I’m of the humble opinion really screwed up when they made
the movie, “Night At The Museum” back in 2006. They just plain got it all wrong.
Instead of casting Ben Stiller in the starring role, they should have cast me. And, instead setting
it in the Museum of Natural History, it should have taken place at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Stick with me here because there’s sound logic to my thinking.
See, through a lot of my life, I’ve had a fantasy of rummaging
through the attics and warehouses of such stars as Elvis Presley, Gene Simmons, or name your favorite Rolling Stone.
To be able and go through their items that are tied to major events in their lives would be both awe inspiring and
surreal.
I’ve had the privilege of touring
Graceland twice but, for some reason, the staff wouldn’t let me go up into the attic. For my diverse
viewing pleasure, I’ve visited many of the Hard Rock Cafés in the U.S. and Bahamas and stared in wonder at the
many artifacts and memorabilia that once belonged to some of my favorite rock stars.
Next on my Rock and Roll Bucket List is to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame located in
the city of Rock’s birth, Cleveland, Ohio. It is there that one can see an endless array of guitars,
clothing, cars, and a mind boggling collection of iconic memorabilia from the royalty of Rock and Roll.
If one loves Rock and Roll, then the Hall would be considered
one of the holy shrines of the genre that must be visited and to which one pays homage. Not one to just
want to merely put a check mark next to the Hall’s entry on my bucket list, I wanted to delve into the behind the scenes
mechanizations of the Hall.
Why? Because
not only am I a fan of classic rock music, I’m a business nerd and, while I will gaze in amazement at David Bowie’s
red, thigh high platform boots, I will wonder what the arrangements were to get them there. I’ll
ask myself questions like: What are the insurance arrangements to have this stuff in the Hall?
How are the artifacts verified and certified? Boring stuff like that.
So that I can satisfy my geekiness ahead of time and enjoy my
visit to the Hall when I do go there, I thought it might be a good idea to have a chat with the CEO of the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame, Terry Stewart. I originally contacted Mr. Stewart for comment while writing the interview I conducted
with Wild Cherry’s Rob Parissi. At that time, Terry was kind enough to commit to being interviewed
at a later date so that I could pick his encyclopedic mind about the Hall.
When we recently chatted by phone, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I
guess that I had it in my mind that I would have to deal with some stuffed shirt without a sense of humor. Was
I ever wrong! It became immediately clear why Terry Stewart and Rob Parissi are friends. Stewart’s
sense of humor and love for his work came through clearly during the small talk at the beginning of our conversation.
After chatting about his home state of
Alabama, Rob Parissi and other items of mutual interest, I inquired about what a visitor to the Hall would see if they were
to visit there today.
“Well, they’ll
see our normal, permanent exhibits which are on seven floors and 150,000 square feet of space. These permanent exhibits are
pretty much the history of rock and roll. And we have a number of special exhibits. We have the Motown
50ith Anniversary exhibit right now. We always have a photography special exhibit such as George Kalinsky,
the photographer for the (Madison Square) Garden.
“And then we have the Woodstock 40th anniversary exhibit as well as a giant
Bruce Springsteen exhibit. But, you know, the average stay is four to five hours so there’s more
to see and do in a day if you really immerse yourself in it.”
I was curious if there were a lot of repeat visitors to the Rock Hall.
“Yeah, we have visitors that come a lot but about 90% of
our attendance is outside the region. Those people are coming from 50 states and 100 countries.
They aren’t really big, repeat people. It’s really a lot of first time visitors.”
