Craig J. Inciardi

The Indiana Jones of rock history and founding curator of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum narrates the Hall’s wild history and his quest to build its collection from scratch—from Ozzy Osbourne’s country manor to Keith Moon’s childhood bedroom and Art Garfunkel’s personal archives—including stories about Debbie Harry, Mick Jagger, Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and more.

 

Craig Inciardi was a rising star at Sotheby’s, collecting iconic pieces of rock and roll memorabilia and rubbing shoulders with rich and famous collectors when he was recruited by the founders of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum for his dream job. Craig’s mandate: Travel the globe and assemble the world’s greatest collection of rock memorabilia ever. What Craig didn’t know at the time was that there was no “museum.” In fact, there was no existing collection other than “a guitar of no importance and three interesting sheets of paper.” So began an epic rock odyssey, with Craig as popular music’s Indiana Jones.

 

Working first from a cubicle in the Rolling Stone headquarters in New York and at the constant beck and call of the legendary Jann Wenner, Craig began his work, hounding musicians and their managers for memorabilia for the non-existent museum. His travels brought him to the doorsteps of the most legendary musicians of our time: to Ozzy Osbourne’s vast English estate (Ozzie met him with a rifle in hand) and Keith Moon’s perfectly preserved boyhood bedroom. He pored through letters Paul Simon wrote to Art Garfunkel when they were both kids at sleep away camps, and from Yoko Ono he collected John Lennon’s glasses, stored with his other possessions in a heavy steel briefcase on the day of his murder. Every story is told in lush detail that Rock and Roll fans will savor.

 

Equally fascinating is Inciardi’s first-hand account of the chaotic formation of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame itself, taking us backstage to the very first induction ceremonies, an innocent time when long overlooked musicians and some former enemies celebrated each other and jammed into the night with friends and family looking on, as well as the secret induction meetings where top record company executives and managers bitterly argued over who would be included and who wouldn’t.

Rich Miller

Recorded Books

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: The Outrageous, Definitive, & Untold History

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