Beyoncé, J.T., Chrissie Hynde, Prince, Bangles, and Sir Paul McCartney!

A visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and an announcement

Today’s post is a fun one, but first a brief announcement: This column will be my last one for a while. I am going on hiatus to focus on a book I’m writing. Writing a book, for me, takes a lot of time and concentration. To get it done, I need to stay on task.

For my wonderful paying subscribers: All the billing cycles will be paused until the column resumes. That’s true if you paid for the year or if you’re on a monthly plan. You will not have to pay for what you do not receive, in other words. If you have any concerns or questions at any time, please feel free to contact me.

For free subscribers as well as paid, there’s nothing you need to do. When the column returns, it will magically reappear in your email in-box. Thank you all for your understanding and support.

Now let’s get to what I promise will be an entertaining column. You definitely want to stick around and watch the very last video. It’s hilarious.—Kevin

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

In recent weeks I traveled to Ohio where, among other things, I stopped in Cleveland and visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It is a pretty cool place, I enjoyed it, and here is a 10-second glance at what the lobby looks like when you enter:

What else are you going to do when you’re in Cleveland, right? Located on Lake Erie, the Hall is the city’s No. 1 tourist attraction. It is now in the midst of a big renovation and expansion, which is sorely needed, I’d say.

There are six “levels” or floors to the building. For me, three of them were ho-hum. That includes Level 3, the gallery for the Hall of Fame honorees. It was not much to look at, a bunch of famous names on a wall.

But things come alive downstairs on Level 0. There they tell the story of the origins of rock including this 37-second clip of Elvis, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and Bill Haley:

I shot these clips on my phone, so the sound quality may not always be perfect. Even so, it is really a kick to see these performers when they were young, in their prime, and pumping out smoking hot sounds.

Ready for something spectacular? Jumping ahead to today, check out this 47-second musical montage of Bruno Mars, Morris Day, John Mellencamp, the East Bay’s MC Hammer, Roy Orbison, Prince, and more:

Prince’s last name was Nelson, by the way. Just sayin’. A grocery clerk in Canton, Ohio reminded me of that. Prince Rogers Nelson was his full name. His father’’s name was Prince, so he adopted that as his stage name.

That fabulous slice of movement and music is part of a documentary highlighting the acts that have appeared on Saturday Night Live over the years,. We’ll return to that in a minute.

Resuming our tour, one section of Level 0 focuses on the contributions of various cities to rock and roll, such as Los Angeles and San Francisco. Oakland bands were lumped in with San Francisco, which was too bad, because there is no way this band could have come from anywhere but the East Bay in the late 1960s-70s:

If Sly’s band could only come from the land of East Bay Grease, one could make a similar argument that this all-female group could have only originated from one place as well: the San Fernando Valley. Say hello to Susanna Hoffs and The Bangles.

The Rock Hall is hardly a nostalgia fest. There are exhibits, photos and videos of contemporary acts as well as tributes to the usual suspects such as Sir Paul’s band and Sir Mick’s band. All right then, here is a trivia question involving another famous English band.

Its lead singer once said, “I won’t a be rock star. I will be a legend. I always knew I was a star, and now the rest of the world agrees with me.” See if you can guess who he is. These are the shoes he wore during shows in the 1980s. Answer at bottom.

You will of course see lots of big hair at the hall, female as well as male:

Tina Turner

Jon Bon Jovi

Now we’ve come to my two favorite videos from the ones I shot on my morning at the Hall. The first is Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders, with Chrissie absolutely oozing rock star charisma.

Another trivia question for you: What state was she born and raised in? For the answer, all you have to do is wait for the end of this 35-second clip:

A featured exhibit when I was there highlighted the musical acts that have appeared on Saturday Night Live over its past 50 years. The centerpiece of the exhibit was a very entertaining 20-minute documentary directed by the uber-talented Questlove and his production team. The clip above with Bruno Mars and Prince was taken from that documentary.

This next clip is 1 minute, 22 seconds. But it’s worth every second. Queen Bey and Justin Timberlake have a great deal of fun with it, and you will too:

Answer: Only Freddie Mercury was legend enough to fit into those shoes. Thank you, all, for everything. Until we meet again down the road.