Museum Day: Get cultured and learn something for free

by Jamie Rhein on

If the ticket price of the admission to museums makes you hesitate before pulling out your wallet, on Museum Day, September 27th, the price is right. It’s free–not all museums, but many.

Several museums and cultural sites across the U.S. have been enticed by Smithsonian Magazine to not charge on the 27th to promote Museum Day.

You do need an admission card for free admission, but one pass will get you and a friend in the museum of your choice’s door.

If you use the drop down menu on the Museum Day Web site, you can find out which museums are free in any state. I checked out New York state and found dozens. Reading the list is one way to find out the variety of museums there are.

One museum that fits the historical site category caught my attention in particular. Huguenot Street is in New Paltz and is where I dressed up like a Huguenot when I was in high school and gave tours on what was called Huguenot Day. The house in the picture is one of the houses that is part of the tour.

I found out about Museum Day from Tom Barlow, my friend at Wallet Pop. He swears that I told him about it last week. Where was I? I have no recollection. Here’s the link to the Museum Day admission card.

Graceland? No, Deutschland

by Josh Lew on

Elvis is buried in Memphis, right? So what’s he doing in the German town of Bad Nauheim?

No, he was not sighted by some bleary-eyed office worker on the way home after too many beers. Bad Nauheim is the place where Elvis did his military duty in the late ’50s. The people of this otherwise nondescript town (well, at least the Elvis fans among them) are not so quick to forget their most famous boarder.

A tour around town passes an arch where the photo for one of The King’s album covers was taken. There is also the house where he lived, and, for die-hards, the room that he sometimes rented at a local hotel. There is even a story about a beer hall where Elvis allegedly started a brawl.

The people of Bad Nauheim have made Elvis a kind of folk hero, and they are painfully aware that his army days in Germany are viewed as insignificant by fans from other parts of the world. According to local Elvis lore, the Bad Nauheim years were among the happiest in Presley’s life. Bad Nauheim will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Presley’s arrival in their town later this year.

Museum that honors the 1969 Woodstock concert to open

by Jamie Rhein on

On June 2, The Museum at Bethel Woods will open on the site where the 3-days long Woodstock Music and Art Fair happened 40 years ago. The museum will include concert memorabilia, stories, multi-media experiences, and cultural highlights of war protests, fashion and much about the 1960s.

This was the time of Flower Power, war protests, and people looking for ways to self-actualize. Of course, some folks just wanted to hear some mighty fine music. Consider the line up that included: Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, The Who, The Grateful Dead, Santana, Blood Sweat and Tears, The Band, Joan Baez, Jimmy Hendrix, etc. etc. etc.

Although, the name of the concert was Woodstock, it wasn’t actually held in the town of that name, but 43 miles away in Bethel at the 600-acre pasture of Max Yasgur’s farm. The town of Woodstock came up with ordinances to prevent the concert from happening there, so the farm became the happening place. Despite the rain, 440,000 people gathered. For many, the concert symbolized their quest for freedom and hope.

For an in depth history of the concert, check out this Web site, “1969 Woodstock Festival and Concert.” It includes a Times Herald-Record article by Elliot Tiber that details how the event came to be with insider type tales.

Already there is the Bethel Woods Center for the Performing Arts on the property so the museum will be a companion to that. It is hoped that the museum will bring much needed dollars to Sullivan County. Although, I’ve been to Woodstock–the town that is in Ulster County several times, I haven’t been to this version. Now that there’s the museum, I’ll make the trip.

The museum looks like it will be fantastic. For some, perhaps it will be a trip down memory lane. For others a history lesson. Anyone who loves the mix of social issues, politics and music should think about heading here. Pair the trip with a stop in Woodstock, the actual town. The two are companion pieces in a way, and the Mid-Hudson Valley region of New York is absolutely splendid–even if all you do is drive around on the narrow, windy Ulster County or Sullivan County roads.

Here’s a tip, when on a windy county road in upstate New York, slow down on curves when it’s raining, Otherwise, you can sail off into a ditch with the undercarriage of the car scraping on pavement. I know; it happened.

The Last Supper at 16 billion pixels

by Neil Woodburn on

The problem with the true classics of art these days is that it’s very difficult to get up close to them. The Mona Lisa, for example, is protected by bulletproof glass, a red velvet rope, and at least one guard stationed within arm’s length. Good luck getting close enough to inspect the brush strokes on that little lady!

The Last Supper, perhaps the second most famous painting on our planet is equally difficult to inspect closely.

Until now that is. Last weekend the da Vinci masterpiece was unveiled digitally at an astounding resolution of 16 billion pixels. Wow. Internet users can zoom in to the most minute detail, inspecting every fleck of paint, aged crack, and bits of weathering and damage.

Frankly, it’s a little disturbing just how much the painting has deteriorated over the last 500 years. It still, however, maintains its magic even when one zooms in so far that you no longer know what you’re looking at. And for many, this will be the best viewing they will ever have of the painting. According to a recent AP article, only 25 visitors are allowed to view the painting at a time. This equates to roughly 320,000 people per year. That’s a pretty low number. As for me, I’m content right now just zooming in online. Click here to do so yourself.

Up Up and Away to the Super Hero Museum!

by Neil Woodburn on

Nerds of the world unite!

There is now an entire museum dedicated to those fictional characters upon which you’ve projected your own feelings of inadequacy and impotency and vicariously lived out a fantasy life of vigilantism in which the evils of the world are all righted and life is grand indeed.

Yes folks, it’s the American Super Heroes Museum!

Located in downtown Indianapolis, the 3,300-square-foot museum honors Batman, Superman, and other American comic book heroes–and none of those wussy European ones, like Obelix, for example.

The collection features thousands of super hero “toys, games, posters, puzzles, figurines and collectibles,” as well as an impressive array of costumes featured in the numerous live action movies and TV series which have promulgated the super hero legend for more than half a century now.

The coolest thing, however, is the museum’s life size replica of the Batmobile. Even non-nerds like myself have a nerd-like obsession with this thing. I mean, haven’t we all wanted to cry out, “To the Batmobile!’ and then peel away burning some serious rubber? Yes, you know what I’m talking about!