The Rock and Roll of Fame Goes East
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is expanding eastward…way eastward. The Cleveland museum announced yesterday that they will be setting up a second location in Japan, with its earliest incarnation opening this September with an end goal of opening a permanent museum somewhere in central Tokyo.
But why Japan? Two reasons. Japan is the second-largest music market in the world according to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame President and CEO Greg Harris, and apparently Japanese is the Cleveland museums most popular language for its printed brochures.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Japan will function via licensing agreement between the Cleveland Rock Hall and an anonymous group of Japanese collaborators. The Rock Hall in Cleveland will maintain all creative control of the Japan incarnation, including the lending of exhibits as well as the creation of original permanent ones for the new museum. The anonymous Japanese group will pay for the construction of the museum
While this is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s first attempt to open a second location outside of the US, it isn’t the first time it’s tried to expand. In 2009 the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex opened in New York City in 2009, but closed just a year later.
Phish Drummer Fishman Officially Wins Local Election
A quick follow-up on a story we covered back in April. Phish drummer John Fishman has been elected to the Board of Selectmen in his resident Lincolnville, Maine in a nonpartisan election last week. Fishman, his wife Briar, and their five children have called the seaside town home for the past decade.
