Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame
Cleveland, Ohio ~ May 18-20 2007



Hiya, folks! Been a little while since I've posted anything here (Facebook seems to be the place to hang out at these days), but I thought I'd share a few pictures of our trip to Cleveland over the May long weekend. Dan & Krista McCardle swung by Oshawa on May 18 at 9am, Nikki and I hopped in the van and we were off to the races.

Rolling through Toronto...

We saw this funky ride on the 401 south of TO. 6

Pit stop at Peace Bridge Duty Free before crossing the border. 6
Not a bad deal! 6



We grabbed three for the hotel (plus some big-ass bottles of Sheridan's and Mint Bailey's at insanely low prices) and crossed over into the US with no trouble.

Gettin' there...

Hello, Cleveland!

We stayed at the Hyatt Place in Independence, OH. Very nice hotel not far from downtown.

We only stayed for 2 days, honest!

After check-in we had a few drinks and decided to head over to the Winking Lizard Tavern for some ribs, and to check out the World Tour of Beer 2007. 100 different brands to choose from! I had a nice big glass of Stone Arrogant Bastard to start. (Nikki and I also got a close look at Lucy the iguana, but she didn't wink at us.) Note: No photos from Friday night are available because I misplaced my camera shortly after we checked in, and was sure I'd lost it...I was totally bummed out. But hey! Krista found it in their room the next morning! Quite a relief, let me tell ya!

Anyway, on Saturday afternoon we piled into the van and made our way to the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.

My first glimpse of The Hall from the backseat. 6

Nice shot of me and Dan with the museum in the background. 6

Some info on the Rock Hall from wikipedia.org...

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation was created in 1983. During early discussions on where to build the Hall of Fame and museum, the Foundation's board considered the Cuyahoga River. Ultimately, the chosen location was in downtown Cleveland by Lake Erie, just east of Cleveland Browns Stadium and the Great Lakes Science Center. Cleveland lobbied to be chosen, citing the facts that one-time Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed is widely credited with promoting the new genre (and the term) of "rock and roll", and that Cleveland was the location of the first rock and roll concert. After a petition drive that was signed by 600,000 fans favoring Cleveland over Memphis, and a USA Today poll which Cleveland won by 100,000 votes, the Hall of Fame board voted to build the museum in Cleveland.

At a point in the planning phase when a financing gap existed, a proposal was made for the Rock Hall to be located in the then vacant May Company Building. But it was finally decided that Chinese architect I. M. Pei, who is credited with such other projects as the Louvre Pyramid in Paris, France, and the Bank of China Tower, would be commissioned to design a new building. Pei came up with the idea of a tower with a glass pyramid protruding from it. The museum tower was initially planned to stand 200ft high, but it had to be cut down to 162ft due to its proximity to Burke Lakefront Airport. The building's base is approximately 150,000 square feet. The groundbreaking ceremony was held on June 7 1993, with Pete Townshend and Chuck Berry doing the honors. The museum opened on September 2 1995, with the ribbon being cut by an ensemble that included Yoko Ono and Little Richard, among others.

Definitely some funky architecture. 6

Images of the glass as we were approaching the main entrance. 6

Main lobby area...

Photography and video of the exhibits inside the museum is strictly prohibited due to artist copyrights. Some of the most memorable items for me were ZZ Top's '33 Ford Eliminator (as seen in their videos from the early '80's), Elvis Presley's white sequined suit from his '70's Las Vegas shows, and some undipped blotter acid sheets with artwork by Robert Crumb, which once belonged to Janis Joplin! But of course there are thousands upon thousands of amazing items at the museum; obviously a firsthand visit is required to get the full effect.

So anyway, the only picture I took inside the place was this funky monitor set-up. 6
But back out in the lobby...

...they've got some other cool stuff. 6 These are the statues that were used for the cover of Pink Floyd's 1994 album The Division Bell (pictured below).

The Teacher from The Wall (1982). 6 This thing is huge. [Larger image lifted from veritography.com.]

The gang outside again; Nikki and me by the entrance sign.

The GoodTime III in Cleveland harbor...

And finally, a shot of Cleveland Browns Stadium from the parking lot before we left. 6

After we returned to the hotel we kicked back with a few cocktails. (Hyatt Place is really cool, there's a 42" high-definition television in every room.) 6 For dinner we went down the road to Damon's Pub and ordered several 22oz MGD's (and some other refreshing concoctions. :) That evening we took a wild cab ride with Igor the Romanian taxi driver to the House of Blues on Euclid Avenue (let's just say he knew a few good shortcuts). Lefty Collins & The No Mercy Band were jamming that night; a very good house band. From there it was a foggy stagger over to Flanagan's Pub and then back to the hotel sometime in the wee hours...

* * * * *

Check-out time was at noon the next day. Ouch! It's always rough to pack up again and get goin' back the other way. Another stop at the duty free shop is always in order; check this stuff out: Remy Martin Louis XIII, 40% a.b.v., 700ml, $1290.32 CDN. 6 Compare and save!


And here's a shot of Jack and me by the door. 6 So rare to see the man in public these days.

Traveling back through Niagara Falls we stopped at My Cousin Vinny's for a late lunch. (Don't let the kitschy name and the big tomato fool ya, though - Mediocre and over-priced food with terrible service. Avoid!) But they did have this tacky Velvet Elvis, and I got a nice photo of Krista and Dan. 6 So it wasn't a total loss. :)

And we made it back home around 7pm that night. Seeing the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame was really a dream come true for me; here's to Nikki, Dan & Krista for making it a fun and amazing trip.

Thank you, Cleveland! Good night!

-B.

K