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Anyone watch the U.K. Music Hall Of Fame ceremony on VH1 last night? I did, and I thought it was great! I especially liked the format (at least the televised format). There was a good, dependable pattern of host, presenter, clip of footage and accolades, acceptance speech, and (with a few exceptions) a performance by either the honored artist or another, more modern musician. The inductees were The Eurythmics, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, The Kinks, The Who, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne, and of course my favorite, Jimi Hendrix. Not a bad induction class at all.

Performance highlights included The Eurythmics (Annie Lennox is just outstanding!); Leela James and Jamie Cullum doing Aretha Franklin's "Think" complete with a church choir; Alanis Morrisette bravely handling Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues"; Billy Cox, Mitch Mitchell, (I think) Steve Winwood and guitar master Slash honoring Jimi Hendrix with his first ever single "Hey Joe"; and, best of all, a thundering version of "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath.

The video clips for each performer were outstanding, with various musicians telling their memories of the inductees and what made them so great, combined with live footage clips of some of the artists' greatest hits. It's nice to honor these folks, but it's even nicer to get a glimpse of why they're being honored in the first place.

Perhaps the most touching moment came during Ozzy and Black Sabbath's acceptance speech. With all members of the band on stage, Ozzy thanked them for the good times and said that without them, he wouldn't be up there. He then said that there wasn't Ozzy Osbourne AND Black Sabbath, but simply "We are Black Sabbath." Very nice of ya, Ozzy!

I really enjoyed the entire program. It only lasted two hours, and got right to the point without any long speeches and only one performance per honoree. Now that I think of it, maybe the performances for The Who and Pink Floyd were cut from the televised version. Even so, it was still a good thing to watch and a good example of how all award ceremonies should be.