R&R Hall of Fame

[Marc V Conte <mconte@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>]

After hearing rumors that Pete Townshend was going to show up for the
concert and having it end up quite possibly the worst concert ever, 
I wasn't sure that I really wanted to actually see this musuem.

But it was good.  I was only able to spend two hours there but one
could easily need 4 or 5 hours to get through everything.  (That doesn't
include the gift shop which is also a record store.  I usually spend
a while in those.  Incidentally, you can go to the gift shop without
having to go inside the museum.)

The Who are scattered througout the museum.  Underground, the main
exhibit area, three mannequins are dressed in outfits from the 
early '70s.  Keith was missing but they had green platform 
shoes in his place.  More interesting were the interactive 
exhibits.  One involved picking a band on a computer touch screen
and finding out who there musical influences were.  You are then
able to touch one of the bands and hear music from them.  They do
an o.k. job of finding music that matches from each band so you
can really pick up on the influences.  The drawback was that it was very
linear and finite.  It would be nice to see who influenced the Who 
but then move on to see the bands that the Who have influenced.

Another display is a jukebox with 500 songs that are deemed most
important in rock history or something to that effect.  The Who have
three songs:  Baba O'Riley, My Generation and Go to the Mirror Boy.
With each song, the screen gives a few paragraphs of the importance
of the song.  They hope to add more songs in the future.

A video titled "Rock Is..."  is showing in the main theater on 
the third or fourth floor.  This is a 20-minute video that isn't
quite completed yet.  We were told that we were seeing the director's
cut.   This was good because the source of each clip was shown
over the clip.  Pete plays a big part in this but most everyone
has seen the interviews or performances used.  Most of his 
inteview stuff is from the Time/Life video on the history
of rock.  ("They were your icons, they were my friends ...")

I never did make it to the actual Hall of Fame.  I had a special ticket
for the families of the construction crew and had to leave after 
about two hours.

If you are going to be in Cleveland, definitely check it out.  If you
have to plan a special trip, I would wait a few months until they
get some things fixed.  Not all the interactive displays worked
and clips in "Rock Is" were very fuzzy as if they were third
generation video.  There is even one part of the museum that is
not open yet.  The round drum on the right side of the building
is being called a theater by the museum brochure.  I.M. Pei, the
building's architect, said it was going to be a dance hall.  No
telling what will happen with that space.

Marc

SCARLET AND GrAY                                    L@L #000940
conte.4@osu.edu                     Comedy, thy name is Krusty.