Curatorial Director Howard Kramer shares insight on his conversation with Seeger and why he decided to put his infamous banjo head in the Museum instead of on auction.
Pete Seeger's banjo head arrived at the Rock Hall yesterday.
On Monday, my co-worker in the membership department, Linda Worden, called me to say that she had Pete Seeger on the line and he wanted to speak with me about donating something. I could hear the excitement in her voice about having a conversation with a legend like Pete. It’s a wonderful perk of working at the Rock Hall. She transferred the call to me and there was Pete, spry and warm as usual. Last fall he celebrated his 90th birthday with a sold-out all-star show in his honor at Madison Square Garden. He has been a part of our lives for so long you could easily take for granted his contributions to music and society. Pete has been a leading force in American folk music long before there was any sort of folk revival. His tireless work for social justice and environmental causes is virtually unparalleled.
Back to the phone call. Pete explains to me that he was trying to raise money for the Haitian earthquake relief effort. He had taken the decorated skin that had been on his long-neck banjo for nearly 40 years and put it up on eBay. As it began to accumulate higher and higher bids, Pete and his wife Toshi felt the need to reconsider how they were going about this. If it was worth so much money, it shouldn’t be in someone’s home. It should be in a museum. (For the record, Pete had loaned the long-neck banjo with this particular head to the Rock Hall many years back. I had the pleasure of hand-delivering the banjo to Pete at his home in the Hudson River Valley when he wanted it returned.) Pete and I discussed how to ship the item and the next day it arrived at the Museum. I opened the package and there it was complete with Pete’s motto hand-written on the skin – This Machine Surrounds Hate and Forces it to Surrender.
Guest blogger Caryn Rose shares her thoughts with us about her visit to see the Rock Hall’s special exhibit From Asbury Park to the Promised Land and her first tour of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Springsteen's Kennedy Center Honor on display at the Rock Hall.
It’s a funny thing to have watched Bruce Springsteen sitting at the Kennedy Center, with his rainbow ribbon award around his neck, and find yourself standing in front of that very award just a few weeks later, in his exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It’s even odder that that ribbon is in a room along with the legendary Esquire, and that you can get close enough to the guitar (inside its case, of course!) that you can see that the legend is true, that there’s more glue than wood in some places. It’s in a room with the very jeans that adorned the very ass that graced the cover of Born In The USA, the original handwritten lyrics to “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out” (with the “freeze out” written in wriggly letters I assume was meant to convey ice), the very flannel shirt that was on the cover of The River (the cuffs so worn that they are hanging on by threads), and the Blistex “Beautiful Lips” award, where Bruce won in the category of “Boss-est Lips”.
All of this is just upstairs from the jacket Bruce wore on the cover of Born To Run, Danny Federici’s accordion, a letter from Robert Hilburn to Adele Springsteen (where he apologized for not writing sooner to send her the copies of the review he wrote) and a Columbia records reel to reel tape marked with #79682. (If you’re a freak, you’ll recognize that number. If you’re not, it’s better that I not explain it to you, because you’ll run away screaming.)
This is the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame.
At 11 a.m. on a Saturday morning, I am reading the original lyrics to “It’s So Hard To Be A Saint In The City” - noting the ’silver star studs on my duds like a Harley in heat’ and then, a few steps later, seeing the aforementioned Born To Run biker jacket hanging on the wall. The jacket is smaller than I thought it would be. It’s weathered, it’s worn, it’s wrinkled. Someone has undoubtedly slept in it, sweat in it, sat in the back of a van in it while it was still wet.
I step closer.
There are silver star studs on the shoulders.
On my second day at the Hall, I made my way from Elvis‘ (yes, *that* Elvis) purple Lincoln Continental to John Lennon’s Sgt. Pepper suit to Jim Morrison’s cub scout uniform, to a Rolling Stones tour rider that spells out the exact selection of cheese they required. Around every corner there is something else that ups the ante. There are the things you remember (like U2’s bedazzled Trabants, which I last saw hanging high about the stage at Wembley Stadium during Zooropa) and things you wish you did (the poster from Patti Smith’s first poetry reading at St. Mark’s Church). You gawk at yet more original handwritten lyrics (they are everywhere, a trainspotter’s dream), whether it’s “Enter Sandman” or “Here Comes A Regular” or “Bad” or “Save The Last Dance For Me,” and ponder how many songwriters favored spiral notebooks and regular ballpoint pens. You glare at those you hate (okay, I did more than glare at anything having to do with the Eagles) and you cheer on the underdogs (Greg Dulli of the Afghan Whigs’ amp making it into the Ohio exhibit).
