And the 2013 Parnelli Award Winners Are…

LAS VEGAS — The 2013 Parnelli Awards had it all — humor (host Micky Dolenz busting on Toronto mayor Rob Ford), candor (Eric Pearce’s gratitude for his dad’s support), insight (Mark Engebretson on the fragility of new ideas) and poignancy (Mo Morrison’s “one-two punch” — noting how the news of his Parnelli Hall of Fame honor coincided with the obituary for his longtime friend Marshall Holmes).

There were astonishing moments —Rick “Parnelli” O’Brien’s daughters, Madeleine and Eve, reading the letters of remembrance that their mom, Kate, had saved and only just recently opened, and industry icon Patrick Stansfield, announcing plans for retirement. Together they beamed an aura of poise and competence, quelling any concerns about the fate of the industry as the torch gets passed up to those building ever higher on a secure foundation.

And former Parnelli honorees were also there to lend a hand, and poke fun at themselves, including 2012 Parnelli Lifetime Achievement honoree Charlie Hernandez, who came prepared with an even longer speech than the one he delivered last year, which was summarily ripped to shreds by 2009 Lifetime Achiever Jake Berry.

But the overriding theme for the 13th annual Parnelli Awards gala was exactly the same as for the previous 12 — to give the industry’s backstage heroes a moment in the spotlight. And the epitome of that came at the very end of the evening, as Jon Landau presented the 2013 Parnelli Lifetime Achievement Award to ever-humble Bruce Springsteen tour manager George Travis. Travis, to no one’s surprise, spent most of the time onstage trying to deflect the glory, praising the legions of regular guys (and gals) who have helped him manage all the “goop.”