Rock & Roll Hall of Fame In Cleveland, Ohio: A Day Well Spent

I had a very good friend come into town for vacation, and knowing he is an even bigger music lover than myself, I planned a trip to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for the two of us. Having lived all of my life in Ohio, I am shamed to admit, I had never been there before. It was a day filled with oohh's and ahhh's, knowledge of a lifetime, flashbacks to other times, and laughter. At times, we were simply overwhelmed by the beauty, and words just wouldn't come. I highly recommend this trip for anyone coming to the Cleveland area for any length of time. Ticket prices are a bit much, however, at the end of the day, if you aren't content with what you had just experienced, I say you walked through with your eyes closed.

Our trip started with just getting there, it wasn't a long drive, and actually quite easy to find. I am not the best direction follower, but even I could read the many signs. I do have one gripe, I had used Yahoo Directions before leaving, it is NOT a left hand turn at the off ramp, it is a right. Parking was $8.00 for the day, and that included parking for the RRHF, the Goodtime ll, the Science Center, and the Ship Museum. Once parked, we walked along the brick lane towards the RRHF, where right outside is a plaque describing why the Hall is in Cleveland. I was able to get a few good pictures from that one. We then turned the corner, and all you can see is hundreds of glass windows in all shapes and sizes, with music of all genres playing from a speaker in a center flower bed.

Once you get inside, there are rules upon rules. The two biggest are the fact you may take pictures in the lobby, but not anywhere else. Your cameras and video recorders are to be checked in the coat room. I do have a problem with this rule. To me, it is a public museum, yes families lent out the memorabilia, but if they wanted it kept private, it should have stayed home. It's not like I can sell the pictures on Ebay. Oh well, time to move on. Right away, there was someone taking pictures as you pose in front of a RRHF background while holding some sort of instrument. We posed, and I held a basic fender guitar.The ticket prices were $22 per adult, however, if you had a local drivers license, it was $18, so I saved some. The rest of the ticket prices were the following: Seniors $17, children 9-12 $13, and children 8 and under were free.

After paying for our tickets, we walked around the lobby looking at the collection of larger than life traveling guitars they had, along with stage props that were hanging from the ceilings. We then headed to the 2nd floor where the displays started. There was a ticket taker there who put a wrist band on each of us, another great idea, as this allowed us to come and go without having to repay. Walking in, it was hard to know which way to turn first, we chose the right hand turn into a little room that was filled with old time costumes, records, guitars, and other memorabilia. We then moved on into the Jimi Hendrix area, which is the largest section in the RRHF. Seeing his drawings from his childhood, to his outrageous costumes, notes written on paper for songs he was writing, simply took our breath away. There was the Janis Joplin Porsche car, the Roy Orison tribute concert guitar, signed by all the performers, hand made guitars from the 50's, and James Brown's stage tuxedo made of satin and rhinestones. Moving on you see a time line of music, from blues to punk. There were newer bands, older bands, well known, and those quiet but powerful musicians.

Then we came to what was supposed to be my favorite area: the Elvis Presley attraction. To say it was a disappointment is putting it mildly. They had one costume, it was his stage cape made of jewels that he never wore, but had a copy made and wore that one. The car they had for him, was a very impersonal one, the purple caddy, not even a close favorite of his. It was when we came to the personal papers that the real shockers came. Many of the other musicians had notes, and doodles, drawings, even high school diplomas. Elvis had those, including his military papers. But when we saw the letter from the car company to his father talking about the repossession of his car, the early taxes when they still had no money, thats when I got angry. It is one thing to have materials showing how they got to where they were, notes of early songs that failed, things of that nature. To put in items which did nothing but slap an icon in the face with his early poverty is wrong. There was a line crossed there which made that section much less enjoyable to us.

We decided it was time for a smoke break, which a kindly worker pointed us to on the 3rd level. Up there is where the food and a terrace eating area are. A gorgeous view of Lake Erie, and very fairly priced food was well worth it. Not to mention yet a different view of the RRHF from there.

It was then on to more attractions, this time it involved the guitars, early radios, and a replica of the very first recording studio from Sun Records with original equipment used by producer Sam Phillips. There was an original television, early record players, and even more modern equipment. A flat screen television was playing a video of Alan Freed describing his love of music. It was an interesting recording. The Les Paul section was amazing, the Gibson's stunning, and the pictures of early guitar tools gave us a chuckle or two. I was finally able to understand what the words "cut a record" meant when I saw actual wax records, and the cutting machine to make them.

The upper floors were closed off, as they are mostly used for traveling exhibits. We headed down to the large gift shop back on the first floor to pick up a few souvenirs. I think we spent almost as much time in there as anywhere else. From hats, to T-shirts, posters not available in stores to hard to find records. They had sections for Cd's, tapes, and records. Key chains and post cards galore. We finally made our choices, and it was time to go. As we exited, we stopped and purchased the picture we had taken when we first came in. That one will be going on the wall in my room, as yet another reminder of a day well spent.

After walking out the doors, we sat on that center flower bed, listening to the music still playing, and reflected on what we had seen and heard. It wasn't until we started looking at the skyline of Cleveland that we saw all the flags were at half mast: it was September 11. At first I felt slightly guilty for enjoying that day so well. Until my friend pointed out, life goes on, and what better way to prove that then by going out and celebrating a bit of history.