The educational events and public programs that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum presents are what take the museum, which is already a great place, into a higher plane and cement its standing as a real national treasure. So carrying the title of Vice President of Education and Public Programs at the Rock Hall is pretty weighty. But Dr. Lauren Onkey appears to be up to the task. In her three or so years there, the department has maintained its high quality of programming. The Rock Hall has been really lucky so far to have found education directors like Onkey and her predecessors, including Bob Santelli and Warren Zanes.
The education department’s – and the Rock Hall’s – biggest event of every year, the American Music Masters Series, is just around the corner. This year, the series – which the Rock Hall produces in conjunction with Case Western Reserve University’s Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities – pays tribute to early rock pioneer Fats Domino and his main collaborator Dave Bartholomew. The event begins Mon 11/8, with a week of films, lectures and discussions, and culminates Sat 11/13, with a day-long conference at Case Western Reserve University and a giant all-star concert that night at PlayhouseSquare’s Palace theater.
Listen to Lauren talk about these activities and how fortunate Northeast Ohio is to experience this series annually. Click here for details about the 15th-annual American Music Masters Series’ programs and tickets, and here for details on the concert, which will feature Dr. John, Lloyd Price, Toots and the Maytals, Irma Thomas, the Dixie Cups and others. And check out Cool Cleveland correspondent David Budin’s conversation with Lauren Onkey about this year’s programs. Click here to watch the video.
David Budin is a freelance writer and a folk and rock musician, whose folk group, Long Road, performs occasionally. He is a former editor of Northern Ohio Live and Cleveland Magazine.
His writing focuses on the arts, and especially on pop culture and pop music history. He is currently working on two pop-music-related books.