Lennon Displayed in Cleveland

By Stephen M. Silverman

07/13/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum unveiled its most substantive exhibition to date on Thursday with a tribute to the life and work of John Lennon, who would have turned 60 this past week. The special installation is made up mostly of ephemera from the collection of Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, who viewed the display Wednesday. She told the Associated Press: "The nicest thing about John is the fact that he was a very inspiring energy in all different directions . . . so that people who are in art school will come here and see John's art work and maybe be inspired by that, (and) songwriters with his lyrics. Various people will be excited in different ways." Among the items on display are a leather jacket Lennon wore on the Beatles' early Hamburg trips, the "Hair Peace" and "Bed Peace" signs that Ono and Lennon hung in their hotel room during their 1970 "bed-in" for peace and report cards from Lennon's school days. "He has too many of the wrong ambitions and his energy is too often misplaced," Lennon's headmaster warned in 1956. Shows what he knew.