>>You should really get this set. I have been wearing it out. There is not a bad performance anywhere. Normally I distrust these ceremonial things but this one hits it out of the park. Unsurprisingly, the one who grabs me the most is my long standing idol Bruce Springsteen. In many of his appearances in the show he is practically a sideman. Some sideman. I don't think anyone has ever more epitomized the power and passion of rock and roll. (Line stolen from Robert Hilburn of the LA Times when Bruce was young). Just try to watch him with Sam Moore or John Fogerty and not feel it. He and Fogerty sing "Pretty Woman", Bruce saying we can't sing like Roy Orbison but we'll give it a shot.
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>>Oddly enough, Bruce was the one who introduced Roy into the HOF.
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>>The same year, Orbison was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and initiated into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Bruce Springsteen, who concluded his speech with a reference to his own song "Thunder Road": "I wanted a record with words like Bob Dylan that sounded like Phil Spector — but, most of all, I wanted to sing like Roy Orbison. Now everyone knows that no one sings like Roy Orbison."[67] In response, Orbison asked Springsteen for a copy of the speech, and said of his induction that he felt "validated" by the honor.[67] A few months later, Orbison and Springsteen paired again to film a concert at the Coconut Grove Ballroom in Los Angeles. They were joined by Jackson Browne, T-Bone Burnett, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, Bonnie Raitt, Jennifer Warnes, and k. d. lang. lang later recounted how humbled Orbison had been by the show of support from so many talented and busy musicians: "Roy looked at all of us and said, 'If there is anything I can ever do for you, please call on me.' He was very serious. It was his way of thanking us. It was very emotional."[68] The concert was filmed in one take and aired on Cinemax under the title Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night; it was released on video by Virgin Records, selling 50,000 copies.[69]
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>I saw Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night on PBS - it was great.

Absolutely. My two favorite things are James Burton on guitar (he played guitar for Elvis and Gram Parsons as well as Roy) and the chorus in the back corner -- Bonnie Raitt, Jennifer Warnes, and k.d. lang. Not a bad chorus. They were shaking their booties and having fun. You could tell they were happy to be there, as tribute.

I remember hearing when he died. A coworker and I were on the highway from a client in Edmonton to Calgary when it was announced on the radio news. He was a pretty young guy, early 50s.