Blank Generation: New York and London city scenes case
I will warn you that no corner is safe. Making my way through the excellent “Rockin’ All Over The World” exhibit, I am happily absorbed in a case with punk memorabilia from the Dictators to the Ramones to Talking Heads (Chris Franz and Tina Weymouth seemed to have kept EVERYTHING, and I thank them for that), when I notice a guitar in the exhibit that looks very, very familiar. I gesture at it helplessly and press my nose to the case.
It is a guitar that looks like it has been through the Charge of the Light Brigade itself, grey paint worn through to black through to what must have been a sunburst Telecaster once upon a time, rust flaking off the hardware from years of sweat, the finish worn down to bare wood along the top. And there, in the top left corner, is the sticker reading IGNORE ALIEN ORDERS. I am standing in front of Joe Strummer’s guitar - JOE STRUMMER’S GUITAR - and before I can manage to say “I think I’m going to cry” I start to do exactly that. It is like a piece of my heart is sitting inside that case.
And this is why you come to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Caryn Rose is a writer and a photographer whose favorite subjects are rock and roll, Bruce Springsteen, New York City, baseball and the New York Mets. She blogs at jukeboxgraduate.com and freelances for Backstreets Magazine the largest repository of Bruce Springsteen information published under one roof. She’s lived in London, Tel Aviv, Seattle and now resides in Brooklyn, NY.
>>The Rock Hall announced this week that From Asbury Park to the Promised Land will be extended and open through the end of 2010. New artifacts have been added including Bruce Springsteen’s first car.
Photo: Jacklyn Chisholm, vice president of planning and institutional relations at the Rock Hall
As we approach another celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., it caused me to stop for a moment and think about the music that helped to define the civil rights movement. There are two songs, in particular, that when I hear them, I hear the dreams of a people hoping for a better life in America. The two are “A Change is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke and “Keep on Pushing” by the Impressions. Both songs were released in 1964 at the height of the civil rights movement.
In “A Change is Gonna Come,” Sam Cooke sings about the hardships that he’s encountered, but ends each verse with “But I know that a change is gonna come, oh yes it will.”
The Impressions exhorted Blacks to keep reaching higher through verses like, “Now look-a look-a look yonder, what’s that I see? A great big stone wall stands there ahead of me. But I’ve got my pride and I’ll move on aside and keep on pushin.”
What’s interesting to note is that both of these songs that were so important to the civil rights movement became songs of victory during the inauguration of our first African American President, Barack Obama. And, as an African American, I am reminded that less than 50 years ago, my family could not legally live wherever they wanted to or vote, but now through the civil rights struggle – with the music that gave it a resonant voice – I am able to live the dream that Dr. King fought and died for.
Posted by: Jackie Chisholm
The Rock Hall will offer free admission and entertainment on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on January 18. Click here for details.
Photo of Elvis’ Jukebox currently on display at the Rock Hall courtesy of the Rock Hall/Design Photography.
We’re approaching another landmark rock and roll anniversary. This Friday marks the 75th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s birth. It’s one of those moments that make you wonder what would have happened had he not died so young. Several of Elvis’s contemporaries are alive and still working. What would he have done in the last three decades? Would he have finally toured outside the U.S.? Would he have gone back to making films? Would he have told his story in his own words? I mention that last one because Elvis never sat for an in-depth interview in his life.
There’s a lot of myth surrounding Elvis Presley. So much of it tends to dwell on sensationalism and the myth of myth itself. If you have any interest in finding out more I about him, I strongly urge you to read the books Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love, Peter Guralnick’s extraordinary two-volume biography of Presley. Better yet, listen again to what made Elvis the legend he is, the music. Pick up a copy of Elvis at Sun, the 2004 compilation of his seminal recordings done with Sam Phillips in Memphis between July 1954 and July 1955. Elvis, Scotty Moore and Bill Black may have been simple hillbilly cats to some, but their work here is blistering, even on the ballads. The power and impact of those recordings is still being felt today and will be for decades to come.
