The Angels Wanna Wear My Red Shoes

This is a tribute to Cleveland, the birthplace of Rock n Roll and home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum. The base tier, designed to look like a brick wall, is flanked on 3 sides by guitars inspired by the GuitarMania statues found around the city of Cleveland and the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame Museum.

GuitarMania is public art project that raised money for the United Way of Greater Cleveland and the Hall of Fame Museum's education programs. The statues are oversize Fender Stratocaster guitars that are transformed by local artists and national celebrities and displayed on the streets of Cleveland. The statues are sponsored by corporations, organizations, and individuals. 

The circular wall is topped by a stack of 45 rpm records complete with the little, yellow plastic spindle adapter in the center. As I was placing the adapter in the center hole  far easier with the fondant version than the actual plastic adapter which would break 3 times out of 10  it occurred to me that my generation might very well have been one of the last to involuntarily experience these annoying little devices. They were only required by turn tables with Stack-O-Matic spindles. These spindles allowed the user to pile on a stack of maybe 5 or 6 vinyl discs on the spindle and they would drop one at a time to the turn table and play in sequence. So, each disk had to have it's own adapter. I've never bothered to research why it was necessary to have different sized spindle holes if the first place.

Topping the stack of singles is 2003 Rock n Roll Hall of Fame inductee Elvis Costello in an approximation of his trademark stance from the cover of his debut album, My Aim Is True. Unlike the guitars at the base, Elvis's guitar is based on the Fender Jazzmaster.

Of the comments this figure received, one of my favorites was, "Nice  Fingernails," so be sure to click the image for the larger view. Apparently the fingernails are something to behold."

Hofner Violin Bass Cake

The Hofner Violin Bass is perhaps best known as the instrument of choice by former Beatle, Paul McCartney. The appeal for the left-handed McCartney was the symmetrical shape of the bass guitar which made it easy for the manufacturer to swap the location of the pick guard and controls to accommodate a left-handed musician. This cake is decorated to resemble the "right-handed" Hofner model. Fortunately, this does not impede the ability of left-handed guests to enjoy the cake since it can be served with either a right or left-handed fork. 

The cake was slightly smaller than actual size and the tight production schedule required a few anatomical inaccuracies but I was very fortunate to have an actual Hofner bass to use as reference. If I had to work solely from photographs this would have been a much more difficult task.