In response to large crowds the past two years, the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame (RIMHOF) has expanded its third annual Hall of Fame ceremony and concerts to two days this year - Saturday, May 3 and Sunday, May 4 - at two different locations.
Formed in 2011, RIMHOF is a non-profit organization dedicated to honoring and preserving the legacy of Rhode Island musicians, educators and industry professionals who have made significant contributions to both the national and Rhode Island music scene.
The Hall of Fame’s nine 2014 inductees are: Tavares, Duke Robillard, Cheryl Wheeler, Paul Gonsalves, The Castaleers, The Mark II (Winston Cogswell and Ray Peterson), Freddie Scott, Francis Madeira and Randy Hien.
The 7 p.m. concert on May 3, featuring Tavares as well as a tribute to Freddie Scott led by Mac Odom and The Travis Colby Band, will take place at Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel, 79 Washington St., Providence.
Tickets for May 3 are $20 in advance and $25 at the door, $25 for balcony seating and $35 for Gold Circle seating near the stage.
The induction ceremony and concert is set for Sunday, May 4, at The MET and Hall of Fame space itself, both located within the Hope Artiste Village complex, 999 Main St., Pawtucket.
Sunday’s afternoon event will include the unveiling of all nine 2014 inductee exhibits, as well as performances by Cheryl Wheeler, Duke Robillard, the Mark II and a tribute to Paul Gonsalves led by world-renowned saxophonist Dan Moretti.
The 2 p.m. unveiling of the inductee exhibits is free and open to the public; a ticket will be required for entrance to the 3 p.m. concert in the MET. Tickets for the May 4 concert are $20 in advance and $25 at the door, and can be purchased at www.RhodeIslandMusicHallofFame.com.
The Hall of Fame’s inaugural inductees in 2012 were John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band, Roomful of Blues, Dave McKenna, Eileen Farrell, Oliver Shaw, Ken Lyon, Anders & Poncia, and Gerry Granahan. The 2013 inductees were
The Cowsills, Steve Smith & The Nakeds, Paul Geremia, Eddie Zack & The Hayloft Jamboree, Bobby Hackett, Jimmie Crane, Bill Flanagan, Sissieretta Jones and George M. Cohan.
At last year’s induction/concert event, the public saw nine displays unveiled honoring the inductees in the museum space located in the hallways of Hope Artiste Village.
This year’s induction ceremony will see nine more displays unveiled celebrating the 2014 inductees and bringing the total to 26 inductee exhibits in just three years. Eventually, the museum will hold more than 100 displays as well as assorted Rhode Island music history memorabilia and interactive components for visitors to enjoy.
All proceeds from RIMHOF’s annual induction events go toward creating the museum displays, acquiring recordings and memorabilia and digitizing that collection for permanent online access for future generations. All organizational work has been donated by members of the Board of Directors and a staff of volunteers.
In addition to the annual induction ceremony and the creation of museum displays, the group’s third major initiative is an online historical music archive featuring information and audio/video recordings by those involved in Rhode Island’s past and present music scene. The online archive will include not only the work of the inductees, but will be an ongoing project documenting and preserving the entire Rhode Island music scene with contributions from all genres and eras. The archive can be found at www.ripopmusic.org.
In March, the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame was named the state’s “Top Museum Worth Traveling For,” according to flipkey.com, a vacation-rental website that’s part of the travel site TripAdvisor. http://www.flipkey.com/blog/2014/03/17/50-states-series-top-museums-worth-traveling-for/ And the Hall of Fame was one of just two R.I. sites, along with Newport’s Fort Adams, featured in the 2013 Rock Atlas USA, a travel guide to more than 600 music destinations in the United States.

“As the organization grows,” chairman Robert Billington said, “the Hall of Fame will be committed to developing programs and services aimed at promoting and strengthening Rhode Island’s current and future music scene and ensuring that music continues to play an important role in the lives of all Rhode Islanders.”
Board member Russell Gusetti adds, “Two great examples of this are the Hall of Fame’s Tune In & Tune Up musician health awareness initiative and its Unity Concerts event, as well as a new program called ‘Playing for the PawSox,’ where local bands and artists get to perform outside of McCoy Stadium before PawSox home games. Both ideas have really seemed to grab the attention of Rhode Island’s music community.”