The Annexation Proclamation

There are still three weeks until the Park concert season gets underway, so what are our protagonists supposed to do? (Beyond referring to themselves in the pretentious third person?) Movie (check), dinner (check please) and (thanks to a well-placed sign in the New York City subway system and a slight bet to go if something wanted could not be obtained at Virgin Records) the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex.
I had heard about the Annex a few times, 'ark had brought it up once, but it just sort of jumped out of mind as quickly as it vaulted in. But despite some-freezing temperatures and a broken-down L train, Sunday seemed to be the day to go.

We knew we were in the right place pretty quickly after the free coat check. You step inside a room to await the next film presentation, and on the walls are large metal tiles with different rock & roll icons' autographs under the year of their induction. The cool part is when their song plays, their respective tile or -- in the case of group -- tiles illuminate. So you chase those around for a while and then the snippets of music get shorter and it builds to a crescendo (see above) as the lights speed up and the music swells and ... a bored guy opens the door to the other room.

We sat on the stools in the last row so we could see the screens all around the perimeter of the floor. I don't think one of the three blondes sitting dead center in the front row in front of us liked it too much when I said "down in front!" when she got up to adjust her ... whatever it was.

The presentation starts with crisp clear footage of the origins of music -- the names are posted via concert poster on the side for those who don't know their Muddy Waters from their Otis Redding. As the technology of the times increases, so does the use of the screens on the side. During the Beatles' Shea Stadium concert, it's really evident how little of the music could be heard through the high-pitched screaming, but the lads smile and sing on. Got as close as we'll ever get to a Hendrix concert, and bored guy used some kind of screen to make the five us in the audience part of the action. I was the first to start rockin' out, 'ark was the only one in the room who didn't. Well, besides bored guy. Apparently it was a female rock zone.

When that ended, the doors opened to the standing exhibits. Most of the choice memorabilia is on hand at the Rock & Roll Museum in Cleveland, but they did have some cool pieces heightened by the headphone musical accompaniment providing background to whatever exhibit you're standing in front of. We both loved Clapton's guitar, one just like the one used for the much-beloved Unplugged. 'Ark's other favorites included the first Fender and one Pete Townshend used while with the Who (pictured in the center here).

There was a sharp Hendrix exhibit that included everything from a necklace he wore during the famed Monterey Pop Festival to a TWA bag used in a famous poster (actually both Ritu and I own that one!) and after you've apparently had enough time looking at it, a high-def video from the show starts to play. Other major focal points were the piano John Lennon liked to use, and had on the last day of his life, and Bruce Springsteen's '57 Chevy (anyone want to sing "I've Got a Rock and Roll Heart?)

My personal favorite was this itty bitty dress of Janis Joplin's, which she wore on her famed Newsweek cover. Really gorgeous. I'd like to take the most expensive can opener/magnet EVER that I bought in the gift shop and go back to the cubicle and pry it on outta there! The girl had style ... and was teenie!

We also saw the familiar super-huge white suit David Byrne wore, a notebook of Billy Joel's songs from "The Stranger" opened to "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant," a harmonica setup of Bob Dylan's and the old signage from The Bottom Line (one of my favorite early '90s haunts) and CBGB's.

The current major exhibit is for The Clash, and while I don't go too deep into their catalog, it was cool to see the huge collection -- from the guitars and clothing to lyric sheets and backstage passes. Apparently that rotates every few months, so we'll have to keep our eyes out for future special exhibits.

Four thumbs-up from Parkage!

Visiting the Happiness Factory

'Ark came up with the perfect New Year's plan, one that probably started percolating in August when we daytripped to Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi's fabulous Soul Stew Revival shows in New Hampshire and Cape Cod. Every year, they've been doing a special year-end show on their turf and so when the Fabulous Fox Theatre announced this year's Dec. 31 bill, it wasn't a hard decision to make to go.

We talked great EC friend and general sweetheart Susan, the Georgia peach, into meeting up with us for some extra goodness. So we all separately made our way to one of my least favorite cities.

To give some fairly earned props, the people were tremendously nice and we got some great advice and even history lessons when we asked questions about the area. And it IS the Coca-Cola capitol! We went over to the Coca-Cola factory, which is where this particular blog's title comes from, and got a brief history of the beverage and all the pop culture and memorabilia associated with it. Very cool stuff.

The funniest thing about the museum/tour is that there is much about Coke in glass bottles ... but who ever sees those? It must be about one percent of their actual manufacturing, since most Coke is in cans or plastic bottles. Park searches far and wide for the glass variations. Luckily 'Ark has one particularly good source at home.

One of the most fun parts, of course, is the tasting room which sports fountain drinks from Coke-related enterprises around the world. There was a bitter lemon drink called Krest that Susan really liked. But it was more fun to watch people drink the ones that didn't taste so good. Case in point: Italy's Beverly. Everyone's face puckered up in chagrin when the taste buds got a hold of that so-called beverage. 'Ark had to bribe me into tasting it, 'cause frankly why else would you after watching every single people who tried it bellow "Yuck!"

(Side note: While Googling a photo of said concoction, found this description in someone else's blog -- "Worst. Drink. Ever. I hope whoever concocted Italy’s Beverly was immediately fired and punched in the face.")

They top off the tour by giving away glass bottles of Coke -- my fave thing in the whole world to imbibe -- so at least we could wash that Beverly away. And then you enter the gift shop -- the music swells up ... ahhhhh ahhhhhhhhh! We couldn't get the M5s (the special aluminum bottles with glow-in-the-dark designs used in European clubs), but they did have Coke in aluminum bottles. The taste out of that was amazing! Funnily enough, it very quickly loses its fizz so you have to down it quickly.

One line for Varsity, the famous long-standing hamburger/hot dog joint. Over-rated!!! If you can't be bothered to even melt cheese on a burger, how good can you be? (OK, two lines.)

Then off to the Fabulous Fox (and it IS Fabulous) for the show. The Arabian courtyard-like auditorium reminded me a lot of Mexico at Epcot center with its rich blue sky and twinkling stars. But all eyes turned the stage for the Soul Stew Revival and once again the best couple in rock 'n' roll delivered!

Derek and Susan each played songs from their respective new albums to open the show, and they sounded fresh and exciting. They whipped up great versions of the Soul Stew standards "Sugar" and "People," but then came the surprises. A cover of the Allman Brothers "Dreams" drove the crowd in a frenzy just in time for midnight, when a netful of balloons were released upon us.

And then more shockers -- a batch of Beatles covers, "I've Got a Feeling" (which I somehow presciently predicted ... by accident ... before the show) and "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window." Even got 'Ark to finally enjoy "Hey Jude" by acting out the lyrics as though he was Jude and I was the song's narrator. My fave part: Actualizing "The movement you need is on your shoulder" and then shrugging shoulders like "what does that mean?"

We've been saying that watching Derek with his band is great, and seeing Susan with her band is too, but together it's 1 + 1 = 3. It's more like 11.

Suffered some physical and transportational ailments after the show, but it won't dim the memories one bit! I should take this time to also commend World's Best Boyfriend, especially since all the women I've told the story to since have been cooing about it. My flight out of Atlanta got canceled. Now 'Ark was already at least 90 minutes away from the airport heading back to Virginia, but he basically stayed where he was until he was sure I was on a plane and not stuck in Atlanta on my own. And he didn't tell me he was doing that, it wasn't until I did some calculations about his ETA on arriving home (yuck, math!) that I figured it out. Ain't nothin' like the real thing, baybee...