themachinelive.com

I recently took a road trip to Ohio and my first tourist stop was the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. I had read some pretty harsh reviews about the place, like it is a glorified Hard Rock Cafe, or that there is too much focus on the artifacts, and less focus on the music. While I can understand how some glass half empty people may think that, I wouldn't go that far. But I admit I think it is neat to walk through a Hard Rock and gaze at the guitars, clothing, and rock memorabilia.

Because I also wanted to see the NFL Hall of Fame an hour away in Canton, I strolled through the Rock N Roll HoF at a quick pace. I was dissapointed that photos & video are not permitted other than within the lobby area. On one of the open floors in the pyramid like structure they had the blow up "teacher" from The Wall hanging over a mock portion of the wall with some words written by Rog. Also visable from the lobby on the second floor are giant sized Easter Island like faces from Floyd's Division Bell album cover art. They also had Floyd's mock plane from the Wall tour suspended from the ceiling.

Based on the guidebook I purchased at the store, it appears the artifacts and exhibits change quite a bit, so I'm sure if you revisted it annually you would probably see a significant change which probably keeps it new. For a little more than $20 I was dazzled not only by the artifacts but on how they told the story of Rock music rising out of the days of building the railroads across the country. I recommend it, I felt safe, it was easy to get to off the highway, and I parked in a underground garage for $10 and got a $2 discount validation when I bought my ticket. I'm curious if anyone else on the forum has visited it, and what they thought?