With the Second Annual RTH Foyer of Fame’s Partial Lifetime Achievement Award and Chili Cookoff on the horizon (stay tuned for the announcement of a mid-March date!), The Back Office recently received an interesting letter from semi-legendary ’70s rocker Rick Derringer. It turns out music business friends of Rick had been asking him when he was going to get consideration for our partial lifetime achievement award. Rick was unaware of the Foyer of Fame, but after a few minutes of investigation and consultation with an old friend and Foyer inductee, he came to the conclusion that this was an honor suited for his diverse talents and oddly influential career. Following the jump, we share Mr. Derringer’s letter. Although the Foyer cannot promise any last-minute adjustments to this journeyman-packed event, we will take his plea into consideration.
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Eddie Money inducts Steve Miller

Following is a transcript of Eddie Money’s induction speech for Steve Miller.

In three simple, self-referential steps, Steve Miller‘s early promise as a riff-heavy, Chuck Berry-quoting, San Francisco hippie cum Chicago blues-rocker would descend into pleasant, critical irrelevance.

The promise and partial lifetime achievement of Steve Miller that we celebrate with his entry into the Rock Town Hall Rock and Roll Foyer of Fame were established by “Living in the U.S.A.”, that bluesy, groovy tune with the danceable rebel charm of early Sly and the Family Stone hits. Other early recordings of note would include “Gangster of Love”; “Space Cowboy”, which refers back to his first single and tipped his hand as an incurable craftsman of no particular point of view; and “My Dark Hour”, which the studio-savvy Miller (whose godfather was Les Paul) cut on the fly one night with only Paul McCartney on drums, bass, backing vocals! Miller’s start was the stuff of cult worship and overpaying for used copies of hard-to-find albums!
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