Casual
BARNES, FRED
Casual Hot Wax Museum I like rock and roll, especially Bob Seger, Bob Dylan, and Ray Charles. My son Freddy, 10, also likes rock and roll, especially R.E.M, Hootie and the Blowfish, and Blues...
...So when we went to Cleveland in September to see an Indians-Red Sox baseball game, we dropped by the just-opened Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum for a tour...
...This stuff wasn't interesting, and the crowds moved quickly by...
...But it's primitive music, mostly...
...It once had significance, but that came and went with the 1960s...
...Freddy insisted on strumming one...
...Now rock concerts inspire teenage boys to grovel in the mud...
...The only thing he remembered from the entire tour was the mannequin, on the second floor, of reggae singer Bob Marley "It was funny looking," he said...
...Rectifying this is the museum's job: "Since its inception, it has been the desire of the Board to make the Hall of Fame a dignified and serious home commemorating the people who created this music...
...And there's lots of silly artifacts...
...They'll grow up...
...And that's the problem...
...Sure, it's pleasantly distracting to listen to in the car...
...Fred Barnes...
...The truth is there's not much to see at the museum...
...Other things, many, many of them, are more important...
...What about hearing the music...
...The building (cost: $92 million) is too grand for what's being celebrated inside...
...Also, it's an attempt to puff up a segment of the recording industry that's notorious for unbridled greed, drug use, and corruption...
...So were the mannequin of Sid Vicious and the four of Michael Jackson...
...Another is "non-performer...
...We went to one of the computerized devices with earphones in which you're supposed to be able to pick out the performer you want and punch up the music...
...Skirting this fact by elevating rock and roll, giving it gravitas, transforming rock stars into musical statesmen-that's what the museum is all about...
...This gives rock producers and deejays a chance to claim equal status with rock stars...
...I suspect the Board feared the Hall wouldn't be dignified and serious enough if only rock performers were honored...
...We heard nothing...
...It's also fun to dance to (I'm guessing here, since I don't dance...
...We tried...
...The main floor is dominated by wardrobes of the stars: John Lennon's leather jacket, sneakers from Run-DMC, Keith Moon's elevator shoes...
...He wanted to hear R.E.M...
...My son Freddy, 10, also likes rock and roll, especially R.E.M, Hootie and the Blowfish, and Blues Traveler...
...By age 25, most people have relegated rock and roll to a small corner of their lives...
...I didn't examine the plaques closely...
...The actual Hall of Fame is on the sixth floor, and it's not easy to reach...
...It provides nice background noise for teenage parties and beach outings...
...The room was packed, and all I could think about in the dark was keeping hold of Freddy...
...Freddy didn't want to sit through any rock films, but I made him...
...My favorite was the high-school yearbook from Wink, Texas, of Roy Orbison...
...One is "early influences"-everyone from Woody Guthrie to Hank Williams to Lead-belly...
...The glossy program (cost: $10) says rock music has been "maligned as an art form by critics...
...You have to climb a spiral staircase that brings you to a room in almost total darkness...
...There are old posters from rock concerts...
...Maybe we didn't follow instructions carefully enough...
...There are plenty of guitars...
...They listen to oldies stations...
...How would you explain losing a child in a museum...
...Rock and roll doesn't warrant such exalted treatment...
...The ballgame was better...
...The only things illuminated are plaques on the wall honoring inductees that include talents like Dylan and Buddy Holly but also mediocrities such as the Allman Brothers Band, Eddie Cochran, and the Grateful Dead...
...Dick Clark is an inductee...
...I liked Roy Orbison's singing, but this didn't add to the pleasure...
...So they added other categories...
...True...
...Heck, Beethoven or Burl Ives would be eligible for this category...
...The museum itself-the building, situated downtown, beside Lake Erie-is breathtaking...
...And in the scheme of things, rock and roll isn't very important, musically, socially, or politically...
...Architect I. M. Pei delivered the goods...
...Freddy, by the way, was unimpressed by the shrine-like atmosphere...
...Well, there are several theaters with short films of rock musicians performing, along with chatter about rock's social and political significance...
Vol. 1 • October 1995 • No. 4
