My wife and I took a brief trip to Cleveland, Ohio in August, 2024. We had hoped to do so in 2020 while my wife was working temporarily in Fort Wayne, Indiana, when I could fly in, and we could then drive over to Cleveland. But the world shut down when COVID struck. We both love rock music, and as an amateur rock and pop musician, I was interested in visiting one of the top destinations the city has to offer: the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. However, we both agreed that we would need more than a single objective to justify flying from our home in Springfield, Missouri, through O’Hare airport in Chicago, and then on to Cleveland. We found one. We discovered that one of our favorite bands, Hootie and the Blowfish, was touring in 2024 and that Cleveland was one of their stops. They were going to be playing at the magnificent Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, about 20 minutes south of Cleveland. We had a twofer and were good to go!

Neither one of us knew much about Cleveland and didn’t have high expectations beyond what we planned to do while in the city. We were pleasantly surprised. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Erie, Cleveland is taking advantage of tourism with great parks and beaches right on the water. The views are breathtaking. With a scenic skyline, good hotels and restaurants, stadiums, arenas, and several major attractions, Cleveland really is a place to explore. The city claims to be the birthplace of Rock & Roll music, primarily because radio station WJW disc jockey Alan Freed coined the phrase “Rock & Roll” to describe the upbeat black rhythm and blues music he was playing in 1951. Of course, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was ground zero for us, and it also exceeded our expectations.

The building is a modern structure with a huge glass atrium at the entrance. It has six levels beginning on the entrance floor, but the tour starts one level below with the Ahmet Ertegun Main Exhibit Hall, which carries visitors from rock’s earliest stars to those newly emerging contemporary musicians. There are thousands of items on display, along with feature films, videos, interactive kiosks, reading material, and plenty of music. This exhibit has the museums largest displays devoted to single artists, bands, subgenres, and movements of Rock & Roll history and the industry: Revolutionary Women in History, Hip Hop, Roots of Rock, Pioneers of Rock, Sun Records, Cities & Sounds, the music of Cleveland and the Midwest, and so much more.

Level 1 has a ticket booth, a café, large museum store, and the Klipsch Stage where performances are scheduled throughout the year. Level 2 is called “The Garage” where visitors can sign up to play various instruments with or without a house band in a setting that looks very much like a real garage. I played an electric guitar (something I never do) and sang “Midnight Rider” by the Allman Brothers Band with the help of a house drummer and a bass player, who also sang harmony with me. Although it wasn’t my best performance of that song, it was still fun to play in such an iconic venue. This level also has a large collection of different types of instruments and sound booths for visitors to jam on their own. The Les Paul exhibit is on this floor too, paying homage to the American jazz, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid-body electric guitar, and his prototype served as inspiration for the Gibson Les Paul guitar.

Level 3 is focused almost completely on the Hall of Fame inductees, with the Inductee Signature Gallery, New Inductee exhibit, and the Connor Theater featuring the Power of Rock Experience. Visitors can look through alphabetic lists of inductees and a large chronological display of the all the inductees going back to the Hall of Fame’s inception in 1986. This floor also has the New Inductee and the In Memoriam exhibits. The Connor Theater is on this floor, where visitors can watch a 15-minutes video highlighting the Hall of Fame induction nights from the past.

Level 4 features the Pink Floyd tour replica of The Wall, designed to mirror the Berlin performance in July 21, 1990. This level is also the location of the Foster Theater, which is used for onsite education programs or private rentals. The theater has hosted hundreds of rock star talks and legendary rock films over the years. Level 5, along with some of the ramps in the museum, has individual display cases devoted to the legends of Rock & Roll, from the Bee Gees and the Doobie Brothers to Public Enemy to Tom Petty.

Level 6 is devoted to an exclusive exhibit that Bon Jovi unveiled with the museum in 2018. This full-floor showcase spans four decades of the band’s career along with never-before-seen artifacts from each of the band members. Visitors are immersed in the band’s story and music from inception to the present. Huge video presentations are joined by text panels and display cases filled with musical instruments, clothing, and loads of memorabilia from the band.

Organizations like the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame that establish themselves as authorities of a particular subject area all have one thing in common. They always stir up controversy, mostly about who or what is included, but more contentiously, excluded from their lists. This museum obviously recognizes this dilemma and even seeks to address it by allowing visitors to submit names of performers or bands they think should be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Many writers over the years have discussed this topic, and some of them have challenged the Hall of Fame on its choices of inductees through the decades. One of the most ironic exclusions is Huey Lewis and the News, the band that had a major hit with “The Heart of Rock & Roll,” which actually mentions Cleveland at the very end of the song!

I certainly had my share of questions come to mind as we strolled through each level of the museum. I was disappointed to see how much more space and almost reverential attention was given to Elvis Presley on one wall, while on the opposite wall a smaller display featured Chuck Berry, often considered the Father of Rock & Roll. I think those two positions should have been swapped. One of my favorite wall displays was for Jimi Hendrix, probably the greatest guitarist in rock history. I was baffled to learn that bands with place names such as Chicago were inducted fairly late in the game and that the bands Kansas and Boston still haven’t made it. At the same time, I was delighted to see so much attention given to Wanda Jackson, an Oklahoma native who got her start on ABC Television’s “Ozark Jubilee” broadcast out of Springfield, Missouri from 1955 to 1960. She later became known as the Queen of Rockabilly, a title she still holds to this day. As of this post date, she is still with us.

We were able to pack a lot in just two full days while still having some down time walking along the shore of Lake Erie, enjoying some great meals and drinks, and exploring the public spaces on the water around the Hall of Fame. On top of all that, we were lucky enough to catch Hootie and the Blowfish back together again for a national tour. Oh, and their opening acts were Edwin McClain and Collective Soul. For people who love rock music, it just doesn’t get much better than our quick trip to Cleveland.