The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, located in Cleveland, is bringing legendary artifacts to central Ohio. The Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML) is hosting an exhibit with artifacts from the glorious history of rock and roll. The exhibit has traveled from New York to Nevada to Canada and now to central Ohio.
Drum set used by KISS
From March 4 to May 22, the exhibit displays a drum set used by the iconic hard-rock band KISS. This will be the first time part of the KISS experience will return to Columbus since their Psycho Circus tour in 1998. The band stopped touring in 2014, so this is a chance for fans to remember the memories of their show-stopping concerts.
The exhibit also features working pinball machines featuring artists such as Elvis Presley, The Who and Metallica. The Hall of Fame introduced these machines and others at their “Rock and Pinball” exhibit in 2018, which allows fans to interact with rock legends who have become a part of American pop culture.
“People learn by doing, right, and so this is a great way to get people of all ages, rock lovers and folks who might not love rock so much,” says Ben Zenitzsky, media specialist at the CML. “Come and get excited about pinball and about rock and roll.”
Rock and roll and pinball have been linked since the game’s inception in the early 1930s. Jun Francisco, the Rock &
Pinball machine
Roll Hall of Fame’s director of collections management, says pinball was a controversial game. Some states even considered it a form of gambling because early pinball machines dispensed money as a prize.
“With that, it became a symbol of rebellion, just like rock and roll,” Francisco says. “The two really have a lot in common because pinball and rock'n'roll are both loud. They're both colorful, and they're both rebellious. It was like a marriage made in heaven.”
The union was further cemented by the song “Pinball Wizard,” featured on the Who’s rock opera “Tommy,” which Francisco says made the union between the game and music official.
On display
Photos by Columbus-native Baron Wolman, a famed Rolling Stone photographer, will also be incorporated into the exhibit. His photographs of Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead and Jimi Hendrix are often images engrained in people’s minds.
Wollman credits his photography career to the Columbus Dispatch, where he sold his first photos for $50 in 1961. He was stationed in Germany at that time and captured the Berlin Wall being built.
“He wrote a letter to the Dispatch asking if they would be interested in the photos and was surprised when they offered to pay for them,” wrote Krista Newby, a manager of local history and genealogy at the CML in an email. “The newspaper ran a full-page story written by Wolman and illustrated with his photos.”
Before long, Wolman was out of the military and on to sunny California, where he met Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone, sparking a historic partnership between him and the magazine.
Local artifacts
On the second floor of the library, the History Gallery will explore the roots of rock and roll in central Ohio, and you may be surprised at the Columbus connections. Think of the Newport Music Hall, the longest-running rock club in the country, or the Dantes, a garage rock band that topped the local charts in the 1960s.
Visitors can test their rock and roll knowledge with a rock and roll trivia night on Apr. 9. Throughout the month, the library will also host activities for adults and children to promote rock and roll’s rich history. Trivia nights, lecture series, craft nights and story times are in the works for the library’s programming.
Overall, the exhibit speaks to the language of rock and roll as the language of resistance.
“Rock and roll's always been from outside society,” Francisco says. “It continues to be that language of youth rebellion, and although we've grown older, we sometimes still have that youth in us that wants to rebel…Rock and roll continues to be that voice.”
The library recommends these books to take the rock and roll home with you:
For Kids:
- “Eva in the Band” by Rebecca Elliott. Eva and her friends decide to join a battle of the bands competition.
- “Operation Sisterhood” by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich. When her mom remarries, Bo gains more sisters, and their already large family becomes more musical and complex than she could imagine.
- “I was Born for This” by Alice Osman. Angel Rahimi is a super-fan of The Ark, the world’s most popular boy band. When her life unexpectedly collides with Jimmy Kaga-Roici, the band’s front man, their realities change.
For Adults:
- “Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest” By Hanif Abdurraqib. The Columbus writer explores the group’s music and his own connection to music.
- “All You Need is Love: The Beatles in their own words” By Peter Brown. An oral history of the Beatles with interviews from all the key stars, as well as their family and friends.
- “Madonna: A Rebel Life” By Mary Gabriel. A journey through Madonna’s childhood to her boundary-breaking pop career.
Maggie Fipps is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback is welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
