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U2 rocks shrine to rock and roll
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame validates Cleveland as a city with soul
Paul Gains
The music industry selected Cleveland as the site of the I.M. Pei-designed Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. It is currently hosting a major exhibition celebrating the career highlights of Irish rockers U2.
Cleveland has earned a reputation as a blue-collar professional sports town, but how about a musical Eden? For a start there's the world-renowned Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, which regularly performs to sellout audiences at Severance Hall.
However, since the American music industry chose the city as the permanent site of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in 1995, visitors have another compelling reason to visit Cleveland -- and there is an even more compelling reason this year for fans of Irish rock band U2.
In the Name of Love -- Two Decades of U2, which opened in February and is on until the end of the year, celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Irish rockers. Jim Henke, curator at the museum, calls the band "one of the most relevant" in rock and roll history. They are also one of the few star bands with the original members -- no deaths, retirements, and none have been fired.
It should be noted that Cleveland outbid San Francisco, Memphis, Philadelphia and other large U.S. cities to become the permanent site of the museum by using one heck of a persuasive argument.
The term "rock and roll," lobbyists claimed, was first popularized by a Cleveland disc jockey named Alan Freed who played the rhythm and blues music associated with black Americans for predominantly white audiences. In 1952, Freed organized what was widely considered the first rock and roll concert, The Moondog Coronation Ball. In a prelude of things to come, Cleveland police closed it down after the crowd exceeded the arena's capacity.
The arena where that debacle took place has long since closed. However, there is no shortage of music venues, all in walking distance of the downtown Hyatt Regency Hotel and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The magnificent six-storey pyramid of glass and steel was designed by I.M. Pei. It contains thousands of rare and alluring artifacts that glorify rock and roll.
Concerts are held in the museum's lobby and if you look carefully, you may see some of rock's elite, who regularly stop by. Aerosmith's Steven Tyler caused a sensation recently when he wandered through the turnstiles.
The museum extends an open invitation to visiting rock stars, who quickly discover this is more than a wax museum with a few guitars tacked up on the wall. There are displays dedicated to legends such as Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, The Who, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis, The Beatles and many more. These include photos, instruments, costumes and other unusual items. John Lennon's school report card and Jim Morrison's cub scout uniform are two examples of the unusual. One of my personal favourites is a document listing the back stage requirements of the Rolling Stones during one of their earlier tours. There's enough booze on this list to open a liquor store.
On the lower level, a selection of Annie Liebowitz's photographs, poster-sized, adorns the walls. These photos include Jimi Hendrix, the Glimmer Twins (Keith Richards and Mick Jagger) before their faces were ravaged by the excesses of rock, John Lennon in granny glasses and beret, and the legendary Bob Marley.
The exhibition also highlights the musical genres that have contributed to rock and roll -- motown, rhythm and blues, hip hop, disco and punk among them.
The visionary behind the scenes is Jim Henke, vice-president of exhibitions and curatorial affairs, who is an encyclopedia of rock and roll history. The 48-year-old native of Cleveland earned his stripes as a music writer and editor at Rolling Stone magazine in the 1980s and early '90s.
"How do you go from being a journalist to being a curator? In some ways there are many similarities," Mr. Henke says. "You are sort of telling a story with the exhibit. We don't buy much. Pretty much everything comes from the artists themselves or from their families or the managers."
And that is where he excels. Mr. Henke has maintained relationships with some of the biggest names in music, and that has led to unprecedented access to items. The U2 attraction is a fine example. Mr. Henke wrote several Rolling Stone features on the band and became friends with Bono. At one point, Mr. Henke mailed Bono a biography on Martin Luther King, which so impressed him, he penned In the Name of Love.
When Mr. Henke approached U2 with the idea of an exhibition he met with some trepidation. Larry Mullen, the drummer, who is dubbed The Collector, did not want the band to be seen as marketing itself. Mr. Henke assured him it would benefit the many U2 fans in North America who might not know the band's history.
"I went over to his house in Dublin and learned he actually bought the house next door, which he used to store all his stuff," Mr. Henke says. "He had boxes and boxes full of stuff going back to when they formed in high school and were called The Hype -- tickets and backstage passes from shows and posters, the first U2 T-shirt that they had silk screened in a high school art class."
In the 300-seat theatre on the second floor, the 90-minute documentary, Rattle and Hum, plays continuously, while outside a collection of Anton Corbijn's photography is on display. The Dutch photographer has followed the band for 20 years. His career exploded when the band's did.
Other artifacts, which will be returned to the band when the exhibition closes, include original rejection letters from Arista and RSO records written in 1979, advising the band their material did not suit them. Also on display are Larry Mullen's first drum kit, his 1980 Musician's Union card, various set lists and concert reviews.
On the fifth floor are the original costumes from the PopMart and Zoo TV Tours that fans will instantly recognize, including Mirrorball Man, The Fly and MacPhisto. In one cabinet are the handwritten lyrics of The Ground Beneath Her Feet, the song co-written by Bono and Salmon Rushdie at a time when the author was in hiding.
The exhibition continues until the end of the year and is well worth a trip across the border.
