Jack Daniel, Cleveland Browns and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!
posted: 4/8/2010
The past few days have been gig-free, but very interesting! After leaving Nashville we had a weekend to do some exploring in the Middle America area. So after a vote, The Green and I decided we wanted to do 2 things.. visit the Jack Daniel's Distillery in Lynchburg Tennessee, and hit up the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland Ohio.
We rolled through the most beautiful countryside I've seen (other than Upcountry Maui of course:) through Tennessee and into the quaint town of Lynchburg. The weather was perfect, rolling up at around 3pm, when the shadows from the trees, homes and cows created a nostalgic ambiance that made us keep the bus windows open.
We pulled up to the Jack Daniel Distillery, got our tickets and jumped on the last tour of the day. After watching a brief movie of the history of the land, we took the tour. Our tour guide was awesome, southern accents just make any story sound SO much funnier and interesting to us! We learned where Jack was from, how whiskey is made (from wheat, barley and corn), why Jack chose Lynchburg (beautiful fresh naturally filtered spring water), why Tennessee whiskey is different from regular whiskey (filtered through natural home-made charcoal) and how to assemble a genuine Jack Daniel barrel for whiskey. Most of us on the bus are Crown Royal fans through and through, but after seeing the serenity of the are where this whiskey is created, and the amazing vibes of the people and processing, we all have appreciation for Mr. Daniel. Seriously one of the highlights of our tour thus far! I highly recommend.
Jumped back in the bus and missioned it North all night, up to Cleveland Ohio. We were on a mission to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But we actually got something else that ended up outshining the museum... Maui boy and Defensive Line Backer Kaluka Maiava of the Cleveland Browns is friends with some of the guys, and he picked Kimo JP and I up, took us to lunch, and arranged for us to have a VIP tour of the Cleveland Browns stadium. The weather was perfect (although very cold for us 808'ers) we entered through the underground back-gate and headed through the private hall into the players locker room... checked out the training room, showers, coaches lounge, sky boxes, through the tunnel and onto the field. Private boxes above the field are rented for $30,000-$100,000 per season... seems worth it to me:) It was so badass up there. Again, made me want to be a Browns fan after getting so much behind the scenes action! (Sorry dad! (vikings fan))
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was cool too! Although you weren't allowed to take pictures inside, I sneekily snagged a couple (sorry! but isn't that what Rock and Roll is about?? Breaking the rules and stepping outside the norm??:)) Saw original drawings that Jimmy Hendrix drew as a kid:
Some clothes from pretty much every rock star in history, lyric scribbles, stage costumes, guitars, etc. Super cool. We heard a rumor there was a Bob Marley dreadlock in there somewhere but we couldn't find it.
