Rather than my hoped-for Route 66 trip, or even just the hoped-for culmination at Saltair, and maybe re-enact some scenes from Carnival of Souls, we had to scale waaaaay back on our vacation plans, once again, due to the J-O-B.
So instead of visiting a haunted pavilion full of dancing ghosts, we spent a day at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Which, come to think of it, has some haunting sights of its own.
The one that stuck in my mind from our first visit to the RnR HOF, over ten years ago, was the one artifact I could barely stand to look at again, a piece of wreckage from Otis Redding's plane. There is an eloquent, moving point to be made about how emblematic that scrap of aluminum, with "Otis" in cool script, by someone with a talent for that. All I will say is that I accidently saw a photo of this wreckage on the RnR HOF site and choked up.
But although many of those represented have gone on to the great gig in the sky, the RnR HOF is not a grim place. Despite the admission price coming in around a hundred bucks for a family of four, which is a little grim. (And although I refer to it as the Hall of Fame, the HOF is secondary to the museum, in my IMO.)
There is so much to see that carping about the price to see it seems petty, even for me. And it is "eyes only," as photography is prohibited, which is my only other beef.
When I start to recommend visiting the HOF, it's difficult to say "if only to see" and chose a reasonable number of things to mention. For starters, there's:
- don't-miss exhibits on the Beach Boys, Doors, and Clash
- the 1963-or-so 'Vette Roy Orbison drove during the Mystery Girl sessions
- John CIppolina's mutant guitar amp
- stage costumes (and a "keytar" Moog!) from soul acts like the Isleys
- a history of the Warped Tour
- Hendrix wardrobe items: unlike so much of the Munchkin-scale clothing there,
Jimi's clothes look life-sized, and like real clothes, albeit stuff that only a thoroughly
unique, self-assured rock deity could wear!
So much of the stage-wear also looks so chintzy. Take a close-up gander at Jagger's Voodoo Lounge togs, with little plastic-looking gris-gris dangling at random off it, like something I'd rig up for Halloween.
Some of the gear-- such as the ass-ugly ZZ Top "terminator" guitars -- was clearly not designed to stand up to close examination.
I can only imagine how those who have never played in a rock and roll band (is there anyone left who hasn't?) must react to some of the instruments on display.
According to the HOF site, Johnny Cash's bus closes for the season, October 1, so y'all hustle on up!
