Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominating Committtee member Dave Marsh isn't happy with the 2008 inductions of The Ventures and Leonard Cohen.

"I realized a long time ago part of the deal with this process is that there are some people who need to be in who I'd rather have my fingernails pulled out than listen to," Marsh said. "Like the Grateful Dead (who were inducted in 1994). But at some level, it's about fame, too. And none of that justifies the Ventures and Leonard Cohen. None of it. The problem is, you've got a bunch of people who know a lot about music on the (nominating) committee, but then you have a lot of people doing the voting who don't."

Why shouldn't the Ventures, who hit with "Walk, Don't Run" in 1966, be in? "Great guys, but an instrumental group built around guitars, not a rock group," Marsh said.

Oddly, Marsh blames the 600+ member voting committee as the root of the problem, when in fact the Nominating Committee continues to increase its power over the process by limiting the number of names on the ballot, then dictating a set amount of inductees from the limited choices. Much more on Marsh over at Tom Lane's Music Blog.

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In a long article about Madonna's career at Cleveland.com, Rock Hall Foundation president emeritus, Seymour Stein gushes over Madonna.

Madonna has "a true rock 'n' roll spirit," Stein says.

"She takes chances. She doesn't care about the odds. She cares about whether she believes in something or not.

"Believe it or not, Madonna is one of the easiest artists I ever worked with, because she knew what she wanted. And she was almost always right, too."

Reuters has an interview with Stein too.