“I challenge anyone to find a place anywhere in the world that has created as much music and entertainment talent in as many genres as Long Island. It does not exist,” said Ernie Canadeo, the president of the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame.
That sentiment was the impetus for creating this organization in 2004 by founding members Norm Prusslin, a faculty member and administrator at Stony Brook University, editorial writer Richard L’Hommedieu, and concert promoter and producer Jim Faith. Induction ceremonies and galas were held at venues on Long Island starting in 2006 but came to a sudden halt when COVID hit.
In 2022, Gloria Rocchio, president of Ward Melville Heritage Organization, contacted Canadeo and offered LIMEHOF a permanent home at the Ward Melville Educational and Cultural Center in Stony Brook Village with the request that it open by the holiday season. The lease was signed in June and Canadeo and the board raised the funds necessary to renovate and build-out the museum thanks to corporate sponsors such as Catholic Health, PSEG and many others. The museum was completed by Thanksgiving weekend and their grand opening was held on November 25, 2022.
Acclaimed exhibition designer and educator at the School of Visual Arts and LIMEHOF board member Kevin O’Callaghan serves as the lead creative designer for LIMEHOF’s exhibits and was at the helm for their first exhibition titled Long Island’s Legendary Club Scene1960s-1980s. Accompanying the exhibition was a newly created surround sound theater and a Hall of Fame room. He has created all the museum’s exhibitions to date.
When Billy Joel: My Life opened in November 2023, Joel looked around in awe and said, “I guess I really had a life.” That popular exhibition ran for two years.
“We were named one of the top 10 hall of fames to visit in the US by the Grammy Awards,” Canadeo said. New York State Tourism’s “I love New York recognized us as one of the top places to visit on Long Island. We’ve been covered in dozens of major newspapers and magazines although we’ve only been open a few years. The response has been incredible.”
How could they match the success of the Billy Joel exhibit? Canadeo said, “I reached out to Ray Romano’s manager Rory Rosegarten and invited him to the Hall of Fame to see the Billy Joel exhibit and he was blown away. As it happened, last summer Everybody Loves Raymond was celebrating its 30th anniversary with an exhibit at the Paley Center in New York City and CBS TV was going to shoot a 30th anniversary special of the show and recreate the original set by the original designers and builders. I negotiated to obtain the entire set, as well as items from the recent Paley Center exhibition. Kevin attended the television shoot in Hollywood and we were able to get the set broken down and shipped to us. We rebuilt it at the Hall of Fame and it fits perfectly into our exhibition room.”
When Everybody Loves Raymond: Celebrating 30 Years, opened on Nov. 28, 2025 Ray Romano was in attendance and joked that he hoped his exhibit gets two years like Billy’s did. It appears that with strong attendance since it’s opening it just may.
It is gratifying that these two stars appeared at the opening of their exhibitions. “It shows the respect that they have for our organization and lets the world know that our hall of fame is up there with the most significant hall of fames in the world,” Canadeo said.
The Raymond exhibit attracts families who take pictures around the set and see the Hall of Fame room, which was updated with new items, new display cases, new lighting and a smaller Billy Joel exhibition.
On June 6 and 7, the first-ever Billy Joel symposium on his music wad held with participants from across the country in attendance. On June 6, Joel’s longtime agent and chairman of one of the largest talent agencies in the world, Dennis Arfa, was inducted.
LIMEHOF hosts other exciting events as well. A photo exhibition of rock stars from the 1970s to the present by Barry Fisch just opened. There is a band camp run by Jack Licitra, a professional musician and instructor. The country’s first music documentary film festival premiered last year and won for the Best Documentary Film Festival on Long Island. It returns again this year in September.
Of his LIMEHOF accomplishments, Canadeo said, “Along with the support of our board, I’m proudest of creating a new cultural institution on Long Island that reaches into the community. We now distribute $10,000 a year in scholarships to high school students. We have local musicians playing original music in our theatre every Sunday afternoon. We just created and installed two electronic educational kiosks so visitors can access every inductee to learn their history, see videos of them, see our older galas. We’re not only offering large popular exhibitions, but we’re highlighting and promoting Long Island’s rich, diverse musical and entertainment history for years to come. And that is what is so gratifying.”
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