I attended The Birmingham Museum of Art’s opening night for “Who Shot Rock & Roll.”

Shot as in "took a photo of" not "annihilated." This exhibit is a series of photographs taken by various photographers of celebrity musicians .

Before the exhibit there was a lecture by the author of the book of the same name. Slides (also known as Power Point) were displayed as she narrated with bits of trivia regarding the photos. Sorry to say, I don’t remember her name. The bits of trivia were interesting because there’s no way you’d know the background stories from looking at the photos.

For instance, Aretha Franklin had a side tooth missing. This particular photographer wanted a true image and nothing altered. Aretha told him not to worry about it and continued to chew gum as the photographer and his assistants readied the shoot. Once they were ready, Aretha smiled a big smile with no gaps because she had placed the wad of gum where the missing tooth would have been.

Opening night for this exhibit had wall to wall people. I attended with two other companions. People were literally bumping into each other. So many people I was unable to take pictures of the band, and décor. The band played tunes from various eras of rock and roll. There was a buffet with a variety of everyday foods and there were drinks, wine, beer, soft drinks. I didn’t view the exhibit nor did I partake of food and drink. I was a terrible hostess. I’d invited JF but chose to leave early. The crowd was too overwhelming for me. My niece and JF stayed and when I later talked to them, they said they had a great time.

I have my own vinyl collection. I have them in alphabetical order.

When cassette tapes were the preferred form of music, I could make a tape from the albums so that I could listen in the car. From a previous post you know I no longer have a tape player in my car.

Sadly, it seems the cassette tape has gone the way of the eight track tape and the reel to reel tape which I thought was so cool in the original Shaft movie staring Richard Roundtree. Isaac Hayes wrote the score for the movie. I have that album also. :)

AND yes, I do have a turntable.














Here's just one sample from my vinyl collection.

Wave you hand in the air as you sing, "purple rain, puuurple raaain, purple rain, puuurple raaaain..."

I might have bought this album during the 1980's when I was in the Columbia Record Club which no longer exists. The way it worked was they'd tease you by telling you they'd send you 10 albums and you only had to pay for one. The catch is that if you accept this offer you were obligated to buy a certain number of additional albums within a particular time frame. If you didn't buy more albums your account was turned over to a collection agency and a blemish placed on your credit record.

Just look at all you get for the low, low price of $6.99. There's the jacket, the sleeve and then the album.

Often the lyrics to the songs were on the back of the jacket or inside on the sleeve.

But WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

You get this fine poster considered a work of art by any "80's Prince fan.(cheesy grin)
Answer this question: When was the last time you got a poster inside the jewel case of a CD?

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! I didn't think so.

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