As a fan of the genre I thought it was well past time to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
I’d never been to Cleveland. It has been the butt of many jokes over the years about being dull (not true!) and filthy(that’s really old info). Downtown is pristine. Cleaners are out into the evening making sure of it and keep in mind, November is off-season. One can only imagine how much picking-up is done in the summertime. Perhaps everyone notices the garbage receptacles because they look like sculptures.
Downtown Cleveland is full of statues, preserved architecture and interesting art installations. This mega-stamp was a gift to the city from someone with a good imagination.
There are nods to the city’s heritage throughout the core including a spectacular memorial to every Clevelander who served in the Civil War. All 9,000 names are carved into the inside wall where memorabilia and photos are on display. The centre features bronze carvings of President Lincoln and others. It was also a gift to the city from a wealthy benefactor who didn’t want the contributions of Cleveland residents to be forgotten. Not once did we feel uncomfortable downtown, day or night. We didn’t see a single homeless person or gang of thugs. Sadly, I felt better about walking in downtown Cleveland in the pitch dark than I do in broad daylight at Richmond and Dundas in downtown London.
The waterfront is where you find the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Next to it, the Science Centre, and then the Cleveland Browns’ stadium. Our hotel, The Doubletree, was a 3 minute walk from the Hall and highly recommended. Their “Hall package” is a great deal and it’s a beautiful hotel. On this particular weekend it also housed hundreds of fencers. An important fencing event was on at the Convention Centre and young fencers were in from all over the world, some wearing Olympic jackets. We chose a good time to go. Outside of tourist season the Hall doesn’t get overly busy. From overhead the courtyard resembles a record player. But you can’t see that from eye level.
It’s fascinating, it’s amazing and it’s full of light, sound and sights. Nowhere else can you see anything from Jimi Hendrix’s high school doodles of football players, Tom Petty’s original lyric scribbles to You Don’t Know How It Feels to Alice Cooper’s thigh-high leopard-print platform boots. To really take in every display, including dozens of listening stations, would take several days. We picked and chose, skipping the hip-hop area and lingering on the three floors of Rolling Stones exhibits, part of a special tour that’s only there until March. What might impress you might not interest me and that’s the beautiful thing about music. It’s subjective. Some displays seemed disproportionately small compared to their subject’s impact on my musical life while others, in my opinion, didn’t need to be there at all. Who cares about the fringy, short-term moderate success of Souixie and the Banshees? Well the Hall does, enough to show a bit of them. I can imagine that the behind-the-scenes meetings where displays were designed were at times firey and contentious. That’s rock and roll for you.
Highlights for me: Some of the letters and scribbled pages by Don Henley, Steven Tyler and John Lennon. The Gregg Allman display, though small, featuring the old piano on which he wrote some of his songs. The area devoted to legendary rock and roll DJs who first brought this new form of music to the masses. The cheesiness of the Michael Jackson glove in a rotating glass container with a spotlight on it. And the listening stations in the Stones exhibit where they have isolated some of Keith Richards’ iconic guitar riffs and how he played differently with the band’s three rhythm guitarists over the years – Brian Jones, Mick Taylor and Ronnie Wood. I don’t listen to music this way so it was a revelation for my ears. I also enjoyed seeing photos of Keith as a young, rather dashing, player. I’ve only known him as a grizzled legend. And finally, we both loved the movie showing on a loop in one of the theatres made from the earliest known footage of the guys as a band. “We’ve got about another year, year-and-a-half”, says baby-faced Mick, sincerely. “I’ve got all the money I need to do whatever I want”, says Charlie Watts. “But I haven’t got any time to do it.”
And there’s the great promise and the great tragedy of rock super-stardom. Obviously these guys have learned how to cope with not being able to go where they want over the last 50 years and no one’s feeling sorry for them. But the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame isn’t just about the fantasy, it’s about the lives of rock stars. It’s worth the trip.
Glad you had a great trip in the Cleve! 🙂