at the time of his death in September of 1970, and snuck into his memorial at the Seattle Center. Eric Clapton was there, among others. It seemed fitting when Paul Allen made plans almost 30 years later to create a museum for Jimi, right at the Center. Coined the Experience Music Project, architect Frank O. Gehry was commissioned to design a venue to showcase the world's largest collection of Hendrix memorabilia, such as it was.

As most of us know, Jimi’s career was brief and his body of work—regardless how influential—was modest. So Allen opened things up, creating a museum dedicated not only to Hendrix, but all things rock and roll. Today’s collection includes more than 80,000 artifacts, from guitars used by Bob Dylan and Kurt Cobain to stage costumes, hand-written lyric sheets and interactive presentations.

I found the exhibit devoted to the early Northwest sound particularly riveting, where local legends like the Wailers and Sonics would ravage the crowd at the Spanish Castle. The then unknown Jimi would occasionally sit in, and later immortalized the iconic club in his song, “Spanish Castle Magic.” EMPlive.org

POSTSCRIPT
Speaking of the Northwest, 2007 was the 50th anniversary of the garage-rock anthem,’“Louie Louie,” a song I suspect will find life after 50. Also, Paul McCartney is now officially 64 years old. When asked what he would call his song “When I’m 64” if written today, he replied: “When I’m 94.” That sounds about right to me. •