Photos: Long Island Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame Celebrates Its 20th Anniversary

One dozen performances rocked the halls of the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame (LIMEHOF) which held a jam-packed two-day 20th anniversary holiday celebration party this past weekend at the organization’s Stony Brook Village museum location (at 97 Main Street, Stony Brook, NY).  See photos from the event.

The event, presented by Catholic Health, featured non-stop entertainment from bands and performers from across Long Island. The November 30th lineup included Casey Baron, Mark Newman, the Kerry Kearney Band, and the Stanton Anderson Band as well as a Q&A panel about the history of LIMEHOF. Performances on December 1st included The Om-en, Ernie & the Band, DMC with DJ Johnny Juice, comedian Paul Anthony, Firetog & Co., "American Idol” Christiaan Padavan and the original Gossip Band. In addition to the LIVE performances, the event featured holiday music, videos of LIMEHOF inductees, complimentary apple cider and cookies, and visits from Santa Claus on both days. Additionally, the sleigh from Twisted Sister’s Christmas Special was on display in the lobby.

“We wanted to have original Long Island acts,” said Jim Faith, Co-Founder of LIMEHOF. “One of our initiatives here is to nurture young bands and help them try to get to the next level. We’ve had every genre and every style artist come to our galas and support us and show the world that Long Island is a hotbed of music talent and our music history is pretty amazing, probably better than any state in the United States.” 

Since its founding in 2004, LIMEHOF has inducted over 130 musicians and entertainers from Long Island (throughout the counties of Nassau, Suffolk, Brooklyn, and Queens) in nearly every genre of music. In 2022 the organization opened an 8800 square foot brick-and-mortar home in Stony Brook Village. For its 20th anniversary, LIMEHOF threw an event with a wide range of diverse music genres, from classic rock to hip-hop. 

The main spotlight for the event was on LIMEHOF inductee and hip-hop legend Darryl “DMC” McDaniels (of Run-DMC) originally from Hollis, Queens, who had performed and visited several of LIMEHOF’s induction ceremony but was visiting the Hall of Fame building for the first time. He was so moved after touring it that he referred to it as “a sacred place”.

“This is crazy…it’s amazing,” McDaniels said. “This is very inspirational…. very historical, inspirational and motivating. It’s going to make me rock harder. People need to see this. This is very important. It’s hard for me to say anything about me… because I’m blown away… because I’m a fan. This music is the soundtrack to my life, across all the genres. That’s why this is important. All of this music and art in this museum is culture. It’s everybody’s culture coming together for an amazing gumbo… a great meal. Food not only for thought but for heart, mind, body and soul. It’s a sacred place.”

DMC then gave an “off-the-chart” performance starting with the first-ever live debut of his remixed version of Billy Joel’s classic, “You May Be Right,” that he produced with fellow LIMEHOF Inductee DJ Johnny Juice (Public Enemy). This was an homage tribute to Billy Joel.

“It got the reaction we wanted,” Juice said. “First of all, when you do a song like that, you have to give it respect. So, we approached it as an homage with respect. We didn’t just trample all over it. We kept the vibe of it and the musicianship. We got the exact vibe we wanted, and everybody seemed to enjoy it so that was great.” 

Afterword, DMC went on to perform his classic songs, “Christmas in Hollis,”, “Walk This Way,”, and “It’s Tricky”. He then performed-for the first time live- with Richard Barone (The Bongos) their new single “All Fall Down,” which is a collaboration between the two artists. As if this wasn’t enough, DMC’s son, Dson McDaniels, debuted his song, “Pray”, which he also wrote.  

“As Darryl DMC said, this place is sacred,” said LIMEHOF Chairman Ernie Canadeo. “We’re honoring so many Long Island musicians and entertainers, it’s a place that everyone can visit and learn about Long Island’s musical heritage and listen to live music by Long Island musicians. This two-day celebration has just been fabulous, seeing so many great artists and people getting together and celebrating our organization.”

For more information visit https://www.limusichalloffame.org/

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