Petition Melanie Into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Does anybody remember flower child singer-songwriter Melanie Safka? Well, she's ailing, and what's more she certainly reserves the recognition of being voted into the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Of course, I was never a flower child, a bit too young for that, so I became it's oppositite, a punk ruffian with a heart of mush, but I loved Melanie. I mean, I loved her! Bought her albums, her 8-tracks tapes, listened to her in a continuous loop while painting my grandmother's house, while rolling down the highway in my '76 Camaro, while creeping down the highway during a massive fifteen inch snowstorm at two o'clock in the morning from Hobart to Valparaiso, Indiana, so much so that certain songs always dredge up their seminal memories.

And yes, she is thoroughly represented on Radio Scenewash, amidst all the harsh sounds of today, there is Melanie belting out her anthems in the midst of cresendo and chaos, edging all of us towards the softer side of the cold shoulder life often reveals.

An icon of the times, Melanie epitomized the flower child persona sitting squat handling her acoustic guitar and mesmerizing the crowd with her riveting, sweet, ironic, textured, and often silly, lyrics and vocals.

She is known professionally only as Melanie.

She performed at the first Earth Day way back in 1980.

I tried to bring her to DC back in the early 1990s for the Earth Day celebration here, but after tracking her through her agency, and getting initial encouragement from the DC government, I soon ran into the hard wall of agenda politics, and I finally gave up as time ran out to call on a star.

But, here I am today, after hearing of this petition, beseeching those of you who know and appreciate this charming artist's work, as well as those who might wish to check her out at:

http://www.myspace.com/melaniesafkamusic
http://www.melaniesmusic.com/

to also sign this petition:

http://www.petitiononline.com/mssrrhof/petition.html

to help bring proper notice to this very worthy artist.

Long live rock and roll,

Gabriel Thy
aka Fatz Bullwinkle
Radio Scenewash