by Julian Spivey
The term and concept of hall of fame is something that’s become somewhat of a joke over the last few years – whether it’s a hall of fame for sports or entertainment purposes.
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It doesn’t seem like there are any hall of fames out there that are 100 percent pure in their hallowed halls. The professional baseball hall of fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. is pretty close because the baseball writers take their job very seriously, but at the same time as long as all-time greats like Pete Rose and “Shoeless Joe” Jackson are banned and the writers decide to punish almost certainly clean players like Craig Biggio just because they were unlucky enough to have played in the game’s “steroid era” it will remain somewhat tainted. If the writers one day determine they should let in players who they know used steroids then it will become completely tainted. I hope that day never comes.

The professional basketball hall of fame in Springfield, Mass. will never be 100 percent pure, because they decided a long time ago that they’d basically let anybody who was ever good in the game into the hall. The professional football hall of fame in Canton, Ohio could never be 100 percent pure because of the unusual biases held by those who induct players, such as wide receivers seemingly not being of the same caliber as other players. That one has never made much sense to me.

Hall of fames in the entertainment world often seem even less pure than those of the sports world. I think the main reason for this is that in sports you often have particular numbers or accolades that are almost automatic qualifiers for the hall of fame. If you’re a baseball player and you had 3,000 career hits without the aid of performance enhancing drugs than you’re a hall of famer. If you’re a quarterback and you win multiple Super Bowls then you’re usually a hall of famer. But, this isn’t the case for entertainment hall of fames. Entertainment hall of fames are typically much more subjective than their sports counterparts.

The biggest example of an entertainment hall of fame being impure is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. It wasn’t always this way, but has become so over the last decade or so with the inductions of people like Michael Jackson, Madonna and other pop and even hip hop acts. If you’re going to have a hall of fame called the Pop Music Hall of Fame or Music Hall of Fame all of these acts would certainly be welcomed because there’s no doubt they have all played a huge role in pop music, but this particular hall of fame is called the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and really should consist of just rock acts.

There is one entertainment hall of fame that is seemingly still pure and looks to be that way for at least a little while longer. That hall of fame is the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, which I recently had the great pleasure of visiting after wanting to for quite some time. The actual genre of country music today is far from pure – in fact almost nothing you hear on country radio actually sounds like country music these days – but the hall of fame representing the genre hasn’t been corrupted yet, and likely won’t until the likes of Taylor Swift and company are eligible for induction many, many years from now.

Sure, you could argue that the Country Music Hall of Fame is just as impure as other hall of fames because you could say there are certain inductees that don’t belong. Some would say that 2012 inductee Garth Brooks doesn’t belong because they blame him for ushering in pop music to country music, but I don’t agree with those people and don’t even understand why they believe Garth lead to Taylor and the like. I don’t even really agree with every single inductee in the Country Music Hall of Fame. I wouldn’t have inducted 2009 inductee Barbara Mandrell personally, but I do believe that’s me being a little nitpicky and I won’t really argue with her induction.

When you go to the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville you’re tour begins on the third floor of the massive building with a basic timeline of the country music genre from its roots in folk and Appalachian Mountain music all the way to today with artifacts from everybody like Jimmie Rodgers, the first true country music star, to the stars of today. The tour ends on the floor below with a wonderful rotunda room filled with plaques of all of the country legends – Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Loretta Lynn and on and on.

As you’re walking around the circle of legendary faces – and you’re so enamored by the history and greatness that you’re looking at that you don’t even realize you’re walking in a big circle – you notice that there aren’t any impurities. There’s no Madonna plaque in the same room as a Bob Dylan plaque. At the Country Music Hall of Fame everybody belongs.

It won’t always be this way. Someday in the future there will be a puke-inducing Taylor Swift hall of fame plaque near the Hank Williams plaque. That same day there will be many who attend the Country Music Hall of Fame who don’t even know who Hank Williams is. That will be a sad day, but that day is still a long way off.

Enjoy the purity of the Country Music Hall of Fame while you can. It may be the closest hall of fame to being 100 percent pure in the country.

Also, if you do plan on visiting the Country Music Hall of Fame I highly suggest doing it before the end of the year so you can see their wonderful Bakersfield Sound exhibit featuring the great music of Merle Haggard and Buck Owens. It’s definitely a can’t miss.   

by Julian Spivey
I just realized it's been 10 years since one of the saddest moments of my life. I used to listen to Johnny Cash all of the time in my bedroom. I'd sit there for hours listening and singing along (I probably annoyed the hell out of my family) to "Folsom Prison Blues," "Ring of Fire," "Hey Porter," "Sunday Morning Coming Down" and on and on. I'm shocked my "Essential Johnny Cash" CD still plays I played it so much. I consumed all the Cash I could. I bought and read his autobiography, still one of my favorite books. I was really digging his newest release from that year "Hurt" from his terrific album "American Recordings IV: The Man Comes Around."

Riding into school that morning 10 years ago (I was 16) listening to the local country music radio station as I always did the DJ announced the horrible news that Johnny Cash had died overnight. I cried. I didn't want to go to school. I had just heard the news that my hero had died.

I can't believe it's already been 10 years since that day. Johnny Cash is still my hero. One of many heroes. He always will be. Johnny Cash should be everybody's hero, because he stood for so many things that are good and stood for so many people who couldn't stand up for themselves.

I had the great pleasure of visiting the newly opened Johnny Cash Museum when I was in Nashville last week and I was awestruck and enamored by all the Cash artifacts that I got to see. I highly recommend it to everybody that considers themselves to be a Johnny Cash fan – and if you’re not a Johnny Cash fan why the Hell are you not?

The Man in Black is one of the most badass humans to ever walk this earth bar none. There will never be another like him.