A rare photo-op outside Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. So let's get this straight: You can take pictures of DaVinci's paintings at the Louvre, but it's forbidden at this glorified version of the Hard Rock Cafe?

A TACKY TOURIST EDITORIAL – By Ilya Mirman

I’m a huge music junkie and love capturing snippets of my concert experiences with photography.

Obviously, I’m not alone. Check out the sea of cameras at this recent Springsteen concert at Boston Garden:

DESTINED FOR DISAPPOINTMENT -- Hundreds of Bruce Springsteen fans believe their tiny flashbulb will make a difference while photographing their working-class hero in a darkened cavern.

So you might imagine how psyched I was to plan a visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Who needs the Louvre or Hermitage, when you got the museum housing amazing artifacts from the people that built rock and roll? I almost couldn’t fall asleep the night before, and I couldn’t wait to get out the door in the morning.

But the dream became a nightmare when the museum guards barked, “NO CAMERAS!”

No joke – you gotta check your cameras before going in. The museum is a treasure trove of awesome rock memorabilia – but you can’t photograph any of it!

Really?! You can visit the Louvre and photograph the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and Winged Victory of Samothrace. But you can’t photograph Madonna’s pointed bustier, Roy Orbison’s guitar, or Michael Jackson’s sequined jacket?!

What’s the deal, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? Is Madonna worried about overexposure?! I am not asking to wear her bustier (personally, I’d opt to don Angus Young’s schoolboy uniform) – I just want to take a couple photos!

My guess is that the museum is overly preoccupied with driving their gift shop business, lest your photos compete with their coffee table books. Ironic, given the free-spirit and anti-establishment message of rock and roll.

But don’t take my word for it – rather, consider the Sex Pistols message to the Hall. They rejected induction in 2006 with this handwritten screed:

“Next to the Sex Pistols, rock and roll and that hall of fame is a piss stain. Your museum. Urine in wine. We’re not coming. We’re not your monkeys. If you voted for us, hope you noted your reasons. Your anonymous as judges but your still music industry people. We’re not coming. Your not paying attention. Outside the shit-stream is a real Sex Pistol.”

Whether or not you seek “Anarchy in the U.K.,” are you with Johnny Rotten on this one?

Photography policies aside, does it bother you that the Sex Pistols don’t know the difference between the words “your” and “you’re?”

What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas: Cozying up to Hugh Hefner at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum.

SUBMITTED BY: Brad from The Terrible Catsafterme

LOCATION: Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, Las Vegas (2009)

Only one in five billion of us are fortunate enough to share our blessings as a Playboy centerfold. But the fantasy stays alive.

A couple more glasses of wine, and Hugh Hefner might not be able to resist Brad’s sexy Shazam-Bunny Ears ensemble!

(Brad’s offbeat travelogues, celebrity encounters, and historical pilgrimages are archived at The Terrible Catsafterme.)

WEDDING PICTURE? The Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace and Girl Scout Museum has become a honeymoon hotspot!

SUBMITTED BY: Kristine Carlson    LOCATION: Savannah, Georgia (1997)

When Kristine Carlson and her husband-to-be Phil were looking for a romantic honeymoon destination, they skipped over the Vegas chapel and Niagara Falls heart-shaped hot tubs and went straight for the National Girl Scout Museum.

Kris is a s’more-loving Brownie leader who just couldn’t resist posing next to GSA founder Juliette Gordon Lowe.

“I’m sure the only reason Phil agreed to participate was because we were on our honeymoon,” she says. “Notice his happy smile.  Can’t imagine him letting that photo be taken now!”

We’re impressed by the Teddy Roosevelt Rough Rider fashions that the earliest girl scouts wore. We’d be even more impressed if Phil modeled the modern lime green uniform to surprise Kris on their next wedding anniversary.

Girl Scout founder Juliette Gordon Low and two early disciples hang out in a random wheat field at a secret cookie marketing meeting

(Kris Carlson is an aspiring author now writing “The Sweet Spot,” her young adult novel about teen angst and romance on a family-owned golf course. Get a behind-the-scenes glimpse at http://www.krisasselin.blogspot.com/)

Ben Stiller is the only actor to get English billing on this movie poster for Night at the Museum 2

SUBMITTED BY: Mark Zackin        LOCATION: Hong Kong, China

Blah, blah, blah, blah, Ben Stiller, blah, blah, blah.

