Well, this post is a little late, but I’ve been pretty busy since getting home from Cleveland (we turned right around and went to Destin the next weekend!). Vinnie and I had an awesome time on our trip. As I mentioned in my first post, we left early Friday and spent the drive singing every Green Day song we could fit in. Once we checked into the hotel, we got ready and headed straight into downtown Cleveland, looking for whatever crossed our path. We parked and walked over to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum to check out the scene for the next night. We noticed there was a red carpet event going on, and curiously asked around about it. Apparently there was a gala dinner going on and some of the inductees were going to check out their new exhibit the night before the big induction. We decided to explore a little bit more of the city and ended up finding a well-tucked bar where we spent the rest of the night meeting some locals and splurging on cocktails. We got back to our hotel (thanks Uber!) and finally got a good night’s sleep.
Saturday we made plans to do some shopping in the morning before finding a spot for lunch. Vinnie was on a mission to find a white belt to wear that night and I really wanted to add to my baseball cap collection. I was upset that the Indians were out of town that weekend, so I made up for it by buying a new Indians cap. It was perfect to wear on our stroll around Tremont, a college town just south of Cleveland.
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We ended up going to a little record shop, and it happened to be National #RecordStoreDay. It was so cool to flip through the old vinyls, and the smell was similar to sifting through old library books. You could feel the age and use of them, which, to me, made it feel even that much cooler. These records had seen some good times. Vinnie treated me to a vinyl and it was an awesome trip souvenir.
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For lunch, we went to a spot I had been dying to go to; Food Network Chef Michael Symon’s B Spot Burgers. There were a number locations around Cleveland, so I really wanted to scout one out and grab lunch while we were in town (check out my review of B Spot!). After that, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the evening. We look pretty good when we get all snazzed up, so I made sure we got some pictures! We got to the museum to pick up our tickets and then had about an hour to kill before the doors opened back up for the simulcast. We went over to the building where the ceremony was being broadcasted from and checked out another red carpet. We still didn’t catch a sight of Green Day, but we did see Alice Cooper! We had a great time at his concert in Alpharetta last summer, so it was cool to recognize him without all of his stage makeup. As time got closer to the ceremony, we made our way back to the museum and stood in line to get in. We weren’t able to dedicate a lot of time to walking around the museum, but the parts we saw were awesome! As we climbed the escalators up the different levels of the museum, we stopped on each floor to check out the exhibits. We came across two whole walls dedicated to the different Rolling Stone covers over the years. It was definitely one of the best parts, and Vinnie and I went and found some of our favorite covers. One floor had an especially cool Pink Floyd exhibit, definitely check it out in the photo gallery below.
The simulcast of the induction ceremony was so cool, it made you feel like you were there. Vinnie and I were lucky to snag two seats in the giant theater, and I’m glad we were comfy because the whole thing lasted almost six and a half hours. That’s over twice as long as the HBO special that’s airing later this month. We got to see a ton of behind the scenes moments, uncut speeches, and uncensored performances. I’m sure the special will be great, but it was awesome to watch the live taping. On my trip to New York, we saw The Nightly Show live, and now I have the urge to go find more live shows. As for the induction itself, Rolling Stone did a pretty great job of live-tweeting it, so check out their posts below and be sure to read the online articles they link to!
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Vinnie and I also snuck away from the crowd to go check out the exhibits of the new inductees, and most importantly, Green Day. It was so cool to check out the artifacts of Green Day’s career, and see Vinnie’s face light up as he tells me the story of the mud fight at Woodstock in ’94, and points at the outfit Billie Joe wore that day. He told me about Tre Cool’s burnt up drum set, Mike Dirnt's bass guitar, and many other little tidbits of knowledge. Vinnie really taught me everything I know about Green Day. I didn’t even need to read the little museum cards because I had my own personal tour guide. Watching him air guitar along with Green Day during their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction performance was the cherry on top of the weekend.
My dad asked me when we got home, "what was the best thing you saw?" And it was definitely Vinnie’s reaction to everything. He had so much fun pointing out the different artifacts like Alex Van Halen’s drum set, or the lyrics to Del Shannon's "Runaway." I loved sharing that weekend with him. We both left the museum feeling inspired, energized and even empowered to become rockstars. The best thing that happened when I got home, though, was reading all of Rolling Stone's coverage of the event, and seeing Billie Joe post an Instagram thank you to the fans, which really solidified why we took this awesome trip in the first place.
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Vinnie put this caption with this photo on Facebook, but didn't include it on Instagram:
"At the age of 14, when Read put in American Idiot, he had absolutely no idea what he was about to start. Green Day helped shaped a lot of my teenage years, giving me confidence to do the things I wanted to do, because I wasn't going to live for someone else. They also gave me the confidence to believe in what I wanted instead of taking a much easier route and thinking and believing in what was the most popular idea. Being in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame is a great honor, and I couldn't be more proud of them." |
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