Dr. Lauren Onkey, vice president of education and public programs, on stage during Rock and Roll Night School December 16.
As we were preparing last week’s special Rock and Roll Night School on rock and roll holiday records, I was amazed at how many Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees had recorded a holiday record. So, being the obsessives that we are, the Education Department staff tried to figure out just how many there are. Here’s our preliminary stats. Note: for the purposes of discussion, we focused on inductees from the Performer and Early Influence category; we counted a band or a duo as one inductee (e.g., The Rolling Stones =1; Bob Dylan =1, etc.); and we included our newest group of inductees (ABBA, The Stooges, The Hollies, Jimmy Cliff, and Genesis). Here’s what we found:
143 out of 255 Inductees have recorded a holiday record: 72%!
Given how many crazy one-off records are out there, I’m sure that we missed a few. I’ve listed our working list below. Please let us know if we missed any! We’d love hear from you.
Inductees who HAVE NOT recorded holiday songs/albums
Early Influences
1. Charlie Christian
2. Willie Dixon
3. Billie Holiday
4. Howlin’ Wolf
5. Elmore James
6. Robert Johnson
7. Professor Longhair
8. Jelly Roll Morton
9. Ma Rainey
10. Jimmie Rodgers
11. T-Bone Walker
12. Hank Williams
Artists
1. Aerosmith
2. The Allman Brothers
3. LaVern Baker
4. Black Sabbath
5. Buffalo Springfield
6. Ruth Brown
7. The Byrds
8. The Clash
9. Jimmy Cliff
10. Leonard Cohen
11. Sam Cooke
12. Cream
13. Dave Clark Five
14. Bo Diddley
15. The Doors
16. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five
17. The Grateful Dead
18. Buddy Guy
19. The Hollies
20. Janis Joplin
21. Jefferson Airplane
22. Little Anthony and the Imperials
23. The Lovin’ Spoonful
24. The Mamas and the Papas
25. Metallica
26. Van Morrison
27. Gene Pitney
28. Little Richard
29. Del Shannon
30. The Shirelles
31. Sly and the Family Stone
32. Steely Dan
33. The Talking Heads
34. Traffic
35. The Righteous Brothers
36. Ritchie Valens
37. Van Halen
38. Velvet Underground
39. Gene Vincent
40. Muddy Waters
41. The Yardbirds
42. Neil Young
43. The (Young) Rascals
44. Frank Zappa
Here’s a list of special cases and bands that we didn’t include because one member recorded a holiday record:
• Carl Perkins (played on instrumental versions of “Jingle Bells” and “White Christmas” with the Million Dollar Quartet, 12/4/56)
• Buddy Holly (played backup guitar for Carolyn Hester, “Christmas in Killarney” and “Hurry Santa Hurry,” June 6-7, 1958)
• ZZ Top (Billy Gibbons recorded “Run, Run Rudolph” with Lemmy from Motorhead and Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters, 2008)
• ABBA (Agnetha Faltskog recorded a Swedish Christmas record, Nu tändas tusen juleljus, in 1980)
• Genesis (Phil Collins played drums on “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in 1984)
• The Stooges (Iggy Pop recorded a version of “White Christmas” in 2009)
• The Police (Sting recorded several songs for A Very Special Christmas 1 (1987) and 3 (1997), in addition to 2009’s If On A Winter’s Night)
• Fleetwood Mac (Stevie Nicks recorded “Silent Night” for A Very Special Christmas 1, 1987)
• Parliament-Funkadelic (Bootsy Collins recorded the Christmas album Christmas is 4 Ever in 2006)
• Creedence Clearwater Revival (Doug Clifford & Stu Cook of Creedence Clearwater Revisited recorded “Run Rudolph Run”, 2009)
• The Rolling Stones (Keith Richards “Run Rudolph Run”; Mick Jagger & Joss Stone “Lonely Without You (This Christmas)”)
Posted by: Dr. Lauren Onkey
Terry Stewart shares some of his favorite holiday songs at Rock and Roll Night School on December 16.
Man oh Man was last night’s holiday edition of Rock and Roll Night School fun! And we all learned so much about a very special niche of music. In fact, we are thinking about doing this again and maybe streaming the program online. So……anybody out there, let us know if this would be something you would like to participate in…and if you can’t make it in person, consider possibly participating online or via the phone.
