Rock ‘n’ roll gets an encore at Forest Lawn in Glendale
When rock ‘n’ roll first infected American culture almost 60 years ago, it sent shock waves through to the nation’s very core. Perceived as an unspeakable threat to moral decency, second only to Communism, no less an authority that Frank Sinatra characterized it as “the most brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious form of expression it has been my displeasure to hear.”
Despite Ole Blue Eyes’ disdain, rock ‘n’ roll has thrived, and at the museum in Forest Lawn Cemetery’s historic Glendale facility, it is enjoying a lavishly assembled, richly detailed enshrinement thanks to “Revolutions 2: The Art of Music.” With displays of almost 200 works by nearly 40 different illustrators, designers and photographers, it’s a comprehensive, engrossing compendium of commercial, pop and fine artwork, executed by some of the most critically important figures in the idiom’s visual history.
Curated by Forest Lawn’s museum director Joan P. Adan, “Revolutions 2” (which closes on Aug. 2) is a new and bigger version of her original “Revolutions” exhibit, which was so popular that Adan knew a revisit was inevitable.
“Ten years ago I did the first ‘Revolutions’ exhibition but there was so much art I couldn’t fit it all in,” Adan said. “So, last year, I thought ‘Well, now is the time to redo it.’ It’s much larger exhibition, and this time we have included fine art, along with the photographs and art created for the music industry.”
“Revolutions 2” is wildly ambitious and spans an impressively expansive spectrum. There is so much to take in, from album covers to classic live performance photography and offbeat original graphic homages, with contributions from a distinguished roster of artists including legendary photojournalist Leigh Wiener, the great psychedelic illustrator Rick Griffin, the veteran Warner Bros.-Capitol Records art director Tom Recchion, pop art paragon Neon Park (of “Weasels Ripped My Flesh” infamy) and Ernie Cefalu, designer of the iconic Rolling Stones tongue logo.
Taken with its rocking, rolling multimedia component — a continuous screening of the original Live Aid benefit concert honoring that historic fundraiser’s 30th anniversary — the range and depth of the show is arresting.
“When I was curating this, oftentimes, one artist would say to me, ‘Oh, you really need to include so-and-so,’” Adan said. “And I love that, I do a lot of exhibitions, but I am not an expert, and that’s a lot of how I curate these, by listening to the artists themselves and taking it from there. Sometimes I will get a co-curator, an expert, but with this, all the artists themselves were experts, many of them have been in the business since the 1960s.”
“For instance David Edward Byrd, who did many posters for [famed rock promoter] Bill Graham’s Fillmore East and Fillmore West shows, he was commissioned to do one for Jimi Hendrix and he showed Hendrix the first design and asked if he approved of it,” Adan said. “And Jimi said ‘Yeah, I love it but I’d really like it if you could put my band members in it.’ I thought how cool, that he wanted to share the credit with his band. I love that story.”
“Rock ‘n’ roll reflects society, like any art form, it did then and it still does. And this show has been very well received, very popular. We’ve had a very large, multigenerational audience for this. I think everybody loves rock ‘n’ roll.”
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What: “Revolutions 2: The Art of Music”
Where: Forest Lawn Museum at Forest Lawn-Glendale, 1712 S. Glendale Blvd.
When: Tuesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., through Sunday, Aug. 2.
Cost: Free.
Contact: (800) 204-3131, forestlawn.com
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JONNY WHITESIDE is a veteran music journalist based in Burbank and author of “Ramblin’ Rose: the Life & Career of Rose Maddox” and “Cry: the Johnnie Ray Story.”