"It made sense for us to be in New York. A lot of great rock 'n' roll happened here," says Jim Henke, head curator of both museums. "We hope that people who come here will then go to Cleveland and vice versa."
About half of the artifacts in ANNEX NYC have been shown in Cleveland, including an exhibit on Brit punk pioneers The Clash. But a lot is newly displayed, including an Elvis Presley jumpsuit and a Buddy Holly guitar.
Visitors are handed a digital music device with earphones that changes the music automatically when you walk around the exhibits. You'll hear Bruce Springsteen if you check out his 1957 Chevy Bel Air convertible (he drove it when making his "Born to Run" album). The Clash plays when you amble by Joe Strummer's Telecaster guitar. James Brown, Aretha Franklin, and Parliament-Funkadelic play when you're in the "Roots and Influences" room.
Another highlight is the special glass encasing exhibits on Jimi Hendrix and the Talking Heads. The opaque glass serves as a video screen, then becomes transparent, allowing you to see the artifacts inside the case.
"This is New York and we want to entertain as well as educate," says producer Stacey Lender of Running Subway, an exhibit production company.
More high-tech tricks are found in a 10-minute movie featuring performances from artists such as Muddy Waters, the Beatles, and Led Zeppelin. A clip of that day's visitors is edited into the background, so it looks like you're in the club audience of that show.
Other exhibits center around New York legends such as Blondie, the Ramones, Velvet Underground, and more, along with a great display on the now-defunct punk club CBGB. It includes the urban club's cash register, amps, tables, chairs, graffiti, and empty beer bottles.
STEVE MORSE
