May 24th

A year ago today, my brother Jay and I boarded our overnight flights to Minsk that started our journey to the places where three of our grandparents were born. Now I am getting near the end of my exploration of the country to which they emigrated.

This morning was one of the absolute highlights of my trip – the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on the Cleveland waterfront. The lower level has the heart of the exhibits – the roots of Rock and Roll (blues, country, gospel, early R&B), Elvis, key cities (Memphis, Detroit, Liverpool/London, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle) and whole sections on a dozen of the biggest names in rock history. Then there’s the Hall of Fame itself. Eligibility for election starts 25 years after release of the first recording, so looking at the year-by-year inductees is a timeline of the soundtrack of our lives. Upstairs were exhibits on the impact of TV on rock and roll, all the way from Anerican Bandstand, Ozzie and Harriet (Ricky Nelson) and Ed Sullivan to MTV and American Idol. The best thing of all for me was a half hour compilation of clips from American Bandstand over the years, seeing a hundred or so performers singing songs we have all listened to and speaking with Dick Clark. I got emotional watching Chuck Berry picking and strutting to “Johnny B Goode” and stayed that way for quite some time, especially for the stars that are no longer with us.

I winded down in the afternoon at Mill Creek Park in Youngstown, walking around a turtle-filled pond, formal gardens, an old log cabin, a covered bridge and a gristmill.

I attended services with the congregation of the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, the victims of the shooting last October 27th. They were so welcoming to me as I brought them my support on behalf of B’nai Torah in Sudbury. They are using another synagogue while the repair of their building goes on (see picture). They remind me of the small but growing number of Jews Jay and I saw in Lithuania and Poland – the survivors will rebuild and move into the future.

The Andy Warhol Museum (he was a Pittsburgh native) is open until 10:00 on Friday night, so I couldn’t resist.

The song of the day is my friend Chuck Berry and “Sweet Little Sixteen”, where the first line is “They’re really rocking in Boston” and the second line is “In Pittsburgh PA”. And now a bonus question. Without googling, how many rock songs can you name with “Rock and Roll” in the title? I have 11 and I am sure I am forgetting some. If you can top that, please send me your list. I will try to remember to send out my list tomorrow.

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