Alongside birthday parties and family milestones, do your home movies contain any Cleveland music history? They might have a place at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Until October 15, the museum鈥檚 archive is accepting film and video submissions for Home Movie Day. The free event returns after a five-year hiatus and culminates in a screening of recent submissions on Nov. 2 in the Rock Hall鈥檚 Foster Theater. Archivist Lyndsey Godwin-Kresge said they receive everything from local bands to Rock Hall inductees at one of Cleveland鈥檚 largest music festivals.
鈥淲e got some really great World Series of Rock footage鈥� it was from 8mm,鈥� she said. 鈥淰ibrant, beautiful footage of Joe Walsh and the Beach Boys performing in 鈥�74. We did get some great digital video of the Akron-based band Chi-Pig performing in Derby Downs in 1979.鈥�
Members of Chi-Pig also worked with Devo, and their footage is part of the Nov. 2 screening. The Beach Boys and Joe Walsh footage is part of a World Series of Rock 50th anniversary exhibit, open by appointment only. Godwin-Kresge said even the stories behind the footage, from the era of massive video equipment, are interesting.
鈥淔or some of these smaller shows, I think people just didn't care as much,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t was more acceptable because you didn't have every single person holding up an iPhone and worrying as much about copyright infringement as maybe you do now. Hearing some stories about people trying to make friends with an owner or a manager and just being able to bring their equipment鈥� it was not an uncommon practice.鈥�
That鈥檚 likely how someone was able to videotape New Wave singer Lene Lovich at a Northeast Ohio Peaches Records location in 1980 鈥� footage which will be screened on Nov. 2. Regardless of the format or back story, Godwin-Kresge said the spirit of is the spirit of amateur filmmaking.
鈥淓verything is a little imperfect and that's great,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hings might be shaky. The lighting's going to be off. They might be scratched. But all of that sort of tells the story of that piece in that time.鈥�
Footage from any time is being accepted for consideration. Digital footage is higher quality, but also less exclusive. Taylor Swift鈥檚 Eras Tour, for example, is likely very well-documented.
鈥淭here will be a point where I think鈥� archives would accept maybe the best copy,鈥� she said. 鈥淰ideo or sound quality might be different. The angles will be different. The duration of the shows would be different, and you try to get the best complete record that you can. But there's no way to save everything. It's just completely impossible.鈥�
From the pre-digital era, though, there鈥檚 still a few Holy Grails for the archive, such as Jimi Hendrix鈥檚 1968 performance at Cleveland鈥檚 Public Music Hall.
鈥淚've heard audio from that show, but I've never seen video,鈥� she said. 鈥淢aybe someone somewhere shot something, but who knows? And it might be in a closet or basement somewhere. That would be amazing to have. We have received great footage in the past of David Bowie performing there in 1972. We have鈥� no more than 10 minutes. A longer record would be really great. Just because it's represented in one way in our collection doesn't mean we're not interested in it.鈥�
The Rock Hall to arrange donations. The museum does not hold copyright to donated materials: They鈥檙e digitized, cataloged and made available for on-site viewing as research material.
鈥淚f you do have analog material, we'll digitize it for you,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e are hoping that people will be interested in donating their materials to the archive, but we're also totally fine to accept a digitized copy and return the originals. If you have things at home in a closet or a basement that you haven't seen in in years but might have some interesting Cleveland music history on it鈥� have it professionally digitized and you'll get a copy of it.鈥�
