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Our
Visit To the Rock n’ Pop Museum
Our
trip came about because a meeting was set up with
Martina Hagemann, assistant of the curator, and Dr.
Thomas Mania, curator.
At
the museum Frank was our host. The first section we
entered was a vast yet comfortable area where the
first thing you encounter is a red car sitting in
the middle of the floor with its doors wide open and
music blaring out of it at concert levels. The car
was owned by german band FANTA4. There are amps and
guitar for you to crank up and play if you like,
make your own music and enjoy the freedom to express
yourself. Behind the car and up about twenty feet is
a huge movie screen showing a loop of music history
that most of us in our 40’s are well aware of
having lived through it. The combination of the
audio and visual immediately has the overwhelming
effect on you that you’re in a special place, an
environment that your mother and father wouldn’t
like only because it would remind them of your wild
and crazy teenage years.....turn that music down....you
call that music they’d say...that’s just noise
not real music. Please keep in mind your
grandparents said that to your parents, your parent
said that to you, and now some of you might be
repeating that same phrase to your children, so
teach your children well. So if you’re
grandparents, parents, or teenagers, this place has
something for every generation to enjoy.
The
more you like history and the history of music in
particular the
more you’ll love this place. Everyone likes some
form of music and with that comes memories, most
good, some not so good but here the memories are
given a musical time line, it’s up to you to
interject your own personal experience. The museum
provides only the stimulant, it’s up to you to
fill in the blanks by turning inward to your own
emotions and that’s what makes it work.
You
become unaware that your automatic responses have
been replaced by your unconscious desire to dream
and for fantasy. You are unknowing totally unaware
that you have become an interactive part of the
whole just by entering the building, you are a part
of the artwork and you are now also an important
part of the art itself. You’re assessing the
situation and making judgements by the second as is
our human nature, within ten minutes you’re still
trying to get a feel for this setting, but within
twenty minutes your emotions will take over and
you’ll leave the real world behind.
Follow
the staircase down to the next level – the Main
Exhibition Hall - and you’re directly into phase
two of your journey. A tiny stage awaits your
arrival, three antique stools with cello, violin and
stand up piano are preserved and secured against
intruders (by a ribbon no less) it’s open to
observe but please don’t interact here. Three
chairs are there for your comfort, sit and listen to
the classical music playing overhead as a quartet
plays Bach for your enjoyment.
Five
or ten minutes of this calm music and you’re ready
to enter the main area of the museum. From end to
end it’s the size of a football field and it’s
loaded like King Tuts Tomb only with a Las Vegas
touch. Lights, sounds and exhibits every inch of the
way, walls full of memorabilia interactive options,
history lessons on sliding panels, drawers that pull
out so you can to listen to the likes of Louie
Armstrong, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones or early
20th century jazz. Television screens are in ample
supply, and a hundred different sounds coming from
all angles and yet it’s not the least bit annoying,
uncomfortable or overwhelming. It seems hard to
believe but you can still talk and hear the person
standing next to you.
Lights
flashing, spotlights rotating around and pointing
out specific things to view, all time activated,
helpful and in no way distracting. This place is set
up like a friendly host at a happy family party and
not like some pushy used car salesman getting in
your face every second and telling you what you
should be paying
attention to or what you should be thinking
about. While many things are automated they are done
so with a personal touch being taken into
consideration behind their every action, the only
thing being left to chance is your imagination and
where your emotions will take you.
There
is an interactive drum station, just put on the
headphones provided and have fun. Also headphones
are accessible at every station for your comfort and
pleasure. A big bell like structure hangs from the
ceiling, you bend down at the waist to enter, stand
up and you can listen to an intense array of drum
rhythms and voices coming from every direction.
Moving
on from here there is a patch of artificial lawn
where you can watch another big screen of music
footage loops, or sit on the sofa, put on your
headphones and enjoy some erotic sounds as you watch.
Next
you can enter the audio time tunnel, the walls are
covered with gigantic speakers and you stand on what
seems like a floating floor, the vibrations come up
through your feet and right to your head sending
chills up and down your spine, while making the
hairs on your neck stand on end and tingle. All of
this while listening to a music time line, Thomas
Edison’s first recorded words “Mary Had A Little
Lamb” on to news broadcast and world war two,
music clips in between it all and then progressing
to Michael Jackson’s song “Billy Jean” and
onto Curt Cobain and Nirvana. You can watch the
little screen on the wall to follow the playing
order.
Let’s
talk about what others may be into and enjoy here.
Would you like to know where Disco went to live?
Here in Germany, it’s the 1970’s all over again,
kids go out to Disco’s on the weekends and
D.J.’s play the music, John Travolta &
Saturday Night Fever, the Bee Gees and leisure suits
are all alive and well for a whole new generation.
The german cult band CAN, Udo Lindenberg, Grace
Jones is here along with the 1980’s video’s such
as “Video Killed the Radio Star” and Patty Smith
has a place here as does Abba,
the Spice Girls and yes Ted Nugent.
The
museum is a 20th century musical time line and we
found this to be the perfect place to include Ten
Years After right up there with the Beatles, the
Rolling Stones, the Animals and Pink Floyd.
It’s
also the concept, their philosophy and the overall
mission of the Rock n’ Pop Music Hall of Fame that
we both like so much. It’s better than we expected
it to be and it has everything that we could only
dream about or do ourselves.
To
sum up, it’s a hands on interactive place,
comfortable, educational and fun. You learn without
trying, interact without effort and be sure won’t
want to leave.
We have to leave so we sit and listen to the
Classical Music once more in order to come back down
and join the real world once again.
This
was our first visit but it is far from our last,
this was our first meeting and a second one is being
planned as we write.
As
a note of interest: Special exhibitions are set up
on the second floor that are on loan for short
periods of time to the museum. Insurance is
guaranteed. Exhibits can be donated by artists or
fans. Students
of all ages are welcome to come for fun or for
collage credit.
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