Reporting Lisa Petrillo
HOLLYWOOD (CBS4) – The Hard Rock is giving Miami and Hollywood fans an opportunity to take a walk down rock star memory lane during their 40th Anniversary Memorabilia Tour.
The South Florida leg of the memorabilia bus tour kicked off on August 14th at the Hard Rock Café in Miami and then headed to the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood for the remainder of the tour, which ends on August 17th.
The items on display include Buddy Holly’s signature glasses; the wedding dress worn by Madonna on the cover of her controversial “Like a Virgin” album; Jimi Hendrix’s custom Flying V; Ray Charles’ Braille Playboy Magazine; Johnny Cash’s handmade Grammer guitar; Michael Jackson’s unforgettable jacket worn in the video for “Beat It”; and much more.
“It’s the real one; it’s the one he wore in ‘Beat It,” said Jeff Nolan, Memorabilia expert about Michael Jackson’s red leather jacket that is displayed on the tour. “What’s really cool about this is, on the inner lining there is a back stage pass to a Liza Minnelli concert in 1983.”
Memorabilia from today’s top contemporary artist will also be on display, from Justin Bieber’s skateboard to the coat worn by Snoop Dogg in the movie “Starsky & Hutch.” The Hard Rock’s memorabilia team acquired its vault of nearly 73,000 pieces of celebrity treasure by searching Hard Rock Cafés and Hotels worldwide. The Hard Rock also took to Facebook and asked fans to vote on the items that they wanted to see on the tour. Pieces from AC/DC, KISS, Slash and Kurt Cobain are a few of the items that won over the hearts of facebook fans around the world.
“I took some of the most historic, the most iconic just the most fun pieces of memorabilia from our collection from different café’s, hotels and casinos and put them on this truck; it was an adventure,” said Nolan.
The memorabilia bus tour ends on Wednesday at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood. The event, which is free to the public begins at 9 a.m. and ends at 10 p.m.
