When Ellen and I motored into Cleveland
last month we didn't know what we were getting into – our knowledge
of the city was pretty much based on recent news stories, and the
news was not good. Remember the kidnapper of the three women for ten
years? There was an apparent mass murderer running around at the
time too, and like cities all over, things were in pretty bad shape –
according to the local news at least. What we found downtown was a
nice, no, beautiful area with two stadiums, skyscrapers, and clean,
tree lined streets, near the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at least,
overlooking a gorgeous cool and breezy blue green Lake Erie. Thanks
to Jolene, our waitress at the Denny's that morning and to a retired
Cleveland police officer, we were able to drive straight in to
downtown, no tolls, and no trouble. When we turned off Highway 2
into Cleveland, we came around to 9th Street facing the
First Energy stadium, home of the NFL Browns. To our right was the
Rock Hall, and there was a $10 all-day parking lot right there, a
block away. We were maybe the tenth vehicle in the lot that morning.
The air was cool and we both wore
fleece jackets. I believe it was really hot back here at the time.
(Like the NFL Hall the day before, it was cool in the Rock Hall.) We
walked right in, talked to young ladies who guided us to the
downstairs where we would check in our internet ticket receipt ($22
each) for wristbands and begin our tour. Just inside there were huge
murals with faces on them like John Lennon, Bob Dylan, and more old
time rock and rollers. The first thing you do is sit in on a
12-minute video about the roots of rock and roll entitled “Mystery
Train” a fast-paced look at some long ago imagery of where the rock
and roll sound came from in hill billy and blues and jazz and such.
Then we exited out to begin our tour of the galleries and kiosks
dedicated to the likes of Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, Brenda Lee,
Johnny Cash, The Beatles, Louie Armstrong, AC/DC, ABBA, Chet Atkins,
Woody Guthrie, Les Paul, Devo, and more. There are outfits, posters,
tickets, and best of all many, many famous guitars, like Jerry
Garcia's “Rosebud” and Bruce Springstein's Fender Esquire. I
particularly liked the story of
John
Lennon's 1963 Gretsch
6120. He
never played it on stage, but he did play it in the studio including
the distinctive lead in to “Paperback Writer.” He gave it away
to a friend who wanted to learn to play. My friend Cliff Kramer,
played one of these for over 30 years in the GMC and Just Friends
bands. When I texted a picture to my guitarist son, Ben, that I was
standing in front of three of Jimi Hendrix's guitars, he wrote back,
“. . . please steal them for me!” One was a 1967 Gibson Flying V
that was originally cherry red, but Hendrix hand-painted it and named
it Love Drops. He played the guitar onstage during 1967 and 1968.
Hendrix gave it away and the new owner sanded it and repainted it and
sold it. The story goes that the next owner had Hendrix’s
psychedelic paint-job meticulously recreated. Hendrix’s guitar of
choice was the Fender Stratocaster, which were all right-handed
guitars that he turned upside down and re-strung to accommodate his
left-handed playing. During his brief life, Hendrix also used Fender
Jazzmasters, Telecasters, Jaguars, Duosonics, Gibson Les Pauls, SGs
and other Gibson Flying Vs. George Harrison's black Rickenbacker 325
was purchased at Red Fenton's Music Store in Mount Vernon, Illinois
where Harrison's sister lived. It originally had a red sunburst
finish, but Harrison had the store owner refinish it black. After he
returned to England from the 1963 trip, Harrison told the band
members, “America has everything, why should they want us?” I
guess they did. One of John Lennon's pianos is on display. Who
knows what all he wrote using that. The Beatles are in the Rock Hall
as a band, but while John, Paul, and George are all in as individual
performers, Ringo is not.
On
one floor, there is a replica of Alan “Moondog” Freed's radio
studio. Freed coined the term Rock and Roll Music back in the 50's
in Cleveland and Cleveland became a city where new rockers' careers
were made or broken. He died in disgrace at age 43 after a payola
scandal ruined his radio career. There are other contributors to
Rock and Roll who weren't musicians like Quincy Jones and Lou Adler.
Jones was a perfomer, but he was inducted as a
writer/arranger/producer while Adler was a record executive promoter.
There is also a theater with a video featuring “American's Oldest
Teenager,” Dick Clark. It highlights his history and all the
years he hosted American Bandstand. Did you know he was a former
news anchorman? I used to love that show. I also would rush home
after school to watch the mid 60's rock show hosted by Mark Lindsay
and Paul Revere called “Where the Action Is.” “Hullabaloo”
and “Shindig” were also favorites.
As
you walk through the huge variety of kiosks and displays (6 floors!),
you hear clips of music in an almost cacophony of sound. Ellen said
her mind was spinning with remembering who did what song. I felt the
same way, except for me it was a rush of memories of where I was or
what I was doing when I heard this song or that. At the ZZ Top
exhibit, the music was growling out “Legs” and I was reminded of
the time I took Ben and Mark to see ZZ Top at the La Crosse Center.
They, and I, loved it. The Beatles tunes all are a hit with me.
They are my favorite band of all time followed closely by the Rolling
Stones and Crosby, Still, Nash, and Young, Chuck Berry, Billy Joel,
Simon and Garfunkle, Bruce Springstein, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, The
Byrds, The Beach Boys, Neil Diamond, Johnny Rivers, The Eagles,
Jackson Browne, Van Morrison, okay, okay; I can't stop here but I
guess I have to. The featured band this year is The Rolling Stones.
They have their own floor in the Rock Hall to celebrate 50 years of
making music.
Of
course there is a nice store with shirts and other Rock Hall
paraphernalia and a restaurant that has a deck overlooking a marina
and the lake. In the end, what the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is
promoting is memories and we loved it. If you like rock and roll and
history and trivia and lots of displays set in an ultra modern glass
building, you'll love it. You can check it out online at
rockhall.com.
Until next time, get out – this last
week Ellen and I were fishing south of Genoa. It proved to be a
beautiful morning on the river. The site seeing and the fishing were
great but the catching was not. When it came time to move, the
engine on the Mississippi Queen started and then coughed and quit –
for good. Fortunately good samaritans, Joe and Bob Lambert of
Viroqua came by on their way back to the landing and offered a tow
back up river. When I offered to buy them breakfast, Joe said, “No.
We got to pay it forward when we can.” Thanks guys. Traastad's
yellow truck is back, so summer is officially on the wane. We had
some of the sweet corn last week, and as usual it was excellent.
Ellen has a few tomatoes turning red and lots of green beans, slicer
cukes, peppers, and zucchinis ripening in her garden. Saturday
morning the weather had the feel of a good morning to go squirrel
hunting, but the cover is too thick. Soon though. There were 70 plus
canada geese and half a dozen sandhill cranes having a raucous
debate about me and Scout I think as we walked by our neighbor's
driveway on Sunday morning. I had to watch where I stepped as
Proksch Coulee Road had plenty of greasy “sign.” Enjoy.
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