011809 Bernie's

Rock and Roll.

It snowed a lot in Cleveland:

After our show at The Matinee, Brian and I had run into a mutual friend who somehow finagled some free tickets to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! We didn't have to be in Columbus until evening, so we went that morning and scoped it out.

We had a pretty good blast but I didn't necessarily take any fantastic pictures. Brian and I were a little disappointed that the toilet that Elvis died on wasn't there but I guess it's probably still in Graceland. But what more important piece of Rock and Roll than the piece that Elvis left behind?

We did get to see some totally awesome things (part of the airplane that Otis Redding died on, the 4-track recorder that the Beatles recorded Sgt. Peppers on), as well as some mediocre / uninspiring things (whole wall of Aerosmith, a conspicuous lack of Led Zeppelin in the overall history).

We did hear that the best parts of the museum were the documentaries and films; however, we had to breeze through the entire museum pretty quickly. We'll definitely be back.

Artist's rendering, apparently, of how awesome it would be if Brian played air drums in The Spin Doctors with Elvis' Toilet.

After the Hall of Fame we ate a lot of good food and headed South for the evening. We pulled into Columbus, met up with some more friends, and shortly thereafter the fantastic Paper Airplane took the stage. After that came a stream of hits from Blastronauts! and yours truly.

I've been coming to Bernie's for quite some time now, and I marveled at how far the place has come over the years. When I first started playing there it was loud and smokey and rock and roll, and now it's better sounding, clean and non-smoking, and rock and roll. Way to go, Bernies!

The members and music of Paper Airplane are completely sweet.

Beware the Benevolent Blastronaut!

The Seedy Seeds closed out the evening with a super-fun set that included Brian performing on THREE songs (I'm Asleep in All My Dreams, The Little Patton, and Earned Average Dance America) he had never played before, much less practiced by himself! Brian is a robot. A robot that pulled off three new songs just by using his ROBOT BRIAN BRAIN.

We were also joined onstage by Paper Airplane for "I'm Asleep in All My Dreams," who happen to do a rather splendid version of that song on our Count the Days companion album (click here to buy). Thanks guys!

We ended the night with an interview for Ohio Rocks! and a long, cold drive home. Thanks to everyone in Columbus for making the night great; no thanks to Bernie's toilets for still being pretty heinous.

—Mike