American Destinations

Well, we are the London Dresners, but a couple of my trips this year have been to the States. In May I went to Seattle for a conference. Didn't spend too much time doing tourist-type stuff, but did get to the Science Fiction Museum and the Music Experience (or whatever it's called). The Museum was fun--Alien and Star Wars and Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica and War of the Worlds and a whole bunch of others (Terminator, Men in Black, and V) from movies and television were represented with great visual exhibits. The weapons cabinet was excellent! Every kind of blaster and ray gun that have been imagined. The classic authors were well showcased, and their influences were mentioned in the displays of the newer, more well-known stuff. The Music Experience was too crowded to appreciate--most of the conference had assembled there for cocktails. It had some neat displays (including a comparative art section with classics and modern versions) but generally was impassible.
The trip to the Seattle Aquarium the next day was much more fun--the river otters were adorable and the jellyfish display cool. The touchable tide pool was tons of fun--got to feel an anemone tugging at my finger (the staffer explained that it was tasting me) and touch a sea cucumber again (slimy and squishy, just like the ones off Australia).

The trip I just got back from was a whirlwind visit to Cleveland for an interview. The job wouldn't be in Cleveland, but that's all I'm going to say for now. I did have an afternoon free, so figured I had to check out the Rock-N-Roll Hall Of Fame. ( http://www.rockhall.com/ ) My review won't be comprehensive, but then neither are the exhibits. There's great stuff there! The guitar exhibit is a lot of fun; the costumes from various decades were very entertaining. The music is great, of course--everything from Woody Guthrie and Robert Johnson to the Sex Pistols (who vigorously refused to come to their own induction--their refusal letter is shown on one of the videos) and U2. There's a large Bob Dylan ("An American Journey" or something like that) exhibit, which pays a lot of attention to how he crafted his early look and sound after Woody Guthrie, and discusses his other influences. The 1971 Concert for Bangladesh film plays in a room on the ground floor--got to see live performances from George Harrison and Dylan, and learned who Leon Russell is. The film cataloguing all the inductees is entertaining and disappointing at the same time. It's almost an hour long, but very little of the music is unfamiliar to the audience, in spite of the number of rock forefathers (and godmothers) that have been inducted into the hall. I thought it would be a good chance to tell some of their stories, and let people appreciate their music. There's a bunch of 'jukeboxes' around the hall so you can punch up tunes from anyone, and I did try out Robert Johnson later on. The film showing moments from the induction ceremonies was very fun--things like Elton John calling Bernie Taupin up on stage to join him, and Rod Stewart inducting someone into the "Hall of Flame". In all, the place was definitely entertaining (better be, for a $20 admission charge!) and I could have probably spent another hour looking at the exhibits and punching up tracks.
Back in sweltering London today...the Metro just published pictures of Hyde Park, scorched brown and dry by the recent weather.
Regards to all!