One of the most diverse classes in the history of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which included Metallica, Run-DMC, 1950s rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson and guitar legend Jeff Beck, were inducted into the Hall at a wild four-hour show Saturday night, April 4th. Held at Cleveland’s historic Public Hall, the event was open to the general public for the first time in the 23-year history of the Hall of Fame. The result was a show that felt more like an actual rock concert than any previous ceremony. One of the most anticipated speeches of the night came from Eminem, who inducted Run-DMC and has rarely been seen in public in the past four years. Dressed like the fourth member of the group in a leather jacket and a fedora, an emotional Em spoke passionately about their influence on him and the world at large.

“I still remember being in 9th grade when Tougher Than Leather came out,” he said. “I skipped school to go get it on cassetete. As soon as I heard ‘Run’s House,’ it was pretty much a rap for me. Marshall Mathers became Eminem.” The evening began with 1950s R&B group Little Anthony & The Imperials performing their hits “Tears On My Pillow” and “Hurts So Bad” backed by Paul Schaffer and the CBS Orchestra. Lead singer is Anthony Gourdine is 69, but he still hit the high notes like he did 50 years ago. Longtime friend Smokey Robinson inducted the group, calling it a “long overdue event.” Gourdine seemed to agree. As he stepped up to the mike he beamed and said, “Amazing grace, how sweet it is!” Wanda Jackson was inducted by Roseanne Cash, whose father Johnny toured in the 1950s with Jackson, Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis. “I’m not standing here alone,” Jackson said. “I want to thank Elvis Presley for the push and encouragement I needed.” Jackson is said to have briefly dated Presley in the 1950s. Later in the evening Presley’s original bassist Bill Black and drummer D.J. Fontana were inducted by E Street Band members Garry Tallent and Max Weinberg. “This is the greatest honor of my life,” said Fontana. Black died in 1965, so his children accepted on his behalf. Cleveland native Bobby Womack, who hadn’t been in his hometown in over twenty years, was inducted by his longtime Friend Ron Wood. Womack brought much of the audience to their feet with a medley of “Across 110th Street” and “It’s All Over Now” (famously covered by the Stones in 1964), featuring Wood on guitar. “He brings me to tears,” says Wood. “That voice has always killed me.” Soon afterwards the evening turned into an unbelievable guitar orgy. It began when Jimmy Page inducted his former Yardbirds bandmate Jeff Beck. “Jeff’s guitar style is totally unorthodox,” said Page. “He just gets better and better.” After a hilarious speech by Beck, where he flicked off everybody who in his life that ever stood in his way, Page and Beck played a blazing version of “Beck Bolero” — the 1967 Beck solo track originally recorded with Page, John Paul Jones and Keith Moon. “Ladies and gentlemen, a big chunk of Led Zeppelin right here,” Page said in the middle of the tune before Page played a segment of “Immigrant Song.” The first few notes caused the capacity crowd to go into absolute hysterics. If that wasn’t enough, Metallica came onstage next. Flea — sporting blue hair — gave the intro. “Metallica is fucking rad and their music is bitching,” he said, causing James Hetfield to cover his young daughters ears. “They did more to bring people together than any other peace-and-love band ever did,” he added. This was literally true at the ceremony: Metallica flew in 150 of their friends and family for the event. Former bassist Jason Newstead, who hasn’t performed with the group since he quit in 2001, was around for the weekend’s festivities. If there’s any bad blood, he certainly hid it well. “I’ve been levitating all weekend,” he said during his speech. He later performed with the band and his replacement, Robert Trujillo, on “Master of Puppets” and “Enter Sandman.” Both musicians played bass and often shared a mic on back-up vocals. Earlier, original bassist Cliff Burton’s father gave a moving speech about his son, who died on a tour bus accident in 1986. The traditional all-star jam was a two-parter. First was “Jailhouse Rock,” featuring Fontana, Beck, Little Anthony & The Imperials, Bobby Womack, Wanda Jackson and pianist Spooner Oldhman — who was inducted earlier in the night as a sideman. The night wrapped up with a guitar jam that will surely go down in history. Metallica played the 1965 Yardbirds staple “Train Kept A-Rollin” with Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Flea and surprise guest Ron Wood. Yes, that’s six guitarists and three bassists. Unlike previous Rock Hall jams, this was one rehearsed the previous night and didn’t sound the least bit sloppy. In previous years such an event would only be seen in person by a handful of people at a hotel ballroom. Saturday night, thousands of Clevelanders got to see it, bringing together the legends and the people whose lives they have truly touched.

As you may recall, last year the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony was pretty much all about Madonna. This year it sounds like the ceremony was more like it was intended to be. I am always impressed with the diverse acts that annually get recognized and honored for their amazing contributions to Rock and Roll. Each induction ceremony is a music lesson for me because there are honorees like Wanda Jackson who I’m not familiar with but will now seek out because of this honor. This year’s class is a good one, Run-DMC are truly pioneers not only in rap but in rap/rock fusion as well (I am very proud that my Detroit homie Eminem was chosen to have the honor of inducting them this year). They most assuredly deserve this honor. Much congrats goes out to all of this year’s inductees. I can’t wait to find out who’ll get into the Rock Hall next year.

