I’m not a big fan of awards shows. I know some people just love them, but I mostly just find them tedious. Awards shows are about the only thing that makes me wish my TV had picture-in-picture. With that one feature I could have kicked back and watched a movie or played a game on the Xbox and just kept an eye on the ceremony until Dave was up.
That being said, it’s good to see Dave get so much recognition for his work. Honestly, I had fully expected that he might pick up an award or two, but I did not expect Memphis to get ‘Best Musical’! (I was sure that Fela! or American Idiot was going to nab that spot–they were both major critics’ darlings. Especially American Idiot, which was based a pretty good album that was also a critical darling.) But sometimes it’s nice to be surprised.
This also vindicates Dave’s songwriting and composing skills. Richie and Jon may have been the members of the band that were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame–but I’d argue that Dave is at least their equal, especially when it comes to the musical composition. (Personally, I’d actually say that he’s better than Jon when it comes right down to it.)
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Yeah, I love it too that his songwriting/composing skills have been vindicated as you say. He is the only band member with intense musical training in his youth–after all, he is the son of a musician and he was accepted into Juilliard. He was also the only one from the WWWB documentary that said he was “semi-bothered” with the lack of democracy in band with Jon running the whole show. Even Jon in the documentary gave kudos to Dave and said that he had “less than nothing” to do with the composing Dave was doing for the theater. It has always been Jon and Richie who get together to compose–maybe they should include Dave more often.
The door to the theater has definitely been opened for him and this aspect of his career will last far beyond the tours remaining for Bon Jovi.