This page contains answers to many commonly asked questions. If you don't find the answer to your question here, please contact us and we will do our best to provide an answer.
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Mission Statement
Breaking News
Links to our Facebook page and the Vigo County Community Calendar
About Us
History of the Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame Board of Directors & Staff
List of inductees
Inductee musical biographies
Overview of the Band of Angels
Information on the Hall of Fame's involvement in the community
Induction Into The Hall
Overview of the induction process
Instructions on completing a questionnaire
Link to the questionnaire form
Photo Galleries
Overview of the photo galleries
Links to the photo galleries
News & Notes
News about Hall of Fame activities
Links to archives of prior year News & Notes
Frequently Asked Question
List of frequently asked questions and their answers
Contact Us
Instructions on how to contact us
Complete a questionnaire. This helps us get to know you and learn
about your musical career. The number of applicants has grown so
large that the job of verifying eligibility is nearly impossible
without a questionnaire. Click the Induction link at the top of
the page, then find and click the link to the questionnaire.
This page also contains instructions on how to fill out the form and
how to send it to us. We cannot
consider anyone for induction without a completed questionnaire.
You can fill out a questionnaire for yourself, or if you know of a
deserving musician, you can fill one out on their behalf.
Please be sure to complete all fields on the form. The
more information and the better the quality of the information, the
quicker we can determine your eligibility and get you in line to be
inducted, so don't take shortcuts in filling out the form. A
common mistake is to leave a field blank. Another is to provide
inadequate information, such as "Play guitar and other instruments" or
"Play country and other styles" or "Played in many area bands".
Here's a good way to list the bands you've been in: "Band A (1970-75),
Band B (1975-76), Band C (1980-83), performed as a solo act (1985-90)",
etc.
The minimum requirements for induction are: (1) the musician must be
at least 40 years old, (2) the musician must have performed for at
least 20 years, and (3) the musician must have spent a portion of
their career performing in the area covered by the Hall of Fame.
Please note: these are the minimum requirements and meeting them
does not guarantee induction. The Board also considers the
candidate's career and accomplishments. This is why it is
important to include as much information as possible on the form.
We keep all questionnaires. Your information is stored
in a database and will be reviewed each year until you are selected to
a specific induction class. There is no need to send another
questionnaire unless you need to share updated information.
With some rare exceptions, only living musicians are inducted
into the Hall of Fame (HOF). Upon their death, inductees
automatically become members of the Band of Angels (BOA), which was
created to honor Wabash Valley musicians who have passed away.
However, there are many other worthy musicians who, for various
reasons, were not inducted before they passed away. Perhaps
they passed before the age of 40, or had not performed for 20 years,
or had never applied for membership in the HOF, etc. The Hall
honors these musicians by including them in the BOA.
If you know of a musician who has passed away and was not a Hall of
Fame inductee, please let us know. See the Contact Us page for
contact information. When you do so, be prepared to offer verification
that the nominee has played for at least 15 years. If possible,
we would like to have a copy of their obituary and a picture for posting
on our web site.
There are many possible answers, but here are some common ones:
We must have a questionnaire before we can start the
induction process. There are those who feel that the Hall should
know them well enough that a questionnaire is not needed. This
is not the case. The Wabash Valley has thousands of musicians for
the Board to consider, and they consider more than just whether the
musician is 40 years old with 20 years experience. This would be
a nearly impossible job without questionnaires.
If you haven't submitted a questionnaire for yourself, please do so.
If your favorite musician hasn't filled one out, encourage them to do
so, or fill one out for them.
Even after we receive a questionnaire, the musician is not eligible for
induction until their qualifications have been verified and they are
placed in the Candidate Pool. The two most common problems in the
the investigation process are: 1) The questionnaire doesn't contain
enough information, or 2) Contact information is either missing or
incorrect. If we can't verify the information on the questionnaire,
it will be put "on hold" until this happens.
If your telephone number or email address changes after we receive your
questionnaire, please contact us and give us your updated information.
There is a misconception that the Hall immediately admits all veteran
musicians as soon as they turn 40 years old. While this honor has
been extended to a few musicians due to the strength of their career
and accomplishments, it won't happen to most candidates. With at
least 100 nominations for the 15-18 spots available each year, few
people make the cut on their first try. Just because someone
doesn't gain admission immediately does not mean that they are not worthy.
