Ron Onesti: Rock 'n' Roll Heaven, Part 2

Editor's note: This is the final article in a two-part series on the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremonies.

Turn the rock 'n' roll clock back to Sept. 15, 1964, at The Public Hall in Cleveland. It was The Beatles' first of two appearances ever to occur in that city. More than 100 police officers could not hold the crowd from rushing the stage that day. It was so bad the concert was stopped and the band was ordered off stage.

The band eventually finished the show, but they had to exit using decoy riot buses. The group was banned from having another show in Cleveland by the mayor (They were ultimately allowed to return two years later for a huge outdoor concert in 1966, but once again, had the same result).

Fast forward 50½ years later, to April 18, 2015, back to Public Hall in Cleveland. The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame was celebrating its 30th anniversary induction ceremony, one of only three ever held in its hometown. Ringo was to be inducted for his contributions as an individual performer that night, so he and Paul McCartney returned to Public Hall for the first time since they were whisked away from the hordes of fainting girls that night in 1964.

And, by the will of God (there must have been SOME sort of divine intervention), I was there with them.

Some of the details of this experience were described in my column last week. It was as I put it, "A surreal rock 'n' roll fantasy night." There were a few "characters" I left out, so here ya go!

It started as in invite from Joan Jett, with whom I have worked before, and who was an inductee this year. My brother Rich joined me on this expedition and we were shocked to find the location of our seats upon our arrival … table No. four, right up front with Joan! There was some snafu with the seats, though. They did not account for Joan's band at the table, so we decided to stand the entire time, giving up our seats for the leather-clad rockers.

The table next to us was Ringo Starr's, who was also an inductee that night. But before even noticing him, my attention was directed to the man sitting across from him, "The Killer," Jerry Lee Lewis. He was there, not being bothered, just sitting with his wife. I approached him and he looked up and smiled. "It's an honor," I said to the Hall of Fame, ivory-bangin' piano player. I talked to him about a show I did years ago with Chuck Berry and Little Richard, two of his contemporaries. I told the story of how I had to figure out who was going to open the show and who was going to close the show that night, Chuck or Richard. "Well who do YOU think the King of rock 'n' roll is?" Little Richard had asked me.

"The only King of rock 'n' roll was Elvis," Jerry Lee said. "There is only one King, and only one Killer!"

As we were waiting for the festivities to begin, an entourage emerged from a side door and headed my way. Miley Cyrus, the outspoken teen idol gone wild, was there to induct Joan Jett into the Hall. I was sporting a platinum metallic jacket that turned a head or two that night (I mean, after all, this WAS a rock show!). Well, the jacket caught Miley's eye and stopped her in her tracks right next to me, and she said, "Cool jacket, man."

So I was able to speak to her; she even took a few pictures with me! How do you make small talk with Miley Cyrus? "My 10-year-old daughter loves you," I said. Now, that couldn't be further from the truth, but what was I SUPPOSE to say?

"Dude!" she blurted as she looked right into my eyes. "Don't let your daughter watch me! I am serious, don't let her watch me!" It became somewhat of an awkward moment. But I must say, for a while there, I really felt sorry for her. She had this strange look about her, just like those teenage girls in the scary movies that warn the others, "Don't go in there!"

As the guests were beginning to sit down, I noticed a seat open at Ringo's table. I sat for a moment and a gentleman with shoulder-length straight blonde hair turned in his chair, in my direction. "Holy smokes!" I thought. It was Joe Walsh from The Eagles. "Hey Joe," I so eloquently exclaimed. "Hey," he quietly replied.

In all the pictures and videos of past live performances of The Eagles I had seen in the past, Joe Walsh could have never been accused of being the most handsome Eagle on stage. But that night, he looked great! In a sleek, tieless black tux and black shirt, his tan and sense of serenity was very becoming of him.

"So are you guys (The Eagles) coming out this year," I asked. "Oh, yeah," he said. "We ain't stoppin' til we're droppin'," he said. "We got a bunch of dates in May. I am sure they will keep us robots rockin' as long as they can!" He was such a cool guy.

I got up to give my seat to another guest at Ringo's table, Yoko Ono! She was there with a dressed-down female caretaker, but she was spry and sweet. I literally bowed, hoping she took the gesture as a sign of respect and not a reference to her heritage!

After speaking a few moments with Yoko about John's 75th birthday this year, I shook the hand of Ringo's wife of thirty-five years, Barbara Bach, and moved to the other side of the table, near the stairs to the stage.

Bill Withers, the guy who wrote and sang a bunch of great songs including "Lean On Me," "Ain't No Sunshine" and "Lovely Day," was also getting inducted. As he was to go up to the stage for the induction, a blind gentleman also walked up the stairs with him and slightly bumped into me. "Sorry, I didn't see you," he said. Oh, by the way, that was Stevie Wonder who said that!

As I mentioned in my previous article, the night culminated with me standing in front of the stage, joined by Sir Paul himself, Paul McCartney! We volleyed "Aren't they great" comments back and forth much of the night, both of us referring to the musical performances of the ceremony. Yes, THIS was my once-in-a-lifetime BEATLES experience, with Yoko thrown in as a bonus!

I have told this story many times now. I have shamelessly shown countless individuals the pictures of these and other celebs I was rubbing my proverbial elbows with that night. It's all there, much of it my brother also captured on video. But I still can't believe it. What happened to me that night was truly unbelievable!

It really was like that movie "A Night at The Wax Museum." All of a sudden, these legendary icons came to life, all at once, and all right in front of me.

There are 753 people currently inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame. That night a few weeks ago, it felt like I met 700 of them personally! We were blessed, we were lucky and we were humbled.

Every time I hear John Lennon sing "Imagine all the people," I will remember that very special night. I really could not have ever "imagined" meeting all those people, but I can tell you, on that particular occasion, we were all brothers and sisters of rock 'n' roll - all fans to the X power.

When Joan Jett sang "I Love Rock And Roll," it was like being in a Baptist church on Sunday as we all raised our hands (and fists) to the heavens thanking God for the gift of OUR music.

• Ron Onesti is president and CEO of The Onesti Entertainment Corp. and The Historic Arcada Theatre in St. Charles. Celebrity questions and comments? Email ron@oshows.com.