For The Record- 19. Apr. 2025

Some thoughts on Luminas, lawn chairs and this year's list of Hall of Fame nominees

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When I was in high school (early 90s), there was a guy who served as a sort of extra in the movie of my life. He'd whip around Washington County in his canary yellow Lumina; music turned up to 11. Always blasting the same song--The Black Crowes' version of "Hard to Handle." Hard to miss; I get it. It's funny how those memories stick with you.

I was also recently doing some purging and found a picture with some friends at Portland International Raceway from that same era. We were there for an Indy Car race before that weird split fractured all open-wheel racing in the U.S. into god-knows-what.

In that (unfiltered, thankyouverymuch) picture, most likely taken with a disposable camera, are three of us who have had just a little too much to drink and have definitely had too much sun. The fourth thing in the frame was a chair named "Full On Kevin's Chair," after the Soundgarden song.

That's an unwieldy intro to saying that I've been remiss in getting around to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominations. I mentioned them when they were first announced and implored people to get after it. There is also a rant about Jann Renner somewhere in the archives, but both were a while ago.

Every year, there is a lot of thrashing and wailing about what the hall is and what it could be, with each nominee and, ultimately, inductees proving one side or the other. This year's class is proving to be more of the same. With everything happening around us (waves hands at everything), it's nice to know some things never change.

Okay, no, it's not. Not in this case, anyway. With the caveat that we like what we like, allow me to vent a little.

Obvious choices: