Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum (Part II)

Gracie continues through the museum.  She recognizes more names than not.  It’s like being invited to party down in a beautifully cleaned and well maintained giant house.

She goes to the Induction Ceremony Highlights film and finds a seat, not really intending to stay for the entire film, but her attention becomes riveted to the screen as she laughs one minute and cries the next, tears welling in her eyes as she remembers some of those rock stars dying of overdoses.  In less than a year the world lost Jimmy Hendrix (Inducted 1992), Janis Joplin (Inducted 1995) and Jim Morrison, (Inducted 1993 via The Doors). Gracie realizes it was probably a good thing that she didn’t get into the high school rock band, as she could have ended up the same way, given her addictive personality traits.  Even in college, friends often stated that there was no need for her to indulge in drugs because she was pretty out there without them. Good thing Gracie feels the universe watches over her.

She keeps rhythm with her body because there is just no sitting still. She looks around and notices there is only one other person keeping time, just with one hand and one foot.  This amazes Gracie to the point that when the film ends she gets ready to go but stops to ask the usher:  “Am I seeing this correctly?  People just come in, sit down and watch the film?  They don’t move, grove or feel the beat?” He laughs and then responds, “Lady, we have been watching you since you came in.  You are dancing through this museum. Your joy is obvious and you have been fun to watch.” She is a bit surprised by his comment though she has to admit that she is definitely in her own world and having a glorious visit.

Before entry

Her memories are jumbled being brought to the fore by whomever or whatever is in front of her.  Upon seeing a Beatles picture she remembers her older sister swooning and screaming whenever Frank Sinatra would come on the radio.  Gracie shared a bedroom with her and each night they would look up at the ceiling plastered with  Old Blue Eyes pictures and piously say,  “Good-night, Frank.”  As time goes by Gracie eventually does the same thing when the British Invasion came with the Fab Four (Inducted 1988) and though she screams with adolescent fervor for all of them, she is in love with George Harrison (Inducted 2004).  He is so handsome, with penetrating, focused eyes.  Gracie likes a man with long hair, face fur (mustache and beard), and a spiritual bent. He fulfills all of these requirements and after saving up her money she buys her own albums to play on the stereo.  History does repeat itself that’s for sure.

After entry

It’s also the first time that she experiences English accents.  This is helpful as she eventually lands leading roles of English women in musicals and plays.  To this day if Gracie is in a tense situation, that accent surfaces and returns her to the safety of the stage.  She gets through whatever is thrust at her. Another memory brings a smile to her heart.  When she had her babysitting business she often had trouble remembering their names.  Don’t scoff, even parents mix up the names of their children.  She solved this problem by telling them that they all had to rally around when she yelled “George.” Sure enough, it worked.  They would all come running and she would explain which “George”  she wanted. 

“All Things Must Pass” (George Harrison)… Gracie is shocked when she finally sits down to check the time.  Over five hours have passed since she entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and it seems like time stood still.  Gracie certainly feels that she has been “embrace[d], engage[d], [taught], and inspire[d] through the power of rock and roll.” It’s the best money she spent in a long time and she decides to celebrate with a trip to the gift store.  This makes a nice change.  When she was a single parent they sometimes had enough money to go places but souvenirs weren’t in the budget.  Happily, “These Times They Are a Changin’” (Bob Dylan, Inducted 1988) and Gracie buys herself a shirt and the children get postcards with artists according to their musical preferences.

Gracie's Life Path in Record Album Covers
(as of now)

With all this said and done, the question is, can Gracie bear to leave? Regardless, she knows she will encourage anyone and everyone to visit the remarkable Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.  

Copyright © 2015 Martina Sabo 

Gracie and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Part One)

Gracie arises from her hotel bed well rested. Her friend advised her that as woman traveling alone she should: always pick a hotel with a lobby; click on more than one floor on an elevator; and never stay on the first floor.  Locking the doors is a no-brainer and Gracie sometimes sets up a booby trap as she is such a deep sleeper and a bit paranoid at times.  With WiFi and breakfast provided she prepares for a fun day because in 40 minutes she will dance into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.  Gracie is more than ready to embrace their mission, which is “[to] engage, teach, and inspire through the power of rock and roll.”*

Courtesy Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum

She finds parking and joyfully approaches the beautiful geometric museum designed by I.M. Pei – in and of itself a sight to behold.  She stops and asks someone to take a picture of her as she has not yet mastered the art of taking selfies.  Besides, it gives her a chance to interact with people:  Why did you come? Have you ever been here before? Where are you from?

Entering an exhibit of Early Influences, Gracie sees the names of Les Paul (Inducted 1988) and Mary Ford she puts on the head set, she presses a button and begins softly singing along to "How High the Moon."  All at once she is whisked back to her grandparents sun porch.  She sees the wall with the built-in bookcase made for her father, a gift from his mother to house his many books.  In her mind's eye, she sees the century plants on top of the radiator, which still survive in their original pots.  Across from the radiator is the
couch and chair where on could sit and listen to the most important piece of furniture in the entire room:  the stereo.  She feels comforted that many of the sun porches’ furnishings, including the bookcase, are now in her home.

Gracie's record collection includes Muddy Waters (Inducted 1987) the Ink Spots (Inducted 1889), Louis Armstrong, (Inducted 1990), and Mahalia Jackson (Inducted 1997). Mahalia was a major inspiration to Gracie, showing her that singing is a way to let your emotions take flight.  Jackson enjoyed her Baptist religion and she expressed the hope of the gospel message with her remarkable voice.  Mahalia said that "Rock and roll was stolen out of the
sanctified church."* She influenced

Gracie to stand up and speak up for what she believed in whether political views, faith, or a love of music and performing.  Who would have thought that listening to music on that little sun porch would instill what became lifelong values? 

Gracie remembers performing.  She started off in minstrel show and though people now view that form of entertainment as racist, Gracie did not experience it as such.  Gracie grew up surrounded by family and neighbors who were involved in many aspects of entertainment.  They performed in vaudeville, minstrel shows, variety shows, and musical reviews, sometimes as soloists, and accompanists.  They also worked as directors and choreographers.  One of her relatives was a member of the Honey Girls’ Quartet whose picture often graced the posters advertising their performances. This famous quartet performed often and practiced in their homes as that's the only way Gracie could hear them as she didn't get to attend the performances.  These were contemporary forms of musical expression.  Her family enjoyed and were influenced by both black and white performers over a broad spectrum of styles include jazz, country, blues, and more, so racial prejudice wasn't part of her experience.

As a child she was very tiny and was nicknamed “Splinter” because she was too small to be a chip off the old block.  It wasn't until later in life that she realized one of the main reasons she really liked performing was when she walked on stage, in spite of her diminutive stature, she was in control; she was powerful.  She was safe and free from abuse of any sort.  You just can’t be abused when you are out in the open in front of the flood lights and feeling their warmth.  She was on stage under a spotlight her abusers were behind her and in front of her but they couldn't touch her or verbally assault her.  Gracie knows from sad experience that the damage done by verbal abuse takes longer to heal than the scars left by physical abuse.

Original stereo

She returns to the present and leaves the early influences part of the museum thinking about how her childhood experiences affected her life, for good and ill. Eventually, after years of work, she is dealing with it and making those memories part of her story. It is what it is and you can’t shut the door on the past but it’s not good to live there either. 

In a way, isn't that what comes about in all or our lives? Coming to terms with the good, the bad, the highlights, the dark, the disappointments, the lonely parts and the lovely parts of our lives makes us who we are.  No one gets though this life unscathed. At one point or another we all live through something we didn't want to go through and we didn't planned.  Woody Allen once said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.” Gracie believes that if God laughs, then surely He weeps as well.

*Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum website

Copyright © 2015 Martina Sabo 

Going Where She's Never Gone Before

Gracie and her friend sit down at opposite ends of the kitchen table and get on hotel Internet sites for the Kirtland area in Ohio.  They even get the same hotel with different prices – how can that be?  It doesn’t make sense to either one of them. Hotel, booked. Breakfast planned. Alarm clock set.  Out the door by seven a.m.  Logistics.

Gracie is excited about going to Kirtland, as many of her friends and family have visited this unique town, which in 1830 was on the frontier at the edge of civilization.

