I’ve had quite a busy year so far, between working on my book, running back and forth between Pittsburgh for my day job and Ligonier for my night gig, and trying to get back on track with other long term writing projects and a community band. So a weekend getaway was desperately needed! We recently went to Cleveland and visited The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
Regardless of certain opinions about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the institution’s questionable nomination criteria and practices (I probably agree with you), I think the museum showcases a wonderful collection of historic musical artifacts and that’s what I appreciate about it. It has Roger Daltrey‘s fringe outfit from the The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus! It has Bruce Springsteen’s lyric notebooks! Look, there’s Neil Peart’s snare drum! The rock hall has also opened up a library and archives on the outskirts of he city where I’d probably give my right arm to work. Imagine all of the cool documents and artifacts they have there that are NOT on display! Imagine putting together one of the rotating exhibits such as the current Rolling Stones exhibition! Imagine researching those pieces of history and writing those informative exhibit labels! (Hire me?! I’ll work remotely from Pittsburgh!)
But I digress! I think Dave and I spent about five hours walking through the museum. Both of us have been there before, but it was great to take our time absorbing every single bit of information imparted on all of those exhibit labels, gaze at the details of the guitars on display and find our favorite bands’ signatures on the Hall of Fame wall. We also found Dave’s name in a leather-bound notebook containing the master list of charter members who joined when the museum originally opened! Here are some of my highlights from our visit:
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