The Convention and Visitors bureau of Greater Cleveland can be reached at 216-621-4110 or go to www.travelcleveland.com
? Copyright 2003 National Post
U2 rocks shrine to rock and roll
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame validates Cleveland as a city with soul
Paul Gains
The music industry selected Cleveland as the site of the I.M. Pei-designed Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. It is currently hosting a major exhibition celebrating the career highlights of Irish rockers U2.
Cleveland has earned a reputation as a blue-collar professional sports town, but how about a musical Eden? For a start there's the world-renowned Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, which regularly performs to sellout audiences at Severance Hall.
However, since the American music industry chose the city as the permanent site of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in 1995, visitors have another compelling reason to visit Cleveland -- and there is an even more compelling reason this year for fans of Irish rock band U2.
In the Name of Love -- Two Decades of U2, which opened in February and is on until the end of the year, celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Irish rockers. Jim Henke, curator at the museum, calls the band "one of the most relevant" in rock and roll history. They are also one of the few star bands with the original members -- no deaths, retirements, and none have been fired.
It should be noted that Cleveland outbid San Francisco, Memphis, Philadelphia and other large U.S. cities to become the permanent site of the museum by using one heck of a persuasive argument.
The term "rock and roll," lobbyists claimed, was first popularized by a Cleveland disc jockey named Alan Freed who played the rhythm and blues music associated with black Americans for predominantly white audiences. In 1952, Freed organized what was widely considered the first rock and roll concert, The Moondog Coronation Ball. In a prelude of things to come, Cleveland police closed it down after the crowd exceeded the arena's capacity.
The arena where that debacle took place has long since closed. However, there is no shortage of music venues, all in walking distance of the downtown Hyatt Regency Hotel and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The magnificent six-storey pyramid of glass and steel was designed by I.M. Pei. It contains thousands of rare and alluring artifacts that glorify rock and roll.
Concerts are held in the museum's lobby and if you look carefully, you may see some of rock's elite, who regularly stop by. Aerosmith's Steven Tyler caused a sensation recently when he wandered through the turnstiles.
The museum extends an open invitation to visiting rock stars, who quickly discover this is more than a wax museum with a few guitars tacked up on the wall. There are displays dedicated to legends such as Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, The Who, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis, The Beatles and many more. These include photos, instruments, costumes and other unusual items. John Lennon's school report card and Jim Morrison's cub scout uniform are two examples of the unusual. One of my personal favourites is a document listing the back stage requirements of the Rolling Stones during one of their earlier tours. There's enough booze on this list to open a liquor store.
On the lower level, a selection of Annie Liebowitz's photographs, poster-sized, adorns the walls. These photos include Jimi Hendrix, the Glimmer Twins (Keith Richards and Mick Jagger) before their faces were ravaged by the excesses of rock, John Lennon in granny glasses and beret, and the legendary Bob Marley.
The exhibition also highlights the musical genres that have contributed to rock and roll -- motown, rhythm and blues, hip hop, disco and punk among them.
The visionary behind the scenes is Jim Henke, vice-president of exhibitions and curatorial affairs, who is an encyclopedia of rock and roll history. The 48-year-old native of Cleveland earned his stripes as a music writer and editor at Rolling Stone magazine in the 1980s and early '90s.
"How do you go from being a journalist to being a curator? In some ways there are many similarities," Mr. Henke says. "You are sort of telling a story with the exhibit. We don't buy much. Pretty much everything comes from the artists themselves or from their families or the managers."
And that is where he excels. Mr. Henke has maintained relationships with some of the biggest names in music, and that has led to unprecedented access to items. The U2 attraction is a fine example. Mr. Henke wrote several Rolling Stone features on the band and became friends with Bono. At one point, Mr. Henke mailed Bono a biography on Martin Luther King, which so impressed him, he penned In the Name of Love.
When Mr. Henke approached U2 with the idea of an exhibition he met with some trepidation. Larry Mullen, the drummer, who is dubbed The Collector, did not want the band to be seen as marketing itself. Mr. Henke assured him it would benefit the many U2 fans in North America who might not know the band's history.
"I went over to his house in Dublin and learned he actually bought the house next door, which he used to store all his stuff," Mr. Henke says. "He had boxes and boxes full of stuff going back to when they formed in high school and were called The Hype -- tickets and backstage passes from shows and posters, the first U2 T-shirt that they had silk screened in a high school art class."
In the 300-seat theatre on the second floor, the 90-minute documentary, Rattle and Hum, plays continuously, while outside a collection of Anton Corbijn's photography is on display. The Dutch photographer has followed the band for 20 years. His career exploded when the band's did.
Other artifacts, which will be returned to the band when the exhibition closes, include original rejection letters from Arista and RSO records written in 1979, advising the band their material did not suit them. Also on display are Larry Mullen's first drum kit, his 1980 Musician's Union card, various set lists and concert reviews.
On the fifth floor are the original costumes from the PopMart and Zoo TV Tours that fans will instantly recognize, including Mirrorball Man, The Fly and MacPhisto. In one cabinet are the handwritten lyrics of The Ground Beneath Her Feet, the song co-written by Bono and Salmon Rushdie at a time when the author was in hiding.
The exhibition continues until the end of the year and is well worth a trip across the border.
The Convention and Visitors bureau of Greater Cleveland can be reached at 216-621-4110 or go to www.travelcleveland.com
? Copyright 2003 National Post
