In past years people have joked about Cleveland being the punchline of, well, everything it seems. But as a true Clevelander I can honestly say that Cleve (might I quote Colin Cowherd when I say) is “on the brink of something special” in its total 180 degree shift sparked by the magic of the town’s sports hero LeBron James coming back to win a basketball championship, amongst other successes.
Now for the first time in what seems like an eternity, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions will ACTUALLY take place at the beautiful Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame instead of, you know, Atlantic Barclays Center (which: WTF). It totally makes sense to have the Rock Hall induction AT the Rock Hall, don’tcha think? Like, it;s the fucking Rock Hall! David Bowie’s coolest jacket pretty much lives there; like, particles of Elvis’ dust are blowing around somewhere.
On April 18th, 2015 it all go down in C-Town with an HBO premiere of May 30th. Expected guests for the 30th Annual Induction Ceremony presented by Kipsch Audio include:
Stevie Wonder inducting Bill Withers
Paul McCartney inducting Ringo Starr
Patti Smith inducting Lou Reed
Peter Wolf inducting Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Fall Out Boy inducting Green Day
John Mayer inducting Stevie Ray Vaughan
Steve Cropper inducting “5” Royales
Other performances by John Legend, Beck, Joe Walsh, and more to be announced. Tickets are sold out as $%#*, but hey, what did you expect? My suggestion is go chill in Cleveland that week in hopes you’ll run into one of these legends, perhaps Downtown on East 4th Street.
(photo via NPR)