Below you’ll find a list of my favorite rock and roll holiday songs. Also, feel free to comment on all of the lists if you were here last night. Most importantly, let us know if we missed any holiday songs by Inductees.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! Come to Cleveland!
27.) Merry Christmas – Lightning Hopkins
26.) Christmas Presents – Solomon Burke
25.) Not So Merry Christmas – Bobby Vee
24.) There’s Trouble Brewing – Jack Scott
23.) Chipmunk Song – Canned Heat and the Chipmunks
22.) Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy – Buck Owens
21.) Man with all the Toys – The Beach Boys
20.) Papa Noel – Brenda Lee
19.) Chinchy Old Scrooge – Phil Moore
18.) Jingle Jangle – The Penguins
17.) Christmas in the Congo – The Marques
16.) Santa Claus Is Back in Town – Elvis Presley
15.) Rockin’ and Rollin’ with Santa Claus – Hipsters
14.) This Christmas – Donnie Hathaway
13.) White Christmas – The Drifters
12.) Boogie Woogie Santa Claus – Mabel Scott
11.) Merry Christmas – The Cameos
10.) Hey Santa Claus – Moonglows
9.) Zat You, Santy Claus?– Louis Armstrong
8.) Lonely Christmas / What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve – The Orioles
7.) Christmas Prayer – Valentines
6.) Be Bop Santa – Babs Gonzalez
5.) Santa Claus Is Watching You – Ray Stevens
4.) Merry Christmas Baby – Charles Brown
3.) Please Come Home for Christmas – Charles Brown
2.) Trim Your Tree – Jimmy Butler
1.) Christmas in Jail – The Youngsters
As the world turns and we get further and further away from those early days of rock and roll…or the Big Bang Period as I often refer to it…it seems that we lose another pioneer almost daily. This week is a sad one as we mourn the passing of a man who drew attention back to a whole generation of artists, many of which continue to shine brightly today. I speak of Richard Nader, the impresario of the “Rock and Roll Revival Shows” which featured all of the great acts that at that time were only 10 or so years from their heyday…but had been shoved into the shadows, obscured by the British Invasion, the rise of folk rock, the advent of the summer of love and the psychedelic craze that followed and so on. I speak of Bill Haley, Chuck Berry, Gene Vincent, the Five Satins, the Moonglows, the Penguins, Jackie Wilson, the Shirelles, the Platters and many more.
The Rock and Roll Revival Shows held at Madison Square Garden were a huge success with almost all of the original 25 selling out in this mother of all venues. I was lucky enough to be at many of these including that fateful night when the audience booed a long hair, piano playing “Rick” Nelson off the stage. As Rick himself said, he “didn’t look the same.” Plus, he played other people’s songs, not just his hits. As we all know, Rick got even with his biggest record ever, “Garden Party”, and simultaneously gave us all a liberating rock and roll mantra for all times: “can’t please everyone, so ya gotta please yourself.” Richard went on to produce a major feature film, “Let The Good Times Roll”, starring many of these greats and then took these shows on the road and to network television. No one did more to keep this era alive and vital.
For those that knew him, Richard had a glorious and sometimes tragic life. But above all else, he loved the music and the artists and deserves our gratitude forever for returning to center stage those that gave us the most impactful art form of all time ”Rock and Roll.” In recent years, I was fortunate to become friends with Richard and his wife, Deborah. They, in turn, came to know the Museum and our mission and embraced our efforts. As a result, they set aside proceeds from their shows as a donation to the Museum and gave us the opportunity to speak to broad audiences about what we do here in Cleveland. Again, we will be forever thankful.
Deborah Nader carries on today presenting shows across the nation, still spotlighting the acts that started it all. The next stop is the annual Holiday show in Pittsburgh on Friday, December 11th. It promises to be a blast.
We are all grateful for her efforts to carry on the Nader tradition and for the remarkable talent that graces those stages. In his memory, Deborah has asked that donations be made to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s education programs as a tribute to Richard.
My heartfelt thanks to you, Deborah.
Posted by: Terry Stewart
This week, guest writer Jon Shapiro, Producer of the U2 3D movie (along with his brother, Peter Shapiro, John Modell and Director Catherine Owens) shares thoughts on the making of the groundbreaking movie, working with U2 and experiencing the movie in all its digital 3D glory– this time at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s new Foster Theater.