At the beginning of the 19th century in America, many religious splinter groups formed, challenging the accepted major Christian denominations. "... believers from the era hoped to restore “the ancient order of things” and... end all sectarian strife.”* The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints arose out of this religious turmoil after Joseph Smith, Jr., then 14 years old, had a visionary experience in prayer. The Saints, as the members of the new church called themselves, went to Ohio because of persecution in New York.  It makes one wonder why anyone would bother persecuting an obscure young farm laborer, his family and a ragtag group of fellow-believers. Gracie’s mind can’t wrap around this, as it seems illogical to pick on a nobody.   Nonetheless that is what happened to Joseph Smith ( 1805-1844) and as persecution escalated,  he and his followers migrated to the sparsely inhabited area in and around Kirtland. 

Gracie heads to the main attraction of the city, The Kirtland Temple, a National Historic Landmark.  The Saints built the Temple because they believed they were told to do so by God. A revelation received in 1833 states:

 119 Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;

 120 That your incomings may be in the name of the Lord; that your outgoings may be in the name of the Lord; that all your salutations may be in the name of the Lord, with uplifted hands unto the Most High.**

This was a huge undertaking, particularly for a group of impoverished settlers, such as the Saints.  Their difficult economic situation was one factor that delayed construction.  However, another revelation (D&C Section 95) given later in 1833, made it clear that the Lord expected the Saints to obey his earlier commandment:

2 Wherefore, ye must needs be chastened and stand rebuked before my face;

 3 For ye have sinned against me a very grievous sin, in that ye have not considered the great commandment in all things, that I have given unto you concerning the building of mine house;

The revelation continues with very specific instructions on the building’s dimensions and structure, which were unlike anything previously built on the frontier.

LDS.org

This reminds Gracie of some her own behaviors over the years when she knew to act and didn't.  She is grateful for her second chances and for those forgiving souls who gave her a second chance.  She is sure that the saints were as well once they eventually began the two-year construction process.  The Saints built their temple with sweat, sacrifice and determination.  Contemporary journals record that people smashed their china to add to the mortar, though some would argue they were too poor to have china.  Gracie is not one to dispute someone’s Grandmother’s journal, so china it is in her book!  The Temple glistens because of this even today.  They also mixed the mortar with both human and horse hair, which was a common construction practice at that time.

A mere two years after the Temple was dedicated, the persecution which had driven the Saints from New York eventually caught up with them in Kirtland and, combined with local hostility and internal dissension, forced them to abandon their homes, farms and Temple and move yet further westward.

After the Temple was abandoned, it eventually became the property of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (RLDS), now the Community of Christ, which continues to maintain it as a sacred place today. 

The Temple tour guide’s love of the edifice is apparent as she talks about some of the events that occurred within its walls, such as the appearance of God the Father, Jesus Christ, ancient prophets such as Moses, Elijah and Elias, and angels.  During one glorious manifestation, people recorded that a bright light shone upon the roof and some townspeople thought the Temple was on fire.  She says that people heard heavenly singing and suggested that we might wish to sing a hymn or two.  We sang “I Am a Child of God” a cappella.  At the guide’s request, someone played the hymn “The Spirit of God”, which was sung at the Temple dedication in 1836.  The time spent in this Temple was quiet, moving and serene.  All present, regardless of religious affiliation, seemed touched by the holiness of the place. We spoke in whispers as we left the building.

What remains? Gracie is impressed with the atmosphere of the area; it remains a sacred place not just because of what happened there but what is happening there.  Two religious groups  (The Community of Christ and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) care for, maintain, and cherish the history of Kirtland, which is their shared history.   They have the same historical roots, yet parted ways in 1845 after the death of Joseph Smith.  The Community of Christ retained possession of many Church sites in the eastern United States, simply because they stayed and cared for the properties there.

Gracie asks representatives of both groups:  “Why should someone come to visit Kirtland?” Both groups respond in like manner: 

 “To feel the sacredness that resides here, to learn that these people made a city flourish and thrive, to learn of a people that sacrificed for their beliefs, and to learn how these groups affected the history of the United States for good. Come to feel the Spirit.”

Gracie feels the same way as these groups have set aside differences for a higher belief, which is engraved upon the Temple; for both these groups it truly is the “House of the Lord.” 

---

* Kirtland Temple Web Site

** Doctrine & Covenants, Section 88

Copyright © 2015 Martina Sabo