If you know of a deserving musician that has not yet been inducted,
we encourage you to speak to us on their behalf. There's
nothing wrong with lobbying for your favorite person, as long as it
is done in a constructive manner.
There is an old saying which states that if no one is happy, we must have
done the job right! While this is meant as a joke, please realize
that no matter who does the selection or what musicians are selected,
someone will be unhappy. We realize that we occasionally make
mistakes, as would anyone else who tries to do this job, but we do the
best that we can and we continually strive to improve the process.
All pictures on this web site came from donations. Unfortunately,
this means that we do not have pictures of many of our inductees or
members of the Band of Angels. It also means that there are many
local musicians and bands that are not represented on our site.
If you have photos of inductees, Band of Angels members, local musicians
or bands that we can post, would you please share a copy? If possible,
put the photo into an electronic format, attach it to an email and send it
to us. See the Contact Us page. Be sure to let us know who is
in the photo and what year it was taken. If you cannot put the photo
into an electronic format, either make a copy and mail it to us, or email or
call us to discuss how we can obtain a copy.
The photo gallery page for each induction year contains a list of the musicians inducted that year. The Band of Angels photo gallery page contains a list of the members of the Band of Angels. Also, there is a link to a full list of inductees on the About Us/Hall of Fame Inductees page.
We will announce Hall of Fame events on this web site at least a month in advance, whenever possible. We will also post an announcement on our Facebook page. If you Like our Facebook page, you will receive these notices automatically.
In the early days of the Hall of Fame, audiences and the number of
musicians wanting to perform were small, so there was seldom a problem
giving every musician a chance to perform. However, audiences and
the number of musicians wanting to perform have grown dramatically.
The induction ceremony is a busy event. There must be time for the
meal, the induction ceremony, and various announcements and drawings.
Since the ceremony is about our inductees, the jam session is for them
first. Of course, supporting musicians will be needed, and if there
is time once all inductees have played, the stage will be opened to all
musicians. However, it is likely that we won't be able to get
every musician on stage.
We ask for your understanding on this matter. We would also like
to offer a suggestion to musicians who would like to perform: join us at
the annual Picnic and Jam. We have nearly twice the time at the
picnic for musicians to perform, so we can accommodate a lot more people.
There are many ways to contact us - telephone call, texts, email,
Facebook posts, letters, in person, etc. In most cases, any of
these methods will work for comments and suggestions. However,
if you have a complaint, please call or talk to us in person.
Most issues require some dialog so that we can get clarification or
additional information before we offer an explanation. This can
be difficult to do using texts, email, Facebook, letters, etc.
If you don't give us a way to communicate with you, our options for
resolving your issue are limited.
Please realize that the Board serves for free. We donate both
time and money to the Hall of Fame. We work 12 hour days for
events like the induction ceremony, and pay for our tickets like
everyone else. We loan our equipment for the events held by
the Hall of Fame. It's hard work with the only reward being
the joy of seeing our fellow musicians recognized.
We realize that we make mistakes, and that even the things we think
we've done right will not please everyone. If you have a
complaint, we would be happy to discuss it with you. However,
if you honestly think you have identified a problem that needs to be
fixed, then be willing to take the next step and be involved in the
solution. Finding a fair and practical solution to a problem
is seldom easy, so offer your ideas, offer constructive advice, and
offer your time and assistance.
You don't have to be on the Board, or even a member of the Hall, to
help out. The activities that we put on are a lot of work.
For the most part, the Board and their spouses have done all of the
work, but we would gladly welcome anyone who would like to assist
us. Please consider volunteering to help work these events.
We especially invite Hall of Fame inductees to become involved.
This is YOUR Hall of Fame, you are a member. Along with the
honor of being inducted comes a responsibility to support the
organization you joined. The Hall is committed to giving back
to the Wabash Valley, and we invite our members to help us do this.
A great way to do this is to attend and participate in our
functions. Not only does this help to make our events a
success, but your purchase of raffle tickets, silent auction items
and memorabilia helps to fund our charitable goals.
If you are interested in volunteering, visit the Contact Us page for
information on how to let us of your interest.