Steve Miller
Steve Miller gave a great press conference after being i9nducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this weekend!
He suggested that: “The whole process is unpleasant,” suggesting that it be “changed from the top to the bottom.”
He made reference to respecting the artists: “When they told me I was inducted they said, ‘You have two tickets — one for your wife and one for yourself. Want another one? It’s $10,000. Sorry, that’s the way it goes,’ ” he said, adding, “What about my band? What about their wives?”
A publicist tried to shut him up he responded: “No, we’re not going to wrap this up — I’m going to wrap you up,” he said. “You go sit down over there and learn something.”
I have only had a few experiences with the R&R Hall, and they have always been pretty negative. At the grand opening ceremonies, we (photographers that had content in the hall) were asked to go to a side door where our names would be on the list. So a friend of mine and I went around to the side, where we found a pair of pretty incredulous guys standing there, because their names were NOT on the list as promised and nobody knew who they were. (They were Iggy Pop and Lou Reed). So we brought them in as our +1’s!!!
Then, in 1985. I went to the induction ceremonies and was treated like total dogshit by the publicity department. I was given a seat in the balcony at the back of the room, and told that if I wanted to use the bathroom, I would need someone to escort me there (while leaving my cameras at my seat). Good luck with that! We were told that if we wanted something to drink, our press representative would have to get it for us. So I suggested that she bring a case of bottled water up to us (doesn’t help with the bathroom problem, though). She thought that was a great idea, and left to never return! So, luckily, we were sitting next to the O’Jays table and they felt sorry for us and ordered extra drinks for us during the event!
All in all, a bad experience that I will hopefully never repeat!
Thanks to Steve Miller for speaking out