New museum honors British rock stars

Following the success of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum in Cleveland, the Experience Music Project in Seattle and the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles is the new British Music Experience which opened on March 9 in London at the O2 Arena. This permanent exhibition celebrates 60 years of popular music in Britain.

The British Music Experience, or BME, takes over the 22,000 square feet on the top floor of The O2 bubble, The O2’s state of the art exhibition space. Hundreds of artists featured in the exhibition range from The Beatles to Iron Maiden, from Cilla Black to Elastica, and from David Bowie to Motorhead. Musical genres from Skiffle to Reggae, from Rock n Roll to Blues, and from Punk to Grime are also explored.

Although predominantly an interactive exhibition, there are over 500 key pieces of British music memorabilia featured including David Bowie’s Ashes to Ashes clown suit and Ziggy Stardust costume, Noel Gallagher’s Epiphone Union Jack guitar, Roger Daltrey’s Woodstock outfit and a vintage Amy Winehouse dress.

The interactive exhibition allows you to scroll through years of music, video clips, stories and images of your favorite artists, or search across a giant interactive music map of Great Britain. In the Gibson Interactive Studio, you can develop your skills on guitar, bass, drums and in the vocal booth.

For more info: Visit the BME's official website at www.britishmusicexperience.com. For information on the O2, visit www.theo2.co.uk

Spend a Beautiful Day at U2's favorite hotel

The next time you're visiting Dublin, why not stay at the hotel that U2 would stay at -- the historic Clarence Hotel. What's so attractive about the Clarence for the biggest rock band in the world? Located in Dublin's trendy Temple Bar district, the 5-star boutique style hotel boasts a "simple but elegant, unpretentious but luxurious" atmosphere. And, oh, Bono and The Edge happen to own the hotel as well.

Built in 1852, the Clarence Hotel is located on the River Liffey in the cultural and entertainment district of Dublin. Bono and The Edge used to stay at the hotel early in their career, along with many artistic types. Like many historic hotels, the Clarence was in need of major renovation, so in 1992, Bono and The Edge bought the hotel hoping to restore it to its former glory.

Considered a luxury hotel, the rooms range from $170 to $375. The penthouse suite will cost you $1875 and includes an outdoor hot tub, a baby grand piano, and a complimentary bottle of pink champagne.

As of December 2008, plans are underway for The Clarence Project, a major redevelopment of the hotel. The hotel will be revamped with a futuristic design including a $235 million expansion plan to triple the amount of rooms in the hotel. The hotel will be open for at least two more years until the redevelopment begins.

So, on your next visit to Dublin, if you decide not to splurge on the penthouse suite, at least drop by and have a pint of Guiness at the hotel's Octagon bar. Members of U2 are known to stop in for an occasional drink when they're in town.

For more information, visit The Clarence Hotel's official website.

For more Celebrity Travel news, visit my new Celebrity Travel column on Examiner.com.

Watch U2 perform on the rooftop of the Clarence Hotel in 2000 singing "Beautiful Day".