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SEATTLE’S NEW MUSIC MUSEUM SHOWCASES GOODS FROM THE BEST

Experience Music Project Collection Highlights Timeless Artifacts

Experience Music Project, the interactive museum devoted to creativity and innovation in American popular music, has acquired several new world-class artifacts, deepening the breadth and notoriety of its collection as momentum builds for the grand opening on June 23. Today, EMP revealed new additions to their ever-growing collection of over 80,000 artifacts:

• Eric Clapton’s “Brownie” guitar—A 1956 Fender Stratocaster made famous by Clapton’s guitar anthem “Layla.” On opening day, visitors can see this guitar in the “The Next Rock ‘n’ Roll Record” exhibit in the Milestones Gallery. (photo available at Business Wire release titled “Experience Music Project Announces Grand Opening June 23.”)

• Robert Shelton Collection—the archives of Dylan biographer/rock critic Robert Shelton, documenting American popular music from the Folk Revival of the 1950s through the punk revolution of the 1970s.

• Grandmaster Flash’s Technics SL-1200 turntables, circa early 1980s—the “Wheels of Steel” that Grandmaster Flash used in helping invent hip-hop.

• World’s largest Jimi Hendrix Collection including guitars, costumes, handwritten lyrics, sound recordings, and other artifacts relating to his career.

• Handwritten lyrics of Kurt Cobain and other artifacts from Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and other bands that created the Seattle Sound of the 1980s and 1990s, part of a world-class collection of materials documenting popular music in the Pacific Northwest.

Dedicated to exploring creativity and innovation in American popular music, Experience Music Project is a new kind of museum that strives to capture and reflect the essence of rock ‘n’ roll, its roots in jazz, soul, gospel, country and the blues, as well as rock music’s influence on hip-hop, punk and other recent genres. A total sensory experience awaits visitors when doors officially open on June 23, 2000. Patrons will make their own music, see and learn about rare artifacts and memorabilia from EMP's collection of more than 80,000 items, explore various musical milestones within unique interpretive exhibits, feel the power of the creative force by listening to musicians tell their own stories, and discover the power and joy of music in all its forms. “Our mission at Experience Music Project is to inspire creativity and innovation in our visitors,” said Chris Bruce, Director of Curatorial at EMP. “This extensive collection of American popular music artifacts enables us to recount artists’ stories and their music’s history while inspiring creative expression in other generations.”

The Collection at EMP consists of over 80,000 artifacts used for display and educational purposes as well as research and background to build the exhibits. Much of this material will be rotated into the museum in permanent and temporary exhibits. When EMP opens, over 1,200 artifacts will be displayed.

Experience Music Project is on the Web at http://www.emplive.com

Edited by Kerry Cohen

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