If all you know about the Grateful Dead comes from endless replays of Sugar Magnolia on Sirius XM, truck on over to the Rock Hall today for some higher education. The new exhibit Grateful Dead: The Long, Strange Trip aims to enhance your appreciation of the seminal San Francisco band whose meandering music earned them a legion of laid-back fans. The exhibit, which opened earlier this month, isn’t exhaustive, but it is informative. Highlights include an unprecedented collection of original artwork from posters and album covers, five of Jerry Garcia’s customized guitars, promoter Bill Graham’s Father Time robe from 1978, and Mickey Hart’s custom-painted drum kit. You’ll also find original lyric manuscripts, handwritten notes, and concise biographies of band members. The exhibition will be on display through December 2012. Today’s hours are 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Museum admission is $22 for out-of-towners, $18 for Greater Clevelander, and even less for kids, seniors, and members.
Africa & Byzantium considers the complex artistic relationships between northern and eastern African Christian kingdoms and the Byzantine Empire from the fourth…