24 April 2009

Edinboro, Pennsylvania

Had a great pit stop at the Rock ‘n Roll Hall Of Fame. They’ve got some great museum items there, some of my favorites being

the original notebook paper with the handwritten lyrics to “In My Life” by John Lennon
the actual tape machine used by the Beatles to record the “seargent peppers” album
original crayon drawings made by Jimi Hendrix when he was a little kid
harmonicas and schnazzy suits from Stevie Wonder’s closet
the acoustic guitar played by Eric Clapton in the “Unplugged” session
the actual jacket and ‘wolf’ mask worn by Michael Jackson in the “Thriller” video

And the best part? We were at the counter paying for our tickets when we first got there, and the total came to $122 (plus parking)… we were in the process of paying, and the woman asked what we were doing in Cleveland. I told her we were on tour, and she said, “well then it’s free for you to get in! you just need to give us a copy of your latest album.” So I ran to the van and got a copy of TTA, and she took it, saying that their policy is to let bands in for free so long as they give a copy of a legitimately produced album… and the Hall of Fame keeps that album in their archive in case the band is ever inducted… the museum can then say that they have an “original early work,” etc. Awesome.

After the Hall of Fame, we hit the road and stopped for some authentic German food (peppered chicken sauce poured over mashed potatoes with soft fluffy white bread and butter… mmm) at a little cafe in Willoughby, Ohio… about 20 miles outside of Cleveland. The proprietor, John, came over and sat down with us for our entire lunch, talking about his home country (Germany), about living in Salt Lake City and how he loves Colorado, and about how he wants us to come back sometime and play a show in the parking lot of his cafe. We gave him a CD at the end of lunch and he put it on the house music system, and it was still playing when we walked out the door to the car. Great guy, great food, great break from the road.

We’re now driving in Pennsylvania. We should be at Edinboro University in about 15 minutes, in time to load in, soundcheck, and play the show right on time. We’re going to drive another 2-3 hours tonight after the gig, to knock off some of the distance to upstate New York where we play with Keller Williams tomorrow night.

Here are some photos from today from Fred’s camera:

outside the hotel – spring has sprung

gas station office

outside the hotel this morning – blue skies

outside the hotel

draining the cooler (old ice water = mold = bad times)

leprechaun house

leprechaun

anton the photog at the rock ‘n roll hall of fame

r ‘n r hall of fame

cleveland indians’ home, lake erie, big boat

cleveland downtown

cruising

george harrison eyeball

the ramones

neil young artwork

anton + fred @ r ‘n r hall of fame

anton ready for his induction

glass

glass

glass

boss