[Photo credit: Wireimage; Source]

SUPERSTAR David Beckham kicked off the countdown to the London Olympics — and revealed he could be a COACH for Team GB in 2012. Becks sent 91,000 spectators into a frenzy at Beijing’s National Stadium when he appeared from within a red London bus at yesterday’s closing ceremony. Nine-year-old London schoolgirl Tayyiba Dudhwala handed him a football, and a deafening roar erupted as the smiling England ace kicked the ball into a crowd of Olympic athletes below him. The appearance by Beckham — a global sporting icon born just down the road from our Olympic site in the East End — was the highlight of London’s performance celebrating the official handover from Beijing. The eight-minute showcase for Britain also featured X Factor winner Leona Lewis, in a stunning gold dress, performing Whole Lotta Love with Led Zeppelin rock legend Jimmy Page. Afterwards, Beckham revealed he could coach an all-star GB footie team at the 2012 games, with his old Man United boss Sir Alex Ferguson as manager. Britain has been barred from Olympic football because England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland compete separately in international matches. But Mr Brown is determined to resolve the issue and has held talks with footie’s governing body FIFA. LA Galaxy midfielder Becks said: “We deserve to have a football Team GB at the Olympics and I hope it gets sorted.” Becks will be 37 in 2012 and says it is unlikely he will play. But asked if he would take a key role, he said: “I think it’s possible.”

2012 is still a long way off so it may be too early to know for sure exactly what, if any, role Becks may play in the London Games but I will not be surprised if Becks is able to realize his Olympic dreams.

Here are a few photos of the British Ambassadors as they posed backstage in Beijing after the Closing Ceremonies were completed:

I imagine London and all of Great Britain is looking forward to the 2012 Summer Games … here’s hoping they’ll be able to pull off a stunning Olympic Games … they’ve got a hard act to follow in the Beijing Games.

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BEIJING handed the Olympic flag to London today in a spectacular closing ceremony. Rock legend Jimmy Page and singer Leona Lewis starred in the eight-minute slot for London, while footballer David Beckham was also involved. London mayor Boris Johnson received the Olympic flag in the handover ceremony, which featured a red London double decker bus driving around the Bird’s Nest stadium being pursued by Team GB cyclists Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton and Shanaze Reade. Jacques Rogge, the International Olympic Committee president, told the 91,000 people inside the Bird’s Nest stadium: “Tonight, we come to the end of 16 glorious days which we will cherish forever. Thank you to the people of China.” PM Gordon Brown, who spoke yesterday of his hope that a UK football team could compete in the next Olympics, also attended the closing event. Beckham, who kicked a football into the crowd during the ceremony said he believed the London Olympics in 2012 would be even better than the spectacular events this year. The England footballer said Team GB’s astonishing medal haul will spark a wave of interest in taking part in sport. Beckham said: “I’m an East End boy and I’m proud that it’s happening in London. I was very proud to be involved in the first place bringing it back to England and to London. It’s going to generate so much interest in sport and kids are already getting excited about it. We have seen what the Chinese have done here and I’m sure we will better that, without a doubt.” Team GB won three more medals yesterday with boxer James DeGale leading the way by winning the men’s middleweight title. The 22-year-old Londoner came out on top in a hard-fought contest with Cuban Emilio Correa at the Workers’ Stadium. The boxer’s gold medal followed other success for British athletes on the penultimate day … Team GB has had its most successful Olympics for a century. Britain currently lies in fourth place in the medal table behind China, USA and Russia, after notching up 19 gold medals, 13 silver and 15 bronze to make a total of 47 medals. The Queen today congratulated British and Commonwealth athletes for their success at the Beijing Olympics and said she was looking forward to the London Games in 2012.

After the jump, check out more photos from the Closing Ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games including pics of David Beckham and his contribution to the spectacle and the extinguishing of the Olympic Flame …

Becks, Leona Lewis and Jimmy Page were all inside a Double Decker bus that is “bound for London” and as the bus opened up, it turned into a performance stage where Leona sang, Jimmy played guitar and Becks, well, he just looked hawt and then kicked a soccer ball into the crowd:

And then the time came to extinguish the Olympic Flame so that it can wait to be replenished in Greece and then make its way to London, UK where it will shine over the 2012 Summer Olympic Games:

OK, that’s not entirely true … the Olympic Flame will be carried to Vancouver, BC in 2010 for the Winter Olympic Games but … well, now that the Summer and Winter Games are separated it seems like they are each their own entity these days. In any event, the 2008 Summer Olympic Games are dunzo … but, boy, wasn’t it a great ride? The US Olympic Team won the overall medal race with 110 Medals with China coming in second with 100 Medals. China won the Gold Medal race with 51 Golds and the US came in second with 36 Golds … not too shabby on either account.

And that, folks, is that. I must confess, these Olympic Games seemed much shorter to me … when I was younger, it always felt like the Games would go on forever … this was the shortest 2 weeks for me, I think. It really was a great Games … Michael Phelps really proved that Olympic History can still be made and in a big way. I can’t wait to see what other records and boundaries are going to be broken at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

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