New name for the MN music hall of fame

By Jon Bream, Star Tribune

Last update: April 25, 2008 - 12:48 PM

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MID-AMERICA MUSIC HALL OF FAME INDUCTION

When: 6 p.m. Fri. and 1 p.m. Sat.

Where: Medina Entertainment Center, 500 Hwy. 55, Medina.

Tickets: $37 for two days or $20 for Fri., $22 for Sat., 763-478-6661.

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Doug Spartz's fledgling Minnesota Rock Country Hall of Fame is getting a new name. When the fifth class is inducted next weekend, the honorees will enter the Mid-America Music Hall of Fame.

"We decided 'Rock Country' didn't really fit the groups we're putting in this year, like the blues people and the Suicide Commandos, and we're opening it up to the jazz field," said publicist Cindy Hudson-Grant. Another organization, based in New Ulm, runs the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame.

Spartz, a singer/songwriter from Hackensack, Minn., created this hall of fame and thus far has inducted veterans of the Minnesota ballroom and nightclub circuits as well as 1950s and '60s hitmakers. This year's honorees were nominated by about 60 voters -- club owners, ex-record execs, musicians and hall members -- solicited by Spartz. He and Hudson-Grant will be meeting with a St. Paul concern that wants to put up a Mid-America Music Hall of Fame display. Meanwhile, there is the hall's website, rockcountryhall.com.

The inductions will take place Friday and Saturday at the Medina Entertainment Center.

Friday's honorees include Arne Fogel, Peter Lang, Peter Steinberg, Barry Thomas Goldberg, Gary Paulak, Dale Menten, Irv Williams, Ken Horst, Carole Martin and the late promoter/booking agent Dick Shapiro.

Saturday's inductees include Ipso Facto, Jeanne Arland Peterson and the Peterson Family, the KanDells, Mary Macgregor, Michael Johnson, Dr. Mambo's Combo featuring Margaret Cox, Melanie Rosales and Cynthia Johnson, Mike Glieden & the Rhythm Kings, Judd, Bob and Dale Strength, Lynn Anderson, Liz and Casey Anderson, the Chancellors, Whiskey River, Curtiss A, Keith Zeller, Jim Greenwell, Don Roberts Formanek, Jerry LeMire, Kenny Schossow and Jordan Gish.