Billy Joel, Clive Davis, Michael Bloomberg Announce Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex in NYC
Songs from Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen echoed through the streets of Soho this afternoon as Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex in “the city where Lou Reed took a walk on the wild side.”
Flanked by Joel, Clive Davis, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation President and CEO Joel Peresman, RRHOF Museum President and CEO Terry Stewart and CEO of NYC & Company George Fertitta, the Mayor said, “I’m one of the few people here who were around when this car was built,” referencing Bruce Springsteen’s 1957 Chevy Convertible at his side. The car, along with the CBGB phone booth on display, is one of the many artifacts which will make their home at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex in New York City this coming November.
The Annex will occupy 25,000 square feet at 76 Mercer Street in Soho and showcase selected artifacts from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland, along with special rotating exhibits which will change about every six to nine months. “From Shea Stadium to Madison Square Garden, New York really gave birth to rock and roll” Peresman proudly proclaimed.
Billy Joel, inducted into the R&RHOF in 1999, told Rock Daily, “New York gave me my words and my music, and rock and roll gave me a place for that music to live.”