Through January 2, 2010, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is showing a film unlike any you’ve ever experienced (unless of course you’ve seen U2 3D before). I traveled to Cleveland to unveil it last month and was absolutely blown away by the technology and viewing experience in the Museum’s incredible new Foster Theater.
The first-ever live-action digital 3-D film, U2 3D places viewers within the pulsing energy of a U2 stadium concert. Combining innovative digital 3-D imagery and multi-channel surround sound with the excitement of a live U2 concert – shot in South America during the final leg of their “Vertigo” tour – it creates an immersive theatrical experience unlike any 3-D or concert film that has come before. Ushering in a new dimension of filmmaking, U2 3D takes viewers on an extraordinary journey they will never forget.
I’ve watched this movie more times than I can even recall (several dozen times to be sure…), and this was the best I’ve seen it.
Says director Catherine Owens, “Bono wanted to go somewhere magical with the creation of U2 3D,” seeking to intensify the already ecstatic feelings evoked by U2’s live concerts.
U2 3D came to life through the passion and production savvy of 3ality Digital, one of the world’s leading live-action, full service production companies specializing in advanced 3-D technology of which I am a proud co-founder. After shooting a single-camera test during an early “Vertigo” tour concert at the Anaheim Pond, we ultimately received the thumbs-up from U2 to have our huge production crew travel and shoot on the road with the band in South America, with Owens as director. “Bono felt that if we were going to do this right, we had to do it in South America, since the band’s presence after an eight-year hiatus from the continent was certain to draw vibrant and enthusiastic crowds” explained Peter Shapiro.
With what became the largest collection of 3-D camera technology ever used on a single project, the production crew joined up with U2’s globe-trotting caravan for a month and shot the huge outdoor stadium shows (not seen in North America) at cities in four countries including Mexico City, Mexico; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; and Buenos Aires, Argentina.
After five days of shooting, however, what the production had was still not enough to create the experience that everyone envisioned.
I felt that this film should be a love letter to U2’s fans and that what we needed, ideally, was to set cameras onstage for intimate close-ups. What we needed was to shoot without an audience. That need was fulfilled by Bono who, along with the entire band, agreed to perform 10 songs in a cameras-only show the night before two public concerts in Buenos Aires. “It was an incredibly generous gesture, but not surprising,” said Owens. “U2 is about passion, politics and love; in addition, there is an overriding aspect which is their creative generosity. It’s a generosity I’ve personally experienced for as long as I’ve worked with them.”
During the March 1-2 concerts in Buenos Aires, Argentina (River Plate Stadium), the production team set up unobtrusively for mid- to long-distance shots, capturing the performances onstage and the passionate reactions of 80,000 fans from nine digital 3-D camera systems.
“The challenge of working with U2 and digital 3-D technology on this film has been very exciting. When collaborating with U2 you walk a fine line between making art and reflecting the honesty of their performance,” said Owens. “The band has been involved in each step of the process and having this kind of commitment from them has been very encouraging for everyone working on the film. Between their passion for the project and our extraordinary team, I feel that together we have carved out a delicate and exquisite piece of film history.”
VERTIGO
BEAUTIFUL DAY
NEW YEAR’S DAY
SOMETIMES YOU CAN’T MAKE IT ON YOUR OWN
LOVE AND PEACE
SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY
BULLET THE BLUE SKY
MISS SARAJEVO
U.N. DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
PRIDE (IN THE NAME OF LOVE)
WHERE THE STREETS HAVE NO NAME
ONE
THE FLY
WITH OR WITHOUT YOU
YAHWEH
Rock Hall’s Education Coordinator Beams to France Via Distance Learning
I’ve never been to France. I’ve always wanted to visit (the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe – who wouldn’t?) Last Thursday I got my chance – albeit in a virtual sense – to visit France through a distance learning connection. Using the Rock Hall’s state-of-the-art technology, I connected to a group of teachers and students at a conference in Paris for videoconferencing manufacturer Polycom. The connection consisted of a 30-minute discussion of the Rock Hall’s On the Road program, complete with an overview of our award-winning classes and a summary of the Rock Hall’s educational mission.
