(08-20-2003) Don't forget to see the U2 Exhibit at the RNRHOF - Boston Globe *

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With or without U2 exhibit, museum is well worth a visit
Hall of Fame brings humor to rock history
By Steve Morse, Globe Staff


CLEVELAND -- Going to a museum might not be a high-water mark on a vacation, but you almost can't miss when that museum is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It is certainly reason enough to visit Cleveland -- even more so since the main exhibit at the moment salutes Irish rockers U2, arguably the most popular band of the past 20 years, celebrated for both music and social consciousness.

There's nothing academic or stuffy about the U2 exhibit, which fills three floors of this five-story, glass-enclosed museum on Lake Erie. Everything you want to know about U2 is here, from early rejection letters sent by clueless record companies to movies about the band and collections of its members' instruments and stage clothes. But it is all done with a sense of humor, which perhaps also sets this museum apart from some of the mortuary-like haunts that pass as cultural centers elsewhere.

Architect I. M. Pei (the John F. Kennedy Library and the Louvre expansion are among his many famous sites) designed this museum, and for starters, you get an immediate laugh when you walk through the door: Hanging from the ceiling are several Trabants, the East German minicars that U2 hung from the stage on its "Zoo TV" tour in 1992. Upstairs you see a wall covered with U2 fanzines from around the world (in seemingly every language), along with such uproarious items as a letter from bassist Adam Clayton describing guitarist The Edge's 21st birthday ("He got the usual shower and shaving cream treatment . . . and was enticed downstairs for champagne, which turned into a beer-slinging competition") and a note on how singer Paul Hewson took his stage moniker of Bono Vox (named after a hearing-aid store in Ireland).

Of course, there are serious elements, including an exhibit of posters dedicated to U2's humanitarian concerts such as Live Aid and the "Conspiracy of Hope" tour (for Amnesty International), as well as a copy of the group's 1985 "Sun City" single, "Silver and Gold," in support of Artists United Against Apartheid.

"In the Name of Love: Two Decades of U2" has been a big success at the museum and will run until the end of the year. "We're trying to draw a younger demographic, and this has been working really well for us," says Rock and Roll Hall of Fame spokesman Todd Mesek. "People from all over the world have been coming to see this." (The museum has averaged 575,000 visitors the last two years.)

Although U2 dominates the upper floors of the museum (which sits next to an Omni theater and Cleveland Stadium, both fresh additions since the museum opened in 1995), the breezy, lighten-up tone of the Hall of Fame carries over to other new exhibits as well. These include a side room with cleverly compiled artwork of "The Greatest Album Covers that Never Were." Most of these near-releases are shocking and outrageous, such as heavy metal singer Marilyn Manson pictured with a little girl holding a rifle, David Byrne with his face dipped in chocolate, the Sex Pistols with bassist Sid Vicious strumming a revolver rather than a guitar, the Doors with someone's index finger poking through the zipper of a pair of blue jeans, and, well, you get the point. The room was jammed when I was there, but not everyone has shown an open mind about it.

"Some people have complained that it's not authentic because the covers never came out, so why have the exhibit at all?" says Mesek. Obviously, some of these people take their rock 'n' roll a little too seriously.

Another fascinating new exhibit is "Hang on Sloopy: The Music of Ohio." A blatant attempt to lure local Ohioans, it is also quite informative. You've got to like a state whose official rock song is the McCoys' "Hang on Sloopy." The exhibit pays homage to Ohio natives in rock, including the Pretenders (singer Chrissie Hynde's handwritten lyrics from the band's hit "My City Was Gone" are on view), Devo, the Dead Boys, Nine Inch Nails, the Cramps, Pere Ubu, Pure Prairie League, Bootsy Collins, Tommy James, the Ohio Players, Guided by Voices, Kim Deal of the Breeders and Pixies, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Tin Huey, and the Waitresses. And who knew that both Macy Gray and Manson were from nearby Canton?

A single day is not enough time to do the museum justice. What with the dizzying hyperstimulation, you can't move too quickly if you want to see (and hear) everything. There's truly something for everyone, from a teen-idol exhibit featuring outfits from New Kids on the Block, 'N Sync, Christina Aguilera, and the Backstreet Boys to a collection of Jerry Garcia's custom-made guitars.

One significant change since the museum first opened is the surge of interactive technology. This is principally in the form of jukeboxes sprinkled in the primary show space downstairs. The best are devoted to the early influences on rock 'n' roll; you can punch up tracks by the likes of Robert Johnson, Hank Williams, Elmore James, and Louis Armstrong. You get both music and video, and you can check out genres such as rockabilly, soul, and British invasion pop. You can spend half your day doing just that.

The darkened downstairs space, which feels like a huge, subterranean club, also has numerous mini-exhibits devoted to individual acts such as the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix (with aSensurround theater showing film clips of his concerts), Aerosmith (Steven Tyler's handwritten lyrics to "Walk This Way" are a kick), the Doors (singer Jim Morrison had a prophetic elementary school teacher who wrote, "He has trouble controlling his exuberance"), David Bowie, Elton John, and more.

The one disappointment is the out-of-the-way hallway where the names of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees can be found. It consists only of a glass strip with lit-up reproductions of their autographs, without any pictures or contextual information. Farther along this relatively deserted hallway are tiny exhibits devoted to this year's inductees, including AC/DC, the Police, Elvis Costello, and the Righteous Brothers. It's an embarrassment in an otherwise wonderfully organized museum that gives rock 'n' roll its full due.

? Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
 
u2loopy said:
Yay!!! I can't wait, I'm going in two weeks!!!!!
:D Me too! It'll be my second time and I'm just as excited as I was for my first time!

Are you talking about the weekend after labor Day? I'm meeting a few other Interferencers then...
 
*looks at calendar* actually, I'm going the weekend OF Labor Day.

I don't know why my hubby decided to book the hotel then but he figured that it wouldn't be so crowded because it was the Labor Day weekend.

Meanwhile we are planning to drive there (from NY) so that we get there Sunday evening, and plan to go to the museum on Monday.....Labor Day! :der: I had to call the museum and make sure that they were actually going to be open on that day!!!

Silly hubby....

But otherwise I'm so excited about going. I never even mentioned it to my husband because I didn't think he would be interested in going but he set the whole thing up for me. I mean, how could I NOT make this pilgrimage!!!

:hyper:
 
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