Cleveland's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum

As we're wending our way back to camp through the (not-so-scary-after all) Friday afternoon Cleveland traffic, I thought I'd take this hour to show and tell you a little of what we've seen for the past 6 hours. The museum is extremely well-done...clean, friendly, easy to get around in, lots of places to sit and enjoy the history of R&R shown on screen, many different displays to capture the attention of many different generations, etc. 

The first thing that took me by surprise is that the Museum is located right on the shore of Lake Erie. Not sure if you can see it in the very background of these flowers, but it's there!

It's also adjacent to the stadium where the Cleveland Browns will be playing tomorrow...which is why we were advised to go to the museum today. Sixty thousand people or so will converge on that block tomorrow, and we'll be quietly tucked away at our campsite. Here's a shot of the stadium...and for all my friends in Kerrville, Native Son Johnny Manzell will be right there.

here's what the R&R Museum looks like as you approach it. You can barely see Lake Erie off to the right.

And here we are, ready to explore the world of Rock and Roll!

For all you country music fans! here's Johnny Cash's touring bus which is parked outside. He wasn't in it.

I had read somewhere that if you're a musician and you bring a copy of one of your published CD's to put in the Museum archives, you can get in free. I wasn't sure if it was really true, but just in case, I asked about it. And sure enough, it was! I had a copy of my CD in my purse that I've been planning to mail to my cousin Kim, and I turned it over to my new friend, Carolyn, at the ticket counter...and she allowed BOTH Curt and me to enter. (Kim, I'm sorry...as soon as we get back to Kerrville I'll find my box of CDs and get one off to you, pronto!)

Here's a shot looking up, inside the museum. Pretty amazing architecture! Those are all escalators you see there. 

The first thing Curt wanted to see was the exhibit featuring Les Paul, the inventor of the electric guitar. If you haven't heard Curt's story about seeing Les Paul at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City shortly before he died (Les, not Curt), ask him about it next time you see him. He loves to tell that story!

 The rest of the day would be hard to describe! Naturally, since we're dealing with Rock and Roll, which has been around for decades and has gone through many permutations, there's plenty in there that doesn't appeal to us...the heavy metal, rap, hip-hop styles, as well as the screaming and guitar-burning performances that were popular during the 70s and 80s. But there's also LOTS of good old classic rock and oldies that brought back so many memories for us. And that's what we concentrated on seeing, hearing and experiencing. Lots of video clips of live performances, TV performances, interviews, biographical sketches, history and general musicology. It was such fun to immerse ourselves in that for several hours. 

There was lots of memorabilia, of course...fun to see John Lennon's elementary school report card, Elvis's white sequined suit, and the forerunner to the synthesizer used by Paul McCartney. There were MANY instruments belonging to so many musicians...I couldn't begin to photograph them all. But we did make two special exceptions...for a special, exceptional guy. Nephew Dave, these are for you...two of Jerry Garcia's guitars:

In the Museum Cafe at lunchtime, we were carefully comparing the ingredients in the various salads they offered, to find the one that seemed the most nutritious. The couple in front of us ordered two hot dogs. Hot dogs? We hadn't even seen them on the menu, but instantly our minds (and will power) snapped. Suddenly it seemed inappropriate to have a healthy salad at a Rock & Roll museum. Of COURSE it should be hot dogs! So....

And then later we felt justified when we saw the giant display hanging from the ceiling between the escalators...

Here's the view of Lake Erie that we got to enjoy as we are our hot dogs:

I was a little worried when we looked down over the 3rd floor railing and saw the retail shop, which of course you must go through before you can exit the building. I remembered our friend saying he had spent hundreds of dollars there, and I could tell by looking down that that would be a distinct possibility. There was every CD you'd ever want to buy (and plenty that you wouldn't!) right there in front of you. Fortunately for our budget, when we got down there on eye-level with all the merchandise, it became one of those times when there's so much stuff that it's overwhelming. We managed to get out for under $10 !

But what a fun day, and a wonderful trip down memory lane We'd definitely recommend the Rock and Roll Museum to anyone who finds themselves near Cleveland!