GrahamSpencer-Designed Exhibition Cabinetry Soon to Supercharge Illinois Rock & Roll Museum on Route 66

In 2011/12, GrahamSpencer designed what many people, including famed rock critic Ira Robbins called, “the greatest rock & roll music museum exhibition ever created.” 

Hosted by the Burpee Museum of Natural History in downtown Rockford’s Riverfront Museum Park’s main gallery, Rick’s Picks: A Lifelong Affair with Guitars & Music was 6,000 square feet of rock & roll fantasy come true – as experienced in the colorful life of famed guitarist and songwriter Rick Nielsen of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band Cheap Trick. 

In the summer of 2024, the exhibition’s extensive collection of custom-designed, custom-built cabinetry and other display equipment – saw daylight for the first time in 12 years as it made its way to Joliet, Illinois. There, the GrahamSpencer-designed equipment will soon become a permanent part of the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum on Route 66. 

What was so Cool About Rick’s Picks? 

Attended by tens of thousands of enthusiastic fans who traveled from across the globe and visited multiple times, the extravagant multi-media exhibition called Rick’s Picks was live for nine months, closing in 2012. It featured dozens of notable, priceless guitars, stage clothing, concert contracts, fan art from adoring Japanese followers, previously unheard demo tracks of Cheap Trick’s hit songs, rich video content – and frequent visits to the exhibition by Rick Nielsen himself. The interactive, highly tactile experience was a feast for the eyes and the ears.  

After the close of the Burpee exhibition, GrahamSpencer entered into a partnership with Rick Nielsen. The team planned to “travel” the exhibition in the U.S. and abroad, including to Japan. When that hard effort did not coalesce despite interest expressed by several prospective hosts, the exhibition hardware remained unused and in storage.

A New Opportunity for the Exhibition in Joliet  

In 2019, GrahamSpencer heard from a lifelong Illinois music fan and musician, Ron Romero. Romero was in the process of starting up the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum on Route 66 in a lovely old building in downtown Joliet. 

“Ron called and introduced himself, saying he had been blown away by the Rick’s Picks exhibition,” said Jay Graham. “He said it inspired him to do everything he could to make something like it to honor the state of Illinois’ vast contributions to Rock & Roll in his hometown of Joliet.” 

“And,” said Graham, “Ron asked if I would come visit the property and speak at a meeting of his board and project funders to help get them fired up.”  

Graham obliged. 

I Want You to Want to Help me Build This Museum 

“Jay’s presentation, and the story he told about how GrahamSpencer tackled the design challenge that resulted in the Rick’s Picks exhibition really excited our board and funders,” said Ron Romero. “Also at that meeting, Jim Peterik of The Ides of March did a speech and solo music performance. Jim and Jay helped us set the tone and the energy for the progress we’ve made in ensuing years.” 

“I’ve found that among passionate people, a little inspiration goes a long, long way,”  Romero added, with a smile. “We are now definitely well on our way to fulfilling my dream.”  

Instant World-Class Exhibition Space 

During that visit, Graham noticed that a great deal of the building’s sprawling space was still vacant.  

“That day in Joliet, I had noticed that the size of Ron’s empty second floor exhibition space was similar to that of the Riverfront Museum Park’s main 5,000 sq ft hall where we held Rick’s Picks in Rockford,” he said. “I asked about the dimensions. He said each floor was 5,000 square feet. I remarked, ‘I may have an interesting opportunity for you. I’ll call you soon.’” 

With cohorts at GrahamSpencer and other advisors, Graham talked over the moribund state of the effort to travel the Rick’s Picks exhibition, as well as the impending opening of Rockford’s Hard Rock Casino, which would open with a Nielsen theme.  Graham had been told by project insiders that substantial elements of the Rick Nielsen collection that had been featured in Rick’s Picks: A Lifelong Affair With Guitars & Music exhibition would be on display at Hard Rock. 

It seemed clear to Graham and the GS team that Ron Romero and his Joliet museum might be able to put the Rick’s Picks hardware to better use than they could. 

Where There’s a Will (County), There’s a Way

Bob Navarro is the Executive Director of the Heritage Destinations Convention & Visitors Bureau, which includes the City of Joliet in Will County. 

“Ron Romero came to me in search of funding to make the acquisition of the Rick’s Picks cabinets possible,” said Navarro. “I knew instantly that this was a golden opportunity to help energize the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum on Route 66, and quickly make it operational and visitor-ready. Heritage Destinations applied for a competitive statewide grant via the Illinois Office of Tourism and this helped make it happen!”

The Load Out. The Load In. 

In August, 2024, Jay Graham and Christine Fetting oversaw the load out (by a crew provided by American Rigging Co) of the Rick’s Picks equipment onto two 18-wheel moving trucks. In 2011/12, Fetting managed and supervised the original construction of the GS-designed cabinets and their transportation and installation in Rockford. The equipment was whisked to Joliet, where Fetting, Graham, Romero and his volunteers (with the help of another outstanding rigging company, Stevenson Crane of Joliet) meticulously unloaded and delivered it through a second-floor window with a telehandler into its permanent new home.  

As each piece entered the museum on Cass Street in downtown Joliet, it was quickly unwrapped, inspected and positioned at its designated permanent gallery location based on GS’s layout for the new space. 

Christine Fetting was having flashbacks. 

“To say I had a weird sense of deja vu during that process would be a massive understatement,” said Fetting. “The whole original Rick’s Picks experience was such a touchstone in my career. It was so excellent and purposeful – and I hoped for over a decade that it would get another chance to recycle and Rock On!  I felt the same ribbon cutting kind of  excitement for the new venue and new team while side-hustling guidance and know-how during the relocation operation.”

Meanwhile, Bob Navarro was seeing the future.

“The next weekend, I joined Ron and some of his volunteers at a work day in which the cabinetry GrahamSpencer designed was undergoing final re-assembly,” said Navarro. “I was blown away at what I saw when I walked up those stairs for the first time. Very soon, our museum in Joliet is going to be a major gem of our region and our whole state. Ron and his benefactors and volunteers have worked so hard. For me and our Bureau, it feels good to give the project a meaningful boost.”

The Dream Police are not Coming to Arrest Ron Romero 

“As I told Jay a couple years ago, our museum would not exist without the inspiration he and his team provided in designing and building Rick’s Picks: A Lifelong Affair With Guitars & Music,” said Romero. “I visited the exhibition many times and I remember it in vivid detail. Honestly, over the past months, as we prepared to bring the equipment GS designed into our museum, it was like a crazy dream that seemed too good to be true.”  

“I kept expecting the Dream Police to wake me up and tell me to get it out of my head,” he joked. “But they didn’t. And, here we are.”

One Chapter Ends, Another Begins 

Although the GrahamSpencer team was deeply invested in the idea of traveling Rick’s Picks, we could not be happier knowing that the equipment we designed to tell Rick Nielsen’s story will now be used to shine a light on the wonderful rock music of an entire state. We wholeheartedly encourage everyone to follow the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum on Route 66 on their website , Facebook and Instagram and, when it announces its grand opening in the next 12 months, plan to attend. We’ll see you there!

This project is being developed in cooperation with the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Office of Tourism.