134. ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM

Cleveland, Ohio

1/19/2015

We got the Rock Hall without much incident. The building hard to miss, with its distinctive I.M. Pie design – so, you know, triangles. Did I mention the museum is free on Martin Luther King Day? Oh yeah. Lots of people seemed to know that. The place was so packed it was truly hard to move around. It felt more like being in the crowd at a rock concert, rather than at a rock museum. It was hard to keep all the kids moving yet together. That’s ok. We’re kind of used to that, and you do get what you pay for.

The museum itself is neat. It’s got a lot of goodies from various rock acts. They have Rage Against the Machine’s tour van. Actually, I don’t care for their music, but I had the exact same van when Laura and I were dating. Mine is not in a museum… yet.

I have a couple of students who are real musicphiles. We have a bit of an indignant running joke about how someone like Madonna could be inducted into the Rock Hall. (“Where do they draw the line? Why not induct Benjamin Franklin, because if he hadn’t discovered electricity, there wouldn’t be electric guitars!”) Actually being at the museum, I got the impression the museum was built less around the music, but more about the “Rock and Roll attitude” – this sort of anti-establishment cultural shift and I suppose someone like Madonna fits into that tradition. I don’t know. It sort of made sense, actually being in the museum, and the way the exhibits are designed.

They had a whole hallway of Jimi Hendrix’s wild costumes, which Kathleen really liked. (I think she’s forgiven me for the snow.) Daniel wanted his picture taken next to the signatures of the band-mates in Queen. Yes, he’s five. He has a favorite band. It is Queen. In fact, ever since he was a baby he has called them “Rock Star” – presumably in the pantheon of rock stars, Queen is such a pinnacle that they can claim the title “Rock Star” above all others. He still calls them that, even though he knows they are called Queen.

Brigid is more of an Elvis fan.

I enjoyed seeing the Pink Floyd wall. All teachers have to appreciate that one, don’t they?

When we left, Daniel and Philip wanted to see one last exhibit. There was this crazy looking bus just outside the museum, with all sorts of kooky stuff hanging off of it. We went over to get on board, when I realized this wasn’t an exhibit, but just some weird bus full of awesomely bearded dudes parked up against the museum. ROCK AND ROLL, MAN! 

We didn’t go in.

133. HOLDEN ARBORETUM

Kirtland, Ohio

1/19/2015

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is located in Cleveland, just about 2 hours from us. Tickets are also very expensive. However, the museum is free one day a year – on Martin Luther King Jr. Day – and since we haven’t been able to unleash our inner Patricia in awhile, this year seemed as good a time as any to head up there for a little daytrip.

We stopped at the Holden Arboretum, since it was on the way and I can’t resist hitting as many places at once as humanly possible, despite Laura’s persistent complaints to the contrary. The Holden Arboretum is 3,500 acres of Ohio land that Patricia refers to as “lush” and like “Eden.” Try going there in January. Yes, Laura, I guess that was kind of my fault.

As stubborn as I am, I would not be deterred – plus, this place isn’t free on Martin Luther King Day, so I was going to walk one of those darned Eden-like trails, even if it killed me. I tried to take baby Brigid’s stroller through the tundra, but Laura intervened, which I guess is why babies have mommies. Laura and Brigid returned to the visitor’s center where it was warm.

The rest of my crew of explorers did persevere, and all in all the kids had fun.

Kathleen tripped in the snow about 15 times, so I’m not winning “Dad of the Year” after this.

The Arboretum’s claim to fame is a collection of hedges, which Patricia says should bring out your “inner Edward Scissorhands” – which sounds like a call to vandalize, now that I think about it.

All in all, I can’t blame nature for disrupting a natural place – I’m sure it’s a much different experience in the spring. However, I think I was also nonplussed because I grew up in this area. All the trees and plant-life was the kind of stuff I saw all the time just around where I lived. There’s nothing objectively bad about the Holden Arboretum – it’s just that there’s no way this place would seem exotic to me. We know even the Eiffel Tower is boring to a Parisian. Not a very original observation, of course, but true.