Geelong, 1980s. Cleveland, 2023.
I retired from teaching at the end of 2022 and celebrated by having an overseas holiday in early 2023. One definite destination on the itinerary was the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.
It was a sensational way to spend four hours. There were many items on display that stopped me in my tracks. I saw the Epiphone guitar that John Lennon was playing on the Apple rooftop and played during the Get Back sessions.
I saw the mellotron keyboard that Paul used to play the introduction to the Beatles song Strawberry Field. I saw the Selmer tenor saxophone that Clarence Clemons played on Springsteen’s Born To Run.
There were costumes and memorabilia and I also saw guitars played by Bill Haley, Elvis, Phil Everly, Jackson Browne, Jimmy Hendrix, Prince, Howlin’ Wolf and John Lee Hooker.
In viewing the John Lee Hooker guitar I was taken straight back to the many years of joy the Blues Brothers movie had brought me.
First viewed on a student union film night, in the early 1980s while at Deakin Uni, I was taken by the dark humour, the whacky storyline