Wisconsin Journal Number 27 22 May 1998 Last month I visited Cleveland to give a talk at Case Western, and decided to go a day early to do some sightseeing. My prime target was the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum, which is right on the lakefront in downtown. My hosts had never been there, and it was an excuse for them to play hookey from work, too. On the way there, we passed a large outdoor sculpture of a rubber stamp, near some state office building, I think. The RNRHF+M is a striking building, on seven levels (top two not yet open to the public), with a great glass atrium sloping off one side, and flying walkways extending to a circular theater on the middle level. As you approach the museum across a plaza, you hear music coming from a planter in the middle. If you look closely, you see that the sound is coming out of fake rocks. (Rock music, get it?) The main exhibits are on the lower level from where you enter. Among the things I saw: - A ZZ Top hot rod, with guitars in the shape of the car. - A shirt belonging to Fats Domino (with dominoes on it). - A whole case devoted to Ricky Nelson. - Woodie Guthrie's mandolin. - The dulcimer that Brian Jones of the Stones played on "Lady Jane." - Jim Morrison's Cub Scout shirt. - An exhibit on "One-Hit Wonders." Indeed, I recognized most of the songs and could recall none of the performers. - The coat John Lennon wore on the cover of Sgt. Pepper. - The hand-written lyrics to "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." - Trivia time: What was the original title of "Hey, Jude"?* - A wall devoted to Alan Freed, one of the first Rock and Roll DJs. The museum is heavy into multimedia, with lots of touch screens, TVs, theaters and headphones throughout. My favorite was a bank of computers where you could choose a group and trace back through the performers and styles that had influenced them. I also liked a short film on rock and roll lyrics. The conclusion was that it doesn't matter if the lyrics sound stupid. There are also reconstructions of a radio station and the Sun Records recording studio where Elvis Presley made his first recordings. The upper levels house the Hall of Fame. You start with a video of clips from all the induction ceremonies. Then you go into the big round theater, where there is a movie of all the different performers inducted each year. (It doesn't go in order, but jumps around instead.) They already had the 1998 inductees (Eagles, Santana, Mamas and Papas, Fleetwood Mac) added to the movie. Along a walkway ringing the theater are the autographs of most of the inductees, etched in glass. You come out on the level above, where there are "jukeboxes" that play songs from all the Hall of Fame members. >From the museum, we headed to "The Flats." It is an area of restaurants and boardwalks on either side of the Cuyahoga River that used to be warehouses. The restaurant where we had lunch looks out the mouth of the river into Lake Erie. While we were eating, a freighter headed out of the river onto the lake. I'm not 100% certain what the cargo was, but I think it carried salt. (There are still active salt mines under Cleveland. Seems like it would be a great motivater for your graduate students--"Finish your thesis or it's down to the salt mines.") >From The Flats we drove into campus, which was formed by the merger of Case Institute of Technology and Western Reserve University. The schools have always been adjacent, but you still see signs of the former separation. For example, none of the buildings on the Case quad have doors on the Western Reserve side. The campus is adjacent to a park-like area with a pond and several museums. I managed to get some time in the art museum before dinner. It has a wide-ranging collection, with representatives of about every period and style of fine art I am familiar with, as well as lot of decorative arts. I saw some wonderful Faberge flowers, including one that was in a crystal vase made to look like it was full of water. Nearby was a large collection of enamel and porcelain boxes, and several rooms of European furniture and pottery. I worked my way by a case of Gothic ivory carving and ended up at an extensive collection of pre-Columbian art, with a lot of gilt vessels and jewlery from Central and South America. The process by which they were made is interesting. The pieces are formed from an alloy called tumbaga (tumbaya? tumbaja? having trouble with my notes), which is made from gold and silver (which occur naturally together) plus added copper. The alloy has a lower melting point than copper, but is stronger than any of the metals by itself. It was hammering into sheets, then given its finish via "depletion gilding." The copper is removed from the surface of a sheet, either by heating to form copper oxide that is hammered away, or by etching with acidic plant juices. The result is material with a durable interior, but mostly gold surface. I was running short on time by this point, so made a fairly quick tour through the Chinese, Japanese and Indian sections. I wanted to see their armor collection, but it was closed for renovation. On the way out I passed a 12th century "table fountain," which is a metal centerpiece where water is pumped to the top and cascades down through several levels, turning tiny waterwheels that in turn ring bells. I stayed the night in the Glidden House, which is located in the same park area as the museums. It was a private residence that was donated to the university, and is now used as a guest house. There is a new back wing with additional rooms, but the lobby, bar and breakfast rooms are all an orginal part of the house. Other bits back in Madison: Luke and I stopped by Olbrich Gardens again to see the spring flowers. There was an Earth Day fair going on, and Eartha the Elf was due later that afternoon. I went driving with Luke for the first time, and managed to keep my mouth shut except for two times. He drove Kaye and I down to Paoli, a small town on the way to New Glarus, where there's a neat gallery in a former creamery. We saw a new exhibit of clocks and whimsical art. The midwest crew championships were on Lake Wingra near our house, and Luke and I walked over to watch a few races. I noticed that some of the fours shells now have the coxswain tucked in the bow of the boat, facing forward, and calling the stroke via a PA system. All the eights still had the cox in back. Wisconsin seemed to be winning most races they were in, both mens and womens. The UW Spring band concert is a big deal, and was held in the new Kohl Center this year. We didn't get to go, but did see a tape of it on TV. It's a huge production, with lights, fireworks and the director flying over the audience during the second half. I noticed a plaque downtown recently explaining that the isthmus streets were named after the signers of the constitution. All but two signers have streets downtown. Madison doesn't, because the city was named after him, and the other's name was on a street that was platted but never built. More soon, Dave * It was first called "Hey, Jules", written for Julian Lennon.