UnNatural History Museum Is a Natural for MTV Crowd

Six little girls with pony tails and French curls are bopping up and down to Madonna’s “Lucky Star” inside a makeshift television studio, their antics beamed onto a pair of monitors mounted on the wall above their heads.

Between bops, they giggle and hug one another at the sheer deliciousness of starring in their very first music video.

A clean-cut youth can’t decide whether to watch a vintage concert clip of Jimi Hendrix or another, around the corner, of the Beatles. His attention is soon diverted from both by a display of autographed electric guitars provided by such contemporary rock heroes as Nancy Wilson of Heart and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top.

Older, conventional arts patrons will undoubtedly find more culture shock than culture at the Museum of UnNatural History, a touring tribute to pop music, life styles, fashion and technology that concludes its four-day run Sunday at the North County Fair shopping center in Escondido.

But younger rock ‘n’ roll fans who regularly watch MTV, the 24-hour cable television music-video network that’s sponsoring the six-month, 27-city road show, will discover what MTV Vice President Bob Friedman accurately describes as “Epcot Center meets Barnum & Bailey for young adults.”

On opening day Thursday, youthful pop culturists from all over San Diego County showed up in force to explore the temporary “museum,” which takes up most of the mall’s central walkway.

“It’s absolutely wonderful,” said Donna Balderrama, North County Fair’s assistant manager. “We had at least 30% more people at the mall than we usually do on Thursdays, and I think the museum is going to draw even more traffic over the weekend.”

None of this surprises MTV’s West Coast publicity director, Marty von Ruden.

“The Museum of UnNatural History is the result of two years of wanting to take MTV out on the road,” von Ruden said. “It’s a very participatory project, a hands-on promotion that’s designed to let people touch, feel, taste, smell and experience everything that MTV, and rock ‘n’ roll, is all about.

“And, so far, in virtually every city we’ve hit, the museum has been even more successful than we had hoped.”

The Museum of UnNatural History is divided into four exhibit areas.

In the “New Music” section, visitors can preview the hottest new pop videos, make their own videos, and utilize sets and props to pretend they’re rock stars.

The “Long Live Rock” exhibit displays memorabilia on loan from the Hard Rock Cafe archives, including gold records, autographs, signed instruments and rare photographs and concert footage of Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Doors and Pink Floyd.

Among the more unusual items: Stevie Wonder’s glasses, Mick Jagger’s jacket, Madonna’s frilly dress, and the pair of blue suede shoes immortalized in song--and actually worn by Carl Perkins.

The “Addicted to Style” section demonstrates how makeup and fashions adapt to musical trends, with free rock ‘n’ roll make overs by MTV cosmetologists and fashion experts.

And “Products for Better Living” takes a futuristic look at pop culture and life styles. On display are eccentric Los Angeles inventor Phil Garner’s “Pet-A-Vision,” a video clip of a dog that “for realistic programming includes restlessness at feeding time,” and a complicated computer-synthesizer hookup that replicates a 64-track recording studio, at a fraction of the normal cost.

At the entrance to each exhibit area is a “vid-head tour guide,” a life-size mannequin topped with a video monitor “talking head” of an MTV veejay.

“This is our way of bringing popular veejays like Julie Brown and Caroline Heldman to every single mall we’re at,” said Lisa Protter of the Marketing Entertainment Group of America (MEGA), which is producing the Museum of UnNatural History tour for MTV.

“It’s all part of taking the excitement of MTV directly to the people.”

Among those at opening day was 13-year-old Candace Mann, one of the six impromptu video stars.

“I just came here with a few friends to go shopping at Nordstrom, and it was here,” she said of the museum. “It looked like fun, so we went in and some guy asked us if we wanted to be in a video, and we said, ‘Sure.’

“I have no idea how it turned out. We’re probably going to give it to another friend who couldn’t be here today. But it sure was fun, and we’re definitely going to come back.”

Don Johnston, the 21-year-old shoe salesman who gazed longingly at the collection of autographed guitars, said he also planned to return.

“I think it’s great,” he said. “I’ve been watching all the buildup on MTV for the last few months, so I knew it was coming here, and I was really excited. I watched the crews move it in, and now that it’s open I’m not disappointed. It’s every bit as exciting, as interesting, as they said it would be.”

At 44, Rick Hudson was one of the older members of the opening-day crowd at the Museum of UnNatural History.

“My wife works here at the mall and she told me about it,” Hudson said. “I don’t really watch MTV, but I am a fan of early rock ‘n’ roll, and I came down here because of all the old Elvis and Beatles memorabilia. I haven’t seen very much of the rest of the museum, but so far what I have seen has been pretty neat.”