Your Dog." Then, he leaves the stage and out comes your buddy Lou Reed (wearing, by the way, MY HAIR--where does he get off?) in front of the same band, singing a rather raucous "Sweet Jane." His first words after being introduced were, "This is for Sterling Morrison." Nobody clapped. Oh, by the way--that unauthorized bio of him, that he sent you that threatening fax about a couple of years ago--apparently it's finally out. I haven't seen it though.

The Allman Brothers were also very good, except they had Newcomer SHERYL CROW squealing along with them. Dylan was good. Ann and Nancy Wilson were great--and I haven't really cared for their work for some time now, but they sang "Battle Of Evermore"--just the two of them--and it was just perfect.

On the subject of surprisingly great, how about The Pretenders? I wrote her off a long time ago, but she was real solid at this show. Now if she'd just remember how to WRITE SONGS, that'd be good......

The Kinks, also very good.

Not particularly on his game, and, ouch, the MAIN REASON I WAS WATCHING THIS THING: Robbie Robertson. First of all, he was interviewed TWICE, once before and once after his stage turn, and be kept pointing out, though no one had asked, that he had been largely instrumental in organizing the show. Then he gets onstage and, ill-advisedly, performs The Weight. It really broke my heart. Okay, he wrote the song. But....he just didn't pull it off. (And by the way, I'm not being a curmudgeon (not right now anyway)--I LOVE his solo albums. His singing on those LPs, on THOSE SONGS, is very effective.) But ......I guess he really does think the old songs are all his. It's too bad about bands like that--where the whole is twelve times greater than the sum of the parts and yet none of the participants can ever be convinced that that's so?

You don't know any bands like that, do ya? I can think of one. I'm going to go see four fifths of them next Friday and the other guy Saturday.

Yeah, so anyway..........the rest of the show was so awful I don't even wanna talk about it. Then, of course, there's the MTV music video awards, last night. Yeeeeeuuch. The surprise opening act: Mr. Pederasty, Michael Jackson. Truly horrifying.

Well, I have no further typing energy. Remember how I was losing my whole staff at work? Well, it got down to just me. My boss refused to transfer anyone in. So I went over his head--twice--and now EVERYONE hates me. I was coming home every day with my hands literally shaking. Even though the situation eventually worked itself out--sort of--in that I have three brand new people who know nothing. One of them is a woman in her thirties who will be just fine, I think, BUT--and if you have the slightest idea how I should deal with THIS one, please share--she SMELLS TERRIBLE. If you, in your "Road Dog" days, ever shared Bus Space with someone who insisted on wearing the same shirt for twelve days in a row in July then you might have an idea what I'm dealing with in those extremely close quarters. I've been home for two hours and my throat is still burning. Now, I HAVE had an odiferous employee before, and I came right out and told him, for his own good. But the Airwick in question being a WOMAN is going to make it much more difficult for me.

My next point, if I have one, is that the next ten days consist of VACATION, which means essentially that I'll only be at the store for about an hour a day. But it counts. I'll be working around the house and such. Of course, I'd be available if anyone needed me for anything!

Tomorrow, we are going to see Mr. David Bromberg at Town Hall. That will be fun, or else. I've had it with not having fun. So it'll be FUN.