The latest wave of inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has a special connotation for me that I’ll get to by the end of this post, but first let’s look at who is going to be enshrined in the Valhalla of Rock: This year, the honors fall to surf rock legends, The Ventures, Mersey Beat hit makers, The Dave Clark Five and the big three, Leonard Cohen, John Cougar Mellencamp and Madonna, or as I call them, The Poet, The Populist and The Priestess.

Cohen has had the shelf life of uranium. It seems like he’s been around forever and he’s just as relevant now as he was when he was warbling about “Suzanne down by the River.” Last week on American Idol Jason Castro (the dread headed version of a young John Travolta) covered Cohen’s “Hallelujah” (now number one at iTunes) so well that it even bowled over the stodgy Simon Cowell, a risky move on Castro’s part not knowing Cowell’s love for the song.

Even on American Idol Cohen’s brilliance shone like a diamond in a dull, rhinestone room. Coincidentally, The Man, as he’s known, is hitting the road for a mostly European tour at the moment, but there’s some chance that Cohen will make it to the states. Quite frankly, he needs the money as his business manager squandered over five million of Cohen’s dollars. If he’s out there and bringing his minstrel act to your town, give your support to one of our greats. I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

John Cougar Mellencamp burst out of the plains of Indiana like some wild weed that took root in the hearts and minds of Jacks and Diannes all across America. While Bruce Springsteen sang about the redemption of the lost and lonely through rock ‘n roll and passion, Cougar Mellencamp celebrated the working class lives he grew up with as a hoosier. From Little Pink Houses to Hurting So Good he never strayed very far from the populist note he sounded from his very first album. Lacking the socialist wallop of Woody Guthrie he nonetheless became bard for the common man, a jukebox Johnny supplying the soundtrack to bars and roadhouse romances deep into the midnight hours.

The priestess is of course Madonna, who has thrilled some, threatened others and became a role model for the likes of Christina Aguillera and Britney Spears. From her days as a downtown-dance-tart, to her current role as Queen Kabballah, she’s been the reigning Sybil of pop culture for over twenty years. I think her finest moment took place on the William Orbit produced Ray of Light where she dropped her persona if only briefly to explore the symbiosis between her dharma and the dance floor.

So there they are, The Poet, The Populist and The Priestess. Oh yeah, that connection to me? Apparently The Ventures, “Walk, Don’t Run” was playing at the time of my birth.

As I get older, the song makes more and more sense.

by Robert Phoenix
Robert Phoenix moves freely among a vast array of realities, but tends to focus-in on music and human evolution.