The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH

I took Monday, August 16, 2010 off from work, as we had a bit of a drive and I really wanted to tour the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

We have a couple of pictures of the outside of the building, but none inside... No pictures :-(

The architect of the building was IM Pei -- famous for his redesign of the entrance to the Louvre in Paris. You might recognize the glass pyramids in both designs.

The building looks strangely small from the outside, but it's actually quite spacious on the inside.

This protrusion is cantilevered far out over the water (Lake Erie).

And just across the small bay sits the Cleveland Browns football stadium.

As for the inside of the museum, we had a fun visit. It was between visiting the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, OH or this, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Kim was quiet on the matter, but I had a strong feeling she'd enjoy this one a bit more than the Football HoF.

There was a temporary exhibit on the bottom floor of the museum covering Austin City Limits. It was really exciting to see such positive, comprehensive coverage of the seminal music TV program. Kim enjoyed the hundreds of famous outfits worn by various stage musicians (Jimi Hendrix, Allman Brothers, ZZ Top, Michael Jackson, Stevie Nicks, David Bowie, George Clinton, etc.). There's a number of Pink Floyd concert props hanging from the inside of the pyramid -- these things are huge. Finally, on the top floor, is another excellent temporary exhibit on Bruce Springsteen. Pretty cool. We actually blasted the Boss's greatest hits as we left Cleveland and headed for Detroit :-)

Kim writes:

We toured the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was really interesting to hear about the beginnings of rock and roll and to see how it has changed so much over the years. I felt like I had the chance to get to know musicians like, Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon a little better and find out that Jimi loved to draw as a boy and that the song by the Beatles, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, was actually about John's son crush on a little girl named Lucy. I thought the Museum did a really good job of cataloging not only the musical careers of the greats, but their personal lives as well.

:-Dustin