I woke up today knowing it was going to be a good day. No I was not dreaming about being Ice Cube and yes I did not work today. I woke up this morning with a full agenda in line planned for a busy fun day.
Previous in the week I spoke to my blog vinyl addict friend Matt about joining me and my wonderful amazing wife for an adveture at the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame Museum. He was all about accompanying us to the house that rock built. We decided that noon would be a good time to meet up.
With a few hours before we were to pick Matt up in Lakewood I decided it would be a good idea to walk my dogs to get some energy out of them while my wife went to the gym. My dogs may be little but I am certain that they would be good sled dogs as they dragged me all over my neighborhood. I did not fall once but had a ton of close calls. Gotta love snow covered sidewalks!
Getting home before my wife did I thought it would be a good idea to add some music to the iTunes and delete some that I didn’t listen to any longer. The only problem with this is that I forgot to charge my iPhone (more on that in a bit).
As soon as my wife came home we headed out to a couple of stores and then to Pulp for a healthy lunch. Pulp rules. We shared a smoothie to die for and also a very healthy tuna wrap. It was the perfect little snack.
With time flying we headed to Cleveland to pick up Matt and then cruise over to the Rock Hall. I opted out on taking my camera with me since I know you can not take pictures inside the Rock Hall but I wish I would have reconsidered as Cleveland was very photogenic today. I had my iPhone with me and was able to take a couple of pics but since I was so involved in iTunes in the morning and forgot to charge my iPhone I had a very low battery… Craptastic. I was able to take a couple of photos of our adventure but not nearly as many as I wanted to.
We entered the Rock Hall and took a few hours to admire all the memorabilia inside the unique building. I was most pumped to see the 70’s/80’s punk rock as well as the 90’s grunge/rock collection gallery. Seeing the marionettes from the Alice In Chains “I Stay Away” video was awesome as well as seeing rock art posters of some gigs I actually attended in the 90’s. I can honestly say it was a blast from the past.
One exhibit we spent some time at was the WMMS 40th Anniversary Exhibit. Having listened to the Cleveland rock and roll station WMMS while growing up I got a kick out of all the memorabilia that was featured as well as the very entertaining video full of footage of the DJs from the 80’s (anyone know if it is available for purchase?). There were also abundances of fliers, t-shirts, ticket stubs, fan mail, and even a box of WMMS cereal. Yes, there are people out there who hold on to cereal boxes, right Matt?
Now I have been privileged to have been to the Rock Hall a few times in my life and then some. I mean after all I do live near Cleveland, it should be a place I hit up seeing I am a music fanatic right? I also have the pleasure of befriending some great folk. Without these friends I would never have been able to have done some of the things I have done at the Rock Hall.
I have visited the museum previously for the featured exhibits as well as had caught live shows the Rock Hall threw. I had VIP access (thanks to a wonderful friend) to the 2002 Scene Awards and hung out with Lo Fidelity Allstars outside the service entrance afterwards on a picnic table. I even caught a Q&A with Marky Ramone a few years back, that was amazing. So what happened next was unexpected as I thought I had done everything possible at the Rock Hall.
As we entered the final portion of the museum, the Marty Stuart collection (click HERE for pics courtesy of the Rock Hall) we passed the Alan Freed Studio, a Sirius Radio studio used by DJs for coast to coast broadcast. I have peered into the windows of the studio before wishing I could be in there to get a better look. While looking in the window I see out of the corner of my eye Matt waving at the DJ and the DJ waving back.
All I could think in my head was “WTF”?
Now Matt is what I like to call a very friendly guy unless it is 2am in Maryland and he is having trouble ordering a cheeseburger from Sheetz (I love you Matt, haha). The DJ walks to the door to say hi to Matt and invites us in. Looks like one of my wishes came true. Turns out that unknowingly Matt happened to be good friends with the mystery DJ.
The DJ introduced herself to my wife and I as Dusty Street, the host of Sirius Radio’s Classic Vinyl radio program. Having heard that channel many times I knew of her. Now what I did not realize was that she is a pretty big deal in the radio world. She was hilarious and made my day just hanging out with her while she did her thing. I could not help but think to myself how many rock stars sat in the very same seats my wife and I sat in. We said our goodbyes and continued our tour.
After a successful visit to the Rock Hall we headed out to Lakewood to grab some good eats at Melt. Have you ever been to Melt? Well if you love bread and cheese (and beer for all you drinkers out there), Melt is one of the greatest little restaurants in the Cleveland area. Think gourmet grilled cheese sandwich. My wife ordered a grilled PB&J sandwich of sorts while I had a crab cake grilled cheese. Matt had some meat sandwich of sorts. He strives on trying something different each time. The sandwiches were huge and delicious and mine is currently still lingering in my stomach…
Our pal who I now call RADam met up with us as he works down the street from Melt. We paid our tab and ventured down the street to the sweet smelling, never crowded, Exchange (no we could not ever fire you the day after J-Day). After finding nothing we headed next door to Phoenix Coffee where we wrapped up our evening with some hot beverages. Our conversations were vulgar and classic at the same time. The barista was extremely entertaining and the idea of four friends just hanging out laughing and having a good time was the best way to enjoy life.
It was good day, hell, it was a GREAT day. No use for an A.K. and plenty of memories thanks to good times and great friends. This was the perfect way to start out 2009.
As soon as I got home I could not help myself but to watch this video:
