BMI demolishes old Hall of Fame Building

Janice Brooks · From: Pleasant Gap Pa

> Subject: Charles Wolfe On Razing Of the Old CMHF
> >
> >
> > > << A NOTE TO THOSE INTERESTED IN TRADITIONAL COUNTRY MUSIC
> > >
> > > Nashville continued its destruction of its musical history this
> week
> > > (December 26-27) with the sudden and unexpected demolition of the
> original
> > > Country Music Hall of Fame Building. Located on 16th Avenue, at the
head
> > > of Music Row, the building with its familiar barn-like facade, had
> become
> > > at one time the single image most associated with Nashville.
> > > The building was opened with much hoopla on March 31, 1967; the
> > > upstairs part contained exhibits and a gift shop; downstairs were the
> > > archives, reading room, and offices of Country Music Foundation staff.
> > > On the entrance way was the "Walkway of Stars" in which "lesser"
> > > entertainers were enshrined with a gold star and their names -- for a
> fee
> > > of $1,000 each, most of which was raised by generous stars or fan
clubs.
> > > The destruction of the old Hall of Fame was done in a manner
> > > befitting a Nazi blitzkreig -- very quickly, so media and fans would
not
> > > have time to react and protest. And it was done during a time when
many
> > > were on holiday vacations. The building was owned by BMI -- can't
blame
> > > Gaylord here -- and there were rumors that it would be visitor's
center,
> > > then an adjunct to BMI for songwriters hall of Fame, and for a time as
a
> > > possible set of songwriters offices (in the basement portion). But the
> > > final decision was -- to make it a parking lot. No one knows what
> happened
> > > to the Walkway of stars -- whether they were simply ground up under
the
> > > bulldozer's tread or somehow saved. No one knows what will become of
> > > wonderful warren of basement offices and passages that go on for
miles.
> > > Nobody knows if they even managed to get the rest of the beautiful,
> > > custom-built record cabinets to someplace safe.
> > > The black humor on the streets in Nashville is to refer to the
> site
> > > as "The Country Music Hole of Fame." A few friends have tried to pick
up
> > > bricks as souvenirs, but BMI guards tend to run them off.
> > > In the meantime. over at the new Hall of Fame, assistant director
> and
> > > head of special projects and publications, Paul Kingsbury, has
resigned.
> > > John Knowles, the resident computer guru, has also resigned.
> > > The Nazi strategy with the old HOF building worked -- there was
not
> a
> > > word about it on any local TV or radio station, and only an odd,
> lop-sided
> > > story in the Tennessean. One day it was there -- the next gone.
> > > "Disappeared" is the term used by the Argentina hit squards.
> > > So -- Happy New Year from Nashville, the town that used to be
> Music
> > > City.
> > >
> > > Charles Wolfe >>
> > >
> >
>

------------------
Janice "Busgal" Brooks
ICQ 44729047

Earnest Bovine · From: Los Angeles CA USA

Come mothers and fathers throughout the land
And don't criticize what you don't understand
Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one if you can't lend a hand
For the that old hillbilly crap is dead!!!
And HIP-HOP RULES!!!!!!

Greg Simmons · From: where the buffalo (used to) roam AND the Mojave

I always wondered what Zimmie was mumbling at that part of the verse...

------------------
Greg Simmons
Custodian of the Official Sho~Bud Pedal Steel Guitar Website
shobud.cjb.net

Al Johnson · From: Sturgeon Bay, WI USA

Thanks for the info, Janice. My wife and I went through the Hall of Fame in 1998. And we were both just thrilled it was some wonderful with the clothes and guitar displays. Bob Pinson showed me through the basement area of offices and storage cabinets for records and etc. The present young bosses in Nashville will soon be bulldozing the older stars who spent most of their lives promoting and enriching Country Music. Have they knocked over the Ernest Tubb Record Shop on Broadway yet? Relly a Mecca. Life goes on-or does it?
Again, thank you for the bad news. As Hawkshaw Hawkins sang "Bad News Travels Fast in Our Town." Al What do you think of the New Hall of Fame?

Joe Casey · From: Weeki Wachee .Springs FL (population.9)

I guess you call it progress folks.They now want only one reference when you mention Hall Of Fame and that is to the new one. The mere fact they added faron last year makes it Legit to me...However they should have just added on to the new one. How much room does one need to hang a plaque? I guess it's the 15.00 they get per person. I am content to have visited the original.

------------------
CJC

[This message was edited by Joe Casey on 08 January 2002 at 12:11 PM.]

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

I guess I would have never thought I was fortunate to have gone thru the Hall of Fame back around 72 or 73..I suppose the new Hall of Fame probably will have a tiny little photo of Hank and the entire Video library of Garth , all playing at the same time. I do remember walking thru for the first time and there was a sort of Hallway with Instruments used in recording sessions, there was an old Sho-Bud up there,probably a finger tip guitar, did they Bull Doze that as well?
I guess this whole deal is another in the "Oh Well" Catagory...
TP

Bill Crook · From: Goodlettsville, TN , Spending my kid's inheritance

Personally, I wouldn't go to the new HOF if they let me in free.....

It has nothing to do with Country music, only how they can part you and your money.

I'm ashamed of "Nashville" and it's demise of "Country Music".

WSM's change of format, The "Opry" change to big "Vagas and New York" style of venues. At a cost of $62.00 to $125.00 per head, I will not be seen out there. I really wanted to take the wife to see the "Rockettes" out there,but I could not afford the $62.00 plus per ticket for the event. At $120.00, plus high parkin' cost, a meal that would cost upwards of $100.00 for the two of us, It's obvious that "Gaylord" and "Country Music" isn't in the same area.

Even the "Shopry-Mills" is a rip-off.

If Gaylord had lowered the cost of a ticket, "Opryland" would be 2nd only to "DisneyWorld" as a theme park.

Don't come to "Nashville" unless you are a "Sports Fan". The Music is dead !!

Steve Feldman · From: Central MA USA

Fiddlin Arthur Smith
Sam & Kirk McGee
Dr. Humphrey Bates & His Possum Hunters
Uncle Dave Macon
Delmore Brothers
Blue Sky Boys
etc.......

Who was it that said: "You gotta dance with the one that brung you"?

Gary Harris · From: Hendersonville, TN, USA

As a Nashville lad, I predict Gaylord will go bellyup sometime in the not to distant future. I as of yet I have not visited Oprymills and am in no hurry to do so. I wish, no I pray that some guy in Houston or elsewhere that loves country music will buy the Opry name and move it to some other part of the country when it comes up for sale. The late Roy Acuff was quoted as having said, "Us boys and girls don't have the money to buy the Opry". This was when American General put it up for sale the first time. Opry members could have financed it like the farmers finace co-ops. As for the Hall of Fame I viewed it from my car and may someday pay a visit. You never know the true strategy of a corperation like Gaylord. Are they telling the truth about their losses, you never know.

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