Hard Rock takes its memorabilia on the road
By Maria Puente, USA TODAY
The world's largest collection of rock 'n' roll memorabilia is largely the result of an accident, and it doesn't have just one home ? it's spread out among the nearly 150 Hard Rock Cafes around the world. But now the caretakers of this treasure-trove are taking some of the best items on the road for a free tour.

By Jack Gruber, USA TODAY
Hard Rock historian Jeff Nolan standing amid the collection of Hard Rock Cafe music industry memorabilia in the touring show of the coolest pieces from its collection to celebrate the chain's 40th anniversary.
By Jack Gruber, USA TODAY
Hard Rock historian Jeff Nolan standing amid the collection of Hard Rock Cafe music industry memorabilia in the touring show of the coolest pieces from its collection to celebrate the chain's 40th anniversary.
The Hard Rock International 40th Anniversary Memorabilia Tour starts Wednesday in New York at the Times Square restaurant. It will travel to 32 other cafes around the USA in an 80-foot-long double-wide truck specially constructed to exhibit 64 memorable artifacts once owned by rock's idols: their iconic signature guitars, brilliant costumes, handwritten lyrics, the clothes they wore on their album covers, the letters they wrote to friends and lovers.
Picking just a relative handful of items out of the 73,000 that Hard Rock owns was an achievement in itself and marked by good-natured arguing over what to include. Candidates were drawn from the cafes and from Hard Rock's temporary storage warehouse.
"We could make lists all day ? 'I insist we take this!' 'No way, we gotta have this!'" says tour curator and Hard Rock historian Jeff Nolan, a passionate fount of stories about the relics. "We got help from fans on our Facebook page who voted (facebook/hardrockmemorabilia.com). We gave them two choices: This one or this one?"
The result probably will make rock fans of all sorts go "weak at the knees," Nolan says, when they get a look at, say, Jimi Hendrix's custom Gibson Flying V guitar that he played at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 or read Janis Joplin's beautiful handwriting on a lovelorn letter to her boyfriend.
The very first piece
Hard Rock's first cafe in London was popular with Brit rock stars such as Eric Clapton. "He had a favorite seat, and one day he told (co-founder Isaac Tigrett), 'You need to put up a plaque with my name.' And Isaac said, 'If you give me a guitar, I'll nail it to the wall.'" So Clapton donated a red Fender Lead II, and a collection was born.
Buddy Holly's glasses
Never heard of a rock star with thick horn-rimmed glasses? Buddy Holly made it work. He was killed in a plane crash in 1959 that also killed Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson (it was "The day the music died" in Don McLean's unforgettable American Pie). "They are so identified with him, and yet for most of his career, he wore a different style, even tried contact lenses," Nolan says. "Then one of the Everly Brothers told him he had to rock his glasses, pick something over the top."
Michael Jackson's jacket
Adorned with 27 zippers and delicate chain-mail shoulder inserts, Jackson wore this red-leather jacket in the video Beat It, earning it immortality. Later, he gave it to a dying child, and Hard Rock acquired it from his family. "The best part is sewn inside the jacket ? a pass to a 1983 (Jackson pal) Liza Minnelli concert," Nolan says. Visitors get to vote one to five stars on their favorite tour items. "If this (jacket) doesn't end up being one of the five-star contenders, I'll eat my hat."
Katy Perry's birthday dress
The pop princess appeared in this balloon- and candy-cane-patterned gown in 2008 at the Latin American version of the MTV Video Music Awards and (minus the skirt) dove directly into a giant birthday cake on stage. "You don't know what it's like trying to clean a dress of cake and icing and fondant for hours and hours," Nolan says.
Steven Tyler's peacock days
Now he's a judge on American Idol, but back in the day, during Aerosmith's Back in the Saddle tour in 1984, he wore this stretchy blue-and-black striped shirt and pants with his trademark long, colorful scarf draping his microphone stand. The peacock still rules.
Justin Bieber really can skateboard
This particular decorated board was used in his video One Time. "Some rock fans will say 'What's going on, what's this doing here,' but if you look at the timeline of rock history, the (phenomenon) of teen fans going nuts goes back to Frank Sinatra and the bobby-soxers," Nolan says. "Teen idols have always served in that role." And if enough of the Bieb's tween fans turn up and vote, his skateboard could end up being a five-star winner along with Jimi's guitar and Michael's jacket.
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