NO1B4ME

Hey Yah'll,

A couple of Us diesel Rammers are lookin to visit the R&R hall of fame as well as the NFL hall of fame. Neither of Us have been to Cleveland or Ohio, could Anyone tell us where a good spot to stay at is and some good restaraunts that have to be experienced. So any of Yah Rammers down there in Ohio could chime in or Anyone that has visited and knows the area, We're lookin for some great food to eat and a good reasonably priced hotel/motel/inn to stay that We wont lose Our shirts at. Also, since We were Kidds, We always wanted to see the Summit store just to add to another gearheads dream. Thanx to all for helpin a Us out, lookin forward to hearin stories and other must spots in Ohio.

NO1B4ME

siotwo

"The Flats" is the hot place to go for dinner. Plenty of restarants on the water's edge of a river. I don't remember the name of the river. But "The Flats" is well kown out there.

Begle1

I went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after Thunder in Indianapolis... I came away far from impressed.

Now I'm a major rock fan, but the museum is the biggest waste of money and time that I made on the entire trip. To begin with, it costs $20.00 to get in. You'd think that you would see a lot of stuff for a Jackson. Nope.

The building is a six story pyramid, with half of the inside of the pyramid being open to let in light. So first of all, it takes about 3 hours to see, analyze and darn near memorize everything in the building. 3 hours for $20.00... Well, it's worth it as long as it is a cool 3 hours, right? No.

You would think that the INTERNATIONAL ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME would have so much cool stuff that they would have the 100 sq. foot museum packed full. Not at all. The bottom two floors consist of about 60 sq. feet of the museum and feature some cool stuff, but also a lot of empty wall space and filler material. Half of this space consists of (wait for it) the real and unrestored clothing that ACTUAL ROCKSTARS ONCE WORE! OH MY GOD, SO COOL! Even if you do actually care enough to look at Ian Anderson's cod piece and Elton John's sweats, then you would be happy with all of the labels on the artifacts, which essentially read "IAN ANDERSON'S LEATHER CODPIECE" and "ELTON JOHN'S AMAZINGLY QUEER SWEATS.". Not a lot of time spent there.

After the oh-so-fascinating clothing you walk into the main body of the museum, which features six or so exhibits, each dedicated to a specific artist. You have the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, ZZ Top and a few other big names. These are actully cool exhibits, detailing the life and times a of the artists and giving you a good picture of the band. Okay, cool stuff, you're done with these in 30 minutes and wondering where exhibits on artists like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Fleetwood Mac, Guns and Roses, Metallica, The Eagles or Van Halen are. You know, the rest of the greatest rockers in history? Oh, well, they must be on the upper four floors.

So you get to floor number three; half of the gift shop (which encompasses half of the second floor as well) and a restaurant.

Floor number four. About 20 sq. feet of unrelated rock and roll writings stapled onto a bulletien board (including a really cool one by Charles Manson) and a few random artifacts. Also an elevator so that the handicapped can also have the oppurtunity to contemplate suicide by throwing themselves over "The Wall". (Yes, they actually took up a ton of museum space with a giant plaster wall, that has about 50 words on it about Pink Floyd and a giant inflatable alien standing on top of it. This is the only place where Pink Floyd is mentioned in the entire building.)

Floor number five. About 15 sq. feet of everthing that has to do with The Who's Tommy album. Okay. I learned a LOT about "Tommy". So much that I was sick of it and now want to pound Peter Townshends brains out with a shovel. More space in the museum was dedicated to one (albeit influential) rock album than was to the 10 totally ignored artists that I mentioned above. At this time you are praying to God there is something on floor number six that would make the museum worth the $20.00 entry fee. Like supermodels giving lap dances or something. (There are a few strip clubs in Cleveland that would be a far better place to spend $20.00)

So you take the spiral staircase up to the 5 sq. feet that is floor number six. And what do you see? Oh, more "Tommy". Okay, we've had enough with Tommy. But wait, do you want to see Tommy on the wall? Or do you want to see Tommy on the floor? Or on the giant TV in the corner of the room? Or how about a Tommy album? Or how about this Tommy album from Cambodia? Or how about a Tommy pez dispencer? Tommy squirt gun? Tommy electric guitar? Tommy lyrics and guitar tabs? Tommy outfits? NO, YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE ANY MORE TOMMY. How about a Tommy concert poster? NO, I'M FED UP WITH TOMMY! I want to see freakin' Led Zeppelin, Steppenwolf and Ozzy artifacts! (Of which they had slim to none...)

So there are much cooler places to go in Cleveland than the stupid Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In the middle of the Cleveland Ghetto there is a VERY cool automobile museum that you can spend two hours in FOR FREE. There are also a few other museums that are right by it in the projects that I didn't have time to see, as well as a Science Museum that is next to the R&R HoF and would probably be a better place to spend money.

But please. Don't give the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame any more buisness. Whoever runs that place has the crappiest space and exhibit management skills on the planet. The twenty dollars would be much better spent by putting it towards a TIVO so that you can VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" mini-series, hosted by Carmen Electra in a sexy mini-skirt.

Out of this list of 100 ***-kicking rockers, about 10 are given adequate time in the museum.

smokindog

Well, I grew up in Cleveland unfortunately. As for the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame I can't say. I've never been there because everyone I spoke to, including a good friend who interned there, said it sucks.

The Great Lakes Science Center is neat, but it is mainly geared for kids and at this time of year you will have to fight with those kids to interact with the exhibits. The only interesting thing there is the OmniMax Theater. Currently they have two movies showing. I have seen the Mystery of the Nile. It's neat, but nothing spectacular.

The Flats is all but gone. The City of Cleveland has put the kabosh on most of the bars because of health code violations and a lot of violence in recent years. They've also had a few people get pushed into the river and drown. There are a couple decent places left and that's all.

How are you getting here? I'm assuming your truck? You don't want to stay anywhere near the downtown area with your truck. There are a bunch of fairly priced, clean hotels out near the airport. There are also plenty of places to eat around there.

If you want, PM me before you head this way and I'll give you my phone #. I'll be done with my work for this month by the end of the week. I've also got a buddy up here from Spring Hill, TN right now who is always looking for something to do or somewhere to go.

berner

NO1B4ME?? I've seen that name before. If you're the original, hat's off to you dude.