Rock & Roll!

After leaving the Zen Mountain Monastery, I drove as far as Sayre, PA and spent the night. Then up early the next morning so I could make it to Cleveland by Monday evening. I had arranged a ticket to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (online ticketing required in these days of Covid) for yesterday morning. It had been more than 20 years since I was last there, and a lot has happened in 20+ years of music!

It looked a lot like I remembered from the outside. Entering, I followed the suggested path of starting at the bottom (floor 0, the largest space - it is a pyramid after all) and going up floor by floor.

Even more so than when I went back in the 1990s, it is more than just rock & roll. Lately I find myself thinking of things in terms of nature, and in this case the metaphor that comes to mind is a tree. The early influences (the roots) include blues, jazz, bluegrass, gospel, folk, and country (I probably forgot something). The trunk of the tree is rock & roll. and the emerging branches include everything from heavy metal to new wave to punk to rap to hip-hop to alternative to progressive music. And who know where else it will go.

It's really a museum of music, and like a good museum it has a lot of ways to appreciate the experience. Of course there is the hall of inductees. There are artifacts, including instruments, clothing, programs, tickets, posters and so on. One of the things that I love are the handwritten music and lyrics sheets from many of the artists. There is lots of information on the walls and explaining the exhibits. Floor 2 (?) is dedicated to 'garage' music. There are opportunities to listen to songs from a particular period or genre (and one-hit wonder songs as well!).

I grew up mostly in the 60s and early 70s, and I especially enjoyed the Beatles' exhibition, including the Let it Be film as well as the 'From the Vault' Beatles footage. I also loved the Power of Rock experience - which highlighted parts of performances from 3+ decades of induction performances.

I am including a random sample of some of the pictures I took. I spent about 3 hours there, and could have spent more, but the road called (and I had to be ready for a Zoom meeting in the late afternoon). I definitely enjoyed the experience and

maybe I will do it again in another 20 or 25 years!

Early Influences

Guitars

Beatles

Protest

Lyrics