Cleveland TripThe wedding went off without a hitch and an excellent time was had by all. Saw some cousins I hadn't seen in 20+ years.
My brother, sister, brother-in-law and two of their children went to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday. Our reaction was pretty much uniform; after you've seen a couple stage costumes and guitars, you've seen them all. Some of the knicknacks were cool, but how much real interest is there in seeing Jim Morrison's third grade report card, or his handmade Mothers' Day cards.
There was really nothing to engage the kids; not much interactivity. We were encouraged to see the film showing all the inductees performing; it wasn't terrible, but 20 years of inductees adds up to a fair amount of time. Oddly, I don't recally any profanity in the film, but while we were waiting to enter the theatre there was a loop running of some induction ceremonies and there were several f-bombs lobbed in that could at least have been bleeped. Not that kids would enjoy the film anyway; there is a rule that nobody can be inducted until 25 years after their first recording, so most of the performers were largely unknown to my (bored to tears) 12-year-old nephew.
And there was a distinct aroma of Political Correctness in the selections; it seemed like every class had to have a black musician or group. While some of them were obviously legitimate either as rock performers (Jimi Hendrix, Temptations, Parliament/Funkadelic), inspirations (Leadbelly, Howlin' Wolf) or other contributions (Berry Gordy of Motown), it was also clear that the weakest selections were among these performers as well. I mean, the O'Jays? The Shirelles? Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers? "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" is a terrific song, but there are a lot of terrific songs out there.
Not that there weren't some ridiculous selections among the white folks as well. Ricky Nelson was inducted in the second class, in 1986, a pick that obviously had more to do with his untimely death the year before than to his body of work.
As for Cleveland itself, it was bigger than I expected, but kinda gritty. Walking a mile or so, you'd get approached by at least half a dozen panhandlers. And the bugs were not to be believed; fortunately it was mostly the non-biting kind. I got a couple pictures I'll put up in a bit.
