Our own "ring of honor"? Let's start with a name....

My blog post about the current R&R Hall of Fame nominees led to a passionate and fascinating discussion -- and an idea.

We should start our own "institution" to honor deserving artists who are not in the official Hall.  A place to tip our caps to the likes of Cheap Trick, Motorhead, the New York Dolls and the MC5 (to name but a very few).

And so we will.

Here's how it will work:

1. We develop a master list of 50 or so artists worth considering (all who have at least 25 years recording experience and are not enshrined in Cleveland)

2. We hold voting to whittle that list down to 10 finalists for this year

3. We have a period of debate and discussion on the finalists

4. We hold voting to name this year's 5 inductees.

You guys will be part of every step, but let's begin at the beginning:  we need a name for this thing.

My preference would be that it would NOT include the phrase "Hall of Fame".  First, because I don't want this to become a "protest" kinda thing or an opportunity to bash the people in Cleveland.  That's boring and overdone, and it runs counter to our positive vibe.   Second, because it's not creative.  Let's get really creative with this and come up with a cool, badass name.

Maybe something from a song title or lyric, or a band name?  Maybe something strange and mystical?  I leave it in your hands.

So, on this thread, let's talk ONLY about what to call this thing.  We'll have new threads for each new step in the process.

And, again, let's keep this positive -- it's OUR thing, not just a reaction to the Official Hall.  If this process just becomes an exercise in bashing the RRHOF and the people who run it, it will become a tedious drag very quickly.   From here on out, it's about us, not them. (And, as it turned out when I was researching school music programs, they do some very cool things to get rock and roll into the schools.  Flawed as their nominating process may be, there are lots of really dedicated people who love music attached to that place and they deserve a break from constant bashing.)

So then, let's hear the names!