BEST Rock and Roll Hall of Fame EVER

Before the wedding this weekend, we stopped in at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which is located in Cleveland, Ohio. I had never thought of Cleveland as the birthplace of Rock and Roll… I sort of assumed that representatives from every other city in the world does have some sort of a music scene (Austin's Indie Scene, New Orleans jazz scene, San Francisco's jam scene, New York's punk scene, Memphis, Nashville, etc spring to mind) had gathered together and taken a vote to pick a neutral city with anti-Semitic* panhandlers to call the birthplace of rock and roll.

*This is a story for another time. Let's just say the people on the streets of Cleveland get a little testy when you don't give them cash.

However, I was mistaken. As I learned from the historic Ohio plaque from outside the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland is indeed the birthplace of "Rock and Roll". And by "Rock and Roll" I mean, the words "Rock and Roll", not the music itself. The music was born in Memphis, with Elvis. It turns out that some old timey DJ in Cleveland coined the term "Rock and Roll", hence the state of Ohio has claimed it as their own. The words, not the music.

The Hall itself was pretty sweet, lots of memorabilia, broken guitars, Brittany Spear's outfits (she totally wouldn't fit into them today), Jimi Hendrix's scarves, a recreation of Sun Studios, the Beatles Yellow Submarine, records, ticket stubs, drumsticks, Jerry Garcia's guitars, etc.

Anyway, the museum was pretty interesting - given the immense history that is Rock and Roll the presentation is pretty comprehensive and well done. Definitely a must see if you are in Cleveland.