Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Cleveland, OH

The weekend of April 4, 2009 the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will welcome it’s newest members.  Historically, the induction ceremony takes place at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City but this year the ceremony moves to the home of the actual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, OH.  This year’s inductees include Jeff Beck, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Bobby Womack, Run-DMC and Metallica.

I will not be attending the induction ceremonies or, for that matter, any of the numerous activities during the week prior to the ceremony.  My reasons are not quite as angst ridden and anti-establishment as those of Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols whose band was inducted in 2006.

Sex Pistols Hall of Fame Acceptance Letter

Don’t get me wrong, I love traveling to the city.  Cleveland has a world class art museum, the Children’s Museum is one of the finest around.  The zoo is fantastic.  And it’s home to three professional sports teams:  The Browns (football), The Cavaliers (basketball) and The Indians (baseball).  But the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?  Eh.  I’ve been there.  It’s been checked from the list and fortunately, you’re not required to repeat checked items–unless you want to.  I’m gonna pass even with the free admission they are offering on induction day April 4.

If you go, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is located at 751 Eerieside Avenue in downtown Cleveland just a block east of the Cleveland Browns Football Stadium.  Take East 9th street and turn left just before you fall into Lake Eerie.  You can’t miss it.  The building, a seven story tower with an enormous glass pyramid extending from the front,  was designed by renowned architect I.M. Pei and I must say is absolutely amazing to see.  It’s breathtaking, actually.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum (photo Jason Pratt)

Unfortunately, that’s where my fascination with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is going to end.  The museum contains exhibits and memorabilia that chronicles the history of rock and roll from it’s earliest blues and gospel roots through today.  Heavy emphasis on the early period.  Unless you are a die-hard rock and roll historian, there’s probably not a great deal of appeal.

I was also perplexed as to why some of the bands I considered extraordinary were nowhere to be found in the Rock Hall.  At the time I was unaware, but a band or person is not eligible for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame until 25 years have passed from their debut.    Most of my favorites aren’t even eligible yet.

And I can almost guarantee that your children will know less than 15 of the artists represented there.  (I think that’s pretty generous.)  Unless you enjoy explaining rock history to your children and unless your children enjoy listening to you explain rock history to them, they will not have a good time.

I suppose there were some interesting things, though.  Some of the stage outfits were kind of cool and there were some pretty neat signed guitars and letters.  Did you know that Jimi Hendrix was a doodler?  And a pretty good one to boot.  But overall, it really just wasn’t enough to keep me intrigued.

The Hard Rock Cafe Cleveland (photo hardrock.com)

Should you get hungry, there’s an overpriced and very inadequate grill on one of the upper levels.   All in all, considering what you actually get for your admission fee (which at $22 per adult and $13 for children 9-12 could actually feed a village in Sudan for a month) it’s just not worth it.  I suggest that if you want Rock and Roll and memorabilia go to the Hard Rock Cafe on West Huron Road.  You’ll definitely get more bang for your buck–and the food is better.

Unless otherwise noted all photos public domain.