Warren Zanes' Double Life

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"Maybe I have a deeper understanding of what modest success means," Zanes muses. "Anytime you make a recording and put it out in the world, you have just purchased a lottery ticket and you wonder what might happen when you scratch away."

The new job with Little Steven came about after Zanes interviewed Steven at the Hall last year. They hit it off. He told Zanes he was starting Little Steven's Rock and Roll Forever Foundation, a project that would put a rock and roll history curriculum into America's middle schools. And, Steven added, "If you're ever back in the New York City area, I'd love to do something with you." Zanes says, "It was very vague. But he laid out his ambitions for this project and we kept talking and then he said, 'I'd like you to lead the Foundation and the project."'

Zanes certainly had the chops. His four years at the Hall "was an invaluable experience, and a museum of its kind is crucial in conveying the seriousness of rock and roll as a topic. We all know the fun we had and the emotional connection we had to rock and roll; the museum can take all of that into account, but also say you can't understand America and the world in the second half of 20th century and after unless you understand this music. It's a Smithsonian of sorts. Its mission is to take the story deeper. I was lucky not only to have found it, but for it to have found me. If it weren't for the fact that my extended family is back in this area, I'd probably still be out here. But what I loved doing is being continued and amplified with Steven's project." They hope to have a full curriculum in place by the 2009-2010 school year.