The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame celebrated a quarter century as the self-appointed, oft-suspect gatekeeper for canonical artists in the rock world (no Replacements, no Sonic Youth, no etcs. — no vote of confidence, RRHOF dudes) with a pair of concerts at Madison Square Garden this past Thursday and Friday. Never mind that the Hall is technically 26 according to its articles of incorporation; 25 is a prettier number for a party, and also for packaging the concert’s highlights for the pared down HBO telecast, airing 11/29. We linked you to footage from night one last week, with performances and collabs coming from John Fogerty, Crosby Stills & Nash, and the like. Now we have some bits from Night Two for you, with Mick Jagger joining U2 on “Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of,” and similar stage-sharing from Black Eyed Peas, Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, and on. Pair them with the pics and you almost don’t even need a subscription to HBO.

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In a strange and inspired season finale, host Will Ferrell led the entire cast plus Tom Hanks, Norm MacDonald, Maya Rudolph, Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, Anne Hathaway, Artie Lange, Elisabeth Moss, and Green Day in Billy Joel’s ’82 Vietnam War anthem. Watch at Videogum.

The band’s manager tells NME that while CYHSY have indeed abandoned plans to head into the studio, bloggers suggesting a permanent split are “probably reading a bit too much into things.” They are “unlikely to work together in the immediate future,” however, and the band members are busy with other projects: bassist Tyler Sargent and keyboardist Robbie Guertin have formed Uninhabitable Mansions, singer Alec Ounsworth is writing solo material, and drummer Sean Greenhalgh moonlights as Axl Rose. In any case, a February 13th gig at the Brooklyn Academy will be the last time you’ll see Clap You Hands for a while. At least until the new Tom Hanks movie is out.

We know you probably didn’t watch the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony last night. So here’s a quick run down of what you missed:

• Gamble & Huff, Little Walter, The Ventures, Leonard Cohen, Madonna, and John Mellencamp got inducted.
• Leonard Cohen was introduced by noted boxing blogger Lou Reed and covered by Damien Rice who, despite doing the world’s billionth “Hallelujah” cover in the vein of Jeff Buckley, was surprisingly moving.
• Justin Timberlake introduced Madonna in the speech of a thousand frat boy sex puns (“induct her … enter the hall“), talked about Madge’s many imitators (“and I may have even dated a couple”), and shared an anecdote of that time she gave JT a B-12 shot in the ass.
• Madonna gave an awesome speech about taking drugs with her closest confidants and working hard that made us love her a little bit more.
• The Stooges Iggy Pop covered “Burning Up” and “Ray Of Light” in tuxedo. (Just kidding he was only wearing jeans obvs.) Also Mike Watt was wearing a fantastic mustache.
• Billy Joel did a good job introducing John Mellencamp, and people in the heartland learned for the first time last night Billy is “Jewish, not Italian.”
• John Mellencamp is the most boring man alive. And his son is definitely better looking than you.

But as with all these things, there’s plenty that went down away from the film crew. For a little more detail on the shitshow, Stereogum sent ace photographer Kyle Dean Reinford to spend the night in the Waldorf-Astoria press room, taking pictures of the inductees and the many random celebrities in attendance (Ed Burns and Christie Turlington?). Here’s his report of what you didn’t see or hear on TV…

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Good news, gang: now the list of people you didn’t give a shit about getting into the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame has a slightly less give-a-shittable list of people inducting them! Madonna will be honored by the legendary Mickey Mousekateer/actress/box-fucker Justin Timberlake; the Dave Clark Five will be inducted by iconic rock expert Tom Hanks; John Mellencamp will receive his due from Shea Stadium’s very own Billy Joel; and Leonard Cohen will receive his honors from Lou Reed (ok, that’s cool). Also don’t forget Jerry Butler inducting Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff (but really, how could you?), the Ventures getting made by John Fogerty, and Little Walter getting done by Ben Harper (who, in his defense, isn’t Jack Johnson). You can’t plan for this kind of excitement, although apparently the R&RHOF did, and they have it set up as always at the Waldorf-Astoria this March 10th. So far the performer list includes only John Mellencamp and the Ventures, but brace yourself for a montage-and-superjam sorta night.

As mentioned a couple of months ago, filming for the forthcoming Hanks/Malkovich flick The Great Buck Howard, in which Clap Your Hands Say Yeah play an indie rock band called Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, is well under way. And even if you aren’t into the Clap, detest the Hanks, or couldn’t care less about being John Malkvoich … you gotta admit, this pic is surreal. You can barely see Alec. There’s John. And of course Colin Hanks, looking embarrassed. Or trying to look cool.

So let’s play “read Tom’s mind” (to make it easier on ya, we added thought bubbles and everything.) We’ll get you started with a few possibilities:

1. “Grab your Hanks, say what?”
2. “Eat your heart out, Peter Scolari.”
3. “I like turtles.”

Your turn.

LES lovers, your Clap Your Hands Say Yeah sightings will hit a little lull this weekend ’cause CYHSY are going to LA and are totally gonna be movie stars! See gang, along with rampant backlash, blog buzz buys you the passkey to Hollywood lots. Actually we don’t know exactly how prominent their roles will be (probably about as much as Rufus got in The Aviator — that is, performing on stage), but they ARE playing themselves (i.e. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah) in the forthcoming major motion picture The Great Buck Howard, for which they wrote new songs. And, they get to meet Emily Blunt. Nice work, laddies.

Along with Ms. Blunt, the Clap will be sharing craft services with John Malkovich, Tom Hanks and son Colin. Proper photos from the set to come, but for now here’s our pictorial interpretation.