Since the Rock Hall launched its On the Road program in 2005, we’ve reached classrooms in 38 states and five countries (France being the sixth). What made this connection unique, however, is that it’s been about 8 years since my last high school French exam, resulting in me being limited to what sounds like a poor Pepé Le Pew impersonation! Fortunately, the site in Paris had a translator, which, although adding its own limitations, certainly helped reduce the language barrier. The audience members in Paris were extremely interested to hear about how we use rock and roll to teach students about language arts, technology, social studies, and more. And, even though we didn’t speak the same language, we shared a common interest in rock and roll music and that served as an immediate connector.
As teachers around the globe strive to create students with 21st century skills, it’s important to create 21st century classrooms – and what better opportunity than to provide a worldwide audience with an interactive discussion with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?! I look forward to many more connections to classrooms across the globe, teaching children the ways in which rock and roll has played a part in some of the most important social, cultural and political issues in modern history.
The American Music Masters tribute to Janis Joplin, Kozmic Blues: The Life and Music of Janis Joplin, culminated Saturday night with a tribute concert at PlayhouseSquare’s State Theater. The concert ended with Bobby Wood’s terrific house band playing “Get It While You Can,” a Jerry Ragovoy song that Janis Joplin recorded on Pearl. I felt such gratitude to the performers as they came out for a curtain call—they had all brought their best to tell Janis Joplin’s story. Over the course of the night, they showed us Janis’s deep musical roots in blues and folk, her galvanizing rock music, and her love for the soul music of her day.
An early highlight of the show was Guy Clark’s “She Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere,” a song he recorded on his debut album, Old No. 1 in 1975. Although the song wasn’t written about Janis, it was a perfect song to capture her desire to leave Texas and make a space for herself out in the world. Guy and Janis played the same circuit in Houston and Austin, Texas in 1965, and he recalled meeting her back then. Janis also crossed paths with Roky Erickson, who played a blistering “You’re Gonna Miss Me” on Saturday night—imagine if Janis had gotten her hands on that song! Janis’s fellow travelers, Powell St. John (who played with her during her University of Texas-Austin days), Country Joe McDonald, Bob Neuwirth, and Nick Gravenites (who wrote “Buried Alive in the Blues” and “Work Me Lord”) brought the personal connection to her that is part of what makes American Music Masters so unique. Gregg Rolie and Michael Carabello, founding members of Santana, shared the bill several times with Big Brother and the Holding Company in San Francisco in 1968. Their performance of “Evil Ways” “Nobody to Depend On” showed the diversity of the San Francisco sound.
Bettye LaVette, who recorded “Piece of My Heart” in 1969, did a soulful version of the song along with a smoldering “A Woman Left Lonely” (written by Dan Penn and Rock Hall Inductee Spooner Oldham). Her performance connected Janis’s story to other soul singers like Erma Franklin and Lorraine Ellison. Susan Tedeschi’s version of “Tell Mama” brought the spirit of Etta James in the house, and Tedeschi’s interpretations of “Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)” and “Kozmic Blues” brought the crowd to their feet. Ditto with Carolyn Wonderland’s version of the gospel classic “Down on Me,” which Janis learned from Odetta.
Two artists sang songs inspired by Janis: Country Joe McDonald performed “Janis” from Country Joe and the Fish’s album I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die (1967) and Nona Hendryx worked up a version of “Night Bird” which Labelle recorded on Nightbirds (1974). But no one expected to get a brand new song for Janis written for the occasion. Lucinda Williams closed out the night with a new song inspired by Janis’s life tentatively called “Difficult Child.” Played solo on guitar, it was a poignant ending to the night and a testament to Janis Joplin’s legacy. Lucinda’s set also included “Me and Bobby McGee” and a stripped down, bluesy version of “Ball and Chain” that showed the range of music that Janis Joplin recorded.
Thanks to all the artists who traveled to Cleveland to take part in a tribute to Janis Joplin that showcased her depth and significance as a singer and artist. And thanks to Laura and Michael Joplin, Janis’s sister and brother, who supported our work and even jumped on stage with their daughters for a sweet version of “Mercedes Benz” with Bob Neuwirth.
Posted by: Dr. Lauren Onkey
Welcome to the official blog of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
This is where we will post insights from Rock Hall staff and guest writers about exhibits, events, concerts and more with an emphasis on lesser known facets of the Rock Hall.
Consider this your backstage pass.
