Sir, please stop bowing in front of the guitar...

The lower level at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is truly worth the trip to Cleveland all by itself. One guide told me it takes about 2 days to see everything that the floor has to offer. We did it in one, albeit in about 7 hours. After coming out of the theater, you are greeted by the first of many listening stations located throughout the museum. These feature info and a sampling of songs by many of the artists featured in the film. Turn the corner and now the real ride begins. In what was the first of many religious experiences for me, another circular display of guitars awaited. But these weren't just any guitars... a 1937 12 string played by Leadbelly, Howlin' Wolf's 1952 Kay K-161, John Lee Hooker's 1965 ES-335, and... Muddy Waters' 1958 red Telecaster! The chills... I spent a while studying the guitar, thinking of all the great songs and sounds that came outta this guitar, not to mention the great man who owned and played it... Here's a sample from 1979;



The rest of the room wasn't messin' around either. The exhibit is divided into individual cases, each devoted to one of rock and roll’s roots: Gospel, Blues, Country/Folk/Bluegrass and R&B. Each section includes a variety of cool stuff and brief bios of many of the artists. Guitars, stage clothes, recording contracts, royalty statements, programs, posters... Well, that's through out the museum. But the people who laid it down for the future rockers are well represented. Leadbelly's white hat, one of the two original photos of Robert Johnson (!), more guitars from Buddy Guy, T-Bone Walker, Lightning Hopkins, Pop Staples... even Howlin' Wolf's money case! Yeah, everybody say amen!

This ain't no foolin' around...

Welcome back to the next installment of my trip to the Rock and Roll temple that is the Hall of Fame museum. From the lobby, you go down the escalator to the lower level. This is where the largest collection of items that you're allowed to photograph is assembled. Unless noted (usually for song lyrics or pictures), everything you see is the real deal. Down here is Billy Gibbons' Eliminator car (with a request you take pics for personal use only, no posting or sharing), next to Joan Jett's Jaguar. Next to that is the drum kit Alex Van Halen used on Van Halen's 1980 Invasion tour (which I got to see). Kinda amazing he only used it for the one tour and here I am seeing it in person for the 2nd time in 32 years.

There were also circular displays of various guitars, including a Bobby Womack ESP Acoustic from 1975, Sting's Spector NS-2 bass from 1983, a Rick Danko bass from 1995 and this 2000 Strat that belonged to Link Wray;

From there, you finally went into the museum portion. The first of many films you can watch is your first option, this one called "Mystery Train". It's an excellent 12 minute piece that takes you back to the early 1900's, showing clips from Country, Gospel, and Blues players as well as just regular folk, singing songs of the time. During the course of the film, it slowly brings alla these influences together, giving you an excellent set up of how it all came together to become rock and roll.

As much as I hate to keep breaking this into short, seemingly never ending little bits, I'm gonna save the next portion for next time as this was when I truly started to get the chills and being moved by what I was seeing. See ya next time...

What's that funny looking building over there?

Day 2 of our trip was day one of our visits to the RRHOF. We walked from the hotel, down 9th Street (decorated with even more guitars) until we reached the federal building and our first glimpse of the museum. Nestled next to Lake Erie, the humidity rises quite nicely as does the heat for some reason. It also sits next to a science center and Browns Stadium, with a great view of downtown now behind us. Walking into the building, the excitement and spirit of Rock and Roll begins to really hit you. To the right, is the massive gift shop, fulla shirts, hats, novelties, books, and MUSIC. All genres are mixed together, with the inductees split off into a section of their own. To the left, is yet more of these large guitars, including this one;

Also adorning the joint, is quite a few remnants from U2's ZOOTV tour, possibly to compliment the U23D movie (which we saw twice);

Next, we headed off to the membership booth, where we met one of 2 Meagans we would have the pleasure of talking to for the week. A Duet (for 2 entries) membership was in order, since we'd be there for six days and $44 for six days would be insane for entry.

Tune back in tomorrow for the next installment, the MASSIVE lower level and the few remaining pictures I was allowed to take of the museum. And also don't forget to tune into NOTIMEWARP RADIO for great music that brings some ear vibes to alla these pics and words you see here!

Still groovin'...

Go East, Music Man...

Finally a chance to settle in and talk about my trip the the Temple that is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The museum was a center piece of a revitalization of Cleveland and quite a successful one at that. The city has totally backed the museum, as is evident as soon as you get offa the plane. Before you leave the terminal, you're great by one of MANY large guitars that are painted by a wide variety of artists. Following that, is about 20 or so reproductions of concert posters. Very difficult to try and look at while you hafta go chase down your bag...

We stayed downtown, nearby the museum. Everywhere you went, you were surrounded by these giant guitars. I confess to not doing too much reading of the plaques accompanying the guitars. It was really enough just getting your pictures and heading to the museum. I'll post some more of those pics and some of the pics I got outside and just inside of the museum next post, which won't be too far off into the future...

Still groovin'...