A couple of years ago, the Rock Hall acquired hundreds of thousands of photographs by Jeff Rusnak, a fixture in the pits of New Jersey, Philadelphia and New York rock clubs and concert halls.

A late-night disc jockey, musician, producer and manager at the Princeton Record Exchange and an incessant photographer, Rusnak took photos of acts such as Black Flag, U2, the Clash and Ween while they were still relatively unknown.

This week, the Rock Hall opened a new exhibit devoted to Rusnak.

Much of his collection was discovered after his passing in 2016, and his family donated the photos to the Rock Hall. The exhibit, dubbed Something Going On: Jeff Rusnak, A Rock & Roll Life, features just a few of the photos the Rock Hall acquired, including shots of David Bowie, Henry Rollins, Joe Strummer, Elvis Costello, Peter Gabriel, the Who, Talking Heads, Flaming Lips, Yes and Gary Numan.

The entire collection of photos is housed at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Library & Archives that’s located on the Metro campus of Cuyahoga Community College.

This article appears in Sep 26 – Oct 2, 2018.

Jeff has been covering the Cleveland music scene for more than 25 years now. On a regular basis, he tries to talk to whatever big acts are coming through town. And if you're in a local band that he needs to hear, email him at jniesel@clevescene.com.