Rick’s Picks: Cheap Trick Guitarist Rick Nielsen’s Lifelong Affair With Guitars and Music

Legendary Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen and the Burpee Museum of Natural History have announced that their state-of-the-art Rick’s Picks: A Lifelong Affair With Guitars and Music exhibit will tour after it closes in Rockford in April, 2013. The Rick’s Picks team will consider international and US venues.

“The Budokan made us famous. And we made the Budokan famous,” quipped Nielsen in a 1979 interview.

Nielsen believes Japan is a logical place for Rick’s Picks to land first in its post-Burpee Museum tour. Specifically, he is eyeing Tokyo, Osaka, Sendai and perhaps other Japanese cities. Referred to in the Japanese press as the “American Beatles,” he and his bandmates redefined American rock & roll–and though none of their first three albums dominated the US charts, they quickly went gold in Japan. It wasn’t until the band performed at Tokyo’s Budokan and released the album, “Live at Budokan,” that they achieved international and US stardom. Post-Japan, Nielsen is eyeing fan hotspots such as London, New York, Los Angeles, and Nashville for additional Rick’s Picks stops.

The exhibit opens in Nielsen’s hometown of Rockford with preview tours for sponsors, special guests and the media on August 10th, 2012, and to the general public on Saturday, August 11th, 2012 at Burpee Museum of Natural History , 737 North Main Street Rockford, IL 61103. Find more information on Facebook. Or follow emerging news on Twitter.

Additionally, Burpee Museum has announced that it has engaged Jennie Walker to an exclusive fundraising contract. Corporations and Organizations interested in national and international sponsorship of the exhibit are invited to visit the Rick’s Picks Sponsorship page, or to contact Rick’s Picks Director of National Sponsorship, Jennie Walker at jwalker@rickspickslive.com for more information. Many levels of collaboration are available.

About Rick’s Picks
It’s Guitars. It’s Rick. It’s Music History. It’s a Fundraiser. From Rockford, Illinois’ skating rinks to Tokyo’s Budokan, Rick’s Picks tells the 40-year story of one of the hardest-working stars in Rock & Roll. As one would expect, Rick has more stories that his five neck has strings. Rick’s Picks also is a fundraiser for Rick Nielsen’s favorite hometown museum, the Burpee Museum of Natural History. For more information, visit http://www.rickspickslive.com or contact Anne Boccignone, 815-742-0110, aboccignone(at)grahamspencer(dot)com.

About Burpee Museum of Natural History
Since 1942, Burpee Museum of Natural History has inspired people to engage in a lifetime of learning about the natural world. Burpee Museum of Natural History is home to 66-million year old juvenile T.rex, Jane, as well as a number of other interactive and educational exhibits. For more information, or to see a schedule of events, please visit http://www.burpee.org.

About Rick Nielsen & Cheap Trick
When Cheap Trickburst onto the national music scene in the 1970s, it broke new ground with a punkish, hard-edged brand of literate garage rock that was the perfect antidote to what ailed weary FM radio listeners worldwide. Their uniquely midwestern sensibilities have been deftly recorded in 28 albums and laid bare in thousands upon thousands of performances worldwide. With walls of gold and platinum records to prove their enduring success, Cheap Trick and its pick-flinging, checkerboard-bedecked dynamo Rick Nielsen have never stopped touring, much to the delight of one of rock history’s most loyal fan bases. Rick Nielsen, and bandmates Robin Zander and Tom Petersson can be seen touring with Aerosmith in major cities across north America this summer. The band and the tour were named among “the summer’s hottest” by Rolling Stone magazine.