We Americans often assume that the entire world speaks English and we grow very impatient when foreign movies hire foreign-speaking actors who require subtitles.

Here, in the heart of Hong Kong’s commercial district, is evidence that many foreigners do not read English.

Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian stars Ben Stiller, Christopher Guest, Owen Wilson, Robin Williams, Hank Azaria, Amy Adams, Bill Hader and even George Foreman. Yet, the only actor credited in English on the poster is Stiller.

Puzzling.  Are the rest of the stars in this movie even credited in Chinese?

If we were Hank Azaria or Christopher Guest, we’d be bitter.

Oh, the stoic boy posing by the octopus tentacle is Connecticut fifth grader Ari Zackin. At age 11, he’s almost as tall as Napoleon.

(Mark Zackin is a pop culture-obsessed attorney who like to memorize movie lines. He blogs at http://zackinfamily.wordpress.com/)

In black and white, this militaristic Michael Jackson statue appears to be Soviet-esque. In color, it looks like an elementary school papier mache project.

SUBMITTED BY: Andy Carvin      LOCATION: Hungary (2005)

The Neverland Ranch gets all the glory, but there’s another overlooked place for Michael Jackson fans to leave flowers and teddy bears — the Szabo Marzipan Museum in Szentendre, Hungary.

Hungary? Well, you can’t eat this candy Michael Jackson. It’s stale.  And, as Andy Carvin reports, it has “a waxy, embalmed-like appearance.”

“Leave the eating to the zombies in the Thriller video,” Carvin says.

“I’d suspect that the museum would have a temporary bump from MJ’s death,” he adds. “But they’ll probably continue to pull in the crowds, modest as they are, from the cutesy marzipan kittens and bunny rabbits they make for the kids. Pop culture icons are fleeting, but a sweet tooth is eternal.”

For Americans who only know about Snickers and Twix, marzipan is a flavorful, sculptable almond paste that lasts much longer than Play-Doh.

For those unaware of Hungary’s special role in Michael Jackson lore, it is where he shot his historic HIStory music video portraying himself as a dictator and featuring Hungarian soldiers as authentic, Soviet-era troops. Jackson’s giant fiberglass statues of himself, which inspired the marzipan sculpture, are still floating around Europe.

(Andy Carvin is a senior strategist for social media at National Public Radio. You can read about his Hungary experience here and also invest a few hours in his “Waste of Bandwidth” blog).

Comedian Eugene Mirman puts a fresh new spin on a vintage Tacky Tourist Photo

SUBMITTED BY: Eugene Mirman        LOCATION: Beersheva, Israel (2007)

The curators of the Israeli Air Force Museum were probably hoping visitors would be awestruck by F-16 fighter jets and want to watch the Hebrew DVD of “Top Gun.”

Or perhaps visitors would want the inside scoop about the Raid on Entebbe, a daring commando operation in which Bad News Bears manager Jack Warden rescued 102 hostages being held by a cannibal, Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.

Instead, comedian Eugene Mirman traveled 6,000 miles to mock an antique Tacky Tourist Photo and give it a fresh new spin.

Not satisfied with one visual gag, he recruited brother Ilya to take his art to a whole new level.

Word is that the Mirman brothers have been pre-emptively banned from the Louvre!

(Eugene Mirman is the funniest comedian to come from Russia since, well, Yakov Smirnoff. His new book, The Will to Whatevs, offers advice on life, friendship and romance.)

Ilya Mirman flirts with Jessica Simpson at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum

SUBMITTED BY: Ilya Mirman        LOCATION: New York City (2008)

The surefire way to know who the classy guys are?

They’re the ones with the courtesy NOT to snap Jessica Simpson’s wax bra strap.

(Ilya also loves to shoot rock concerts, and was recently a guest guitar player for Mr. Brownstone, the infamous Guns ‘N Roses cover band.)