Still Waiting…! (Seattle Scene, Part 3, s90)
And so it continues. The wait for my two precious rolls of slide film. Should be here any day now. Yep.(EDIT 10/6: They came! Will up shortly 🙂 )
Until then, here’s a little glimpse of Seattle’s Experience Music Project (EMP), the brainchild of one Paul Allen, dedicated to exploring music history (most notably American music history). It’s paired with the Science Fiction Museum, and together they make as unwieldy a name as can be imagined, EMP|SFM. So it goes.
Although I’ve lived in Seattle almost my entire life – and EMP was founded 10 years ago this year – it was my first time. Chalk it up to avoiding “touristy” areas I guess. I did however, get both Setsuko and myself in for the price of a single admission, thanks to a handy coupon from my brother. Not a tourist. Right.
Pleasantly surprised by the Jimi Hendrix exhibit and the “Guitar Room” (see below). If you aren’t familiar with Hendrix, he grew up in Seattle and even went to my high school for a short stint! Definitely a fan of his music as well. There was a musical experimentation room with guitars, bass, drum kits, and recording booths for you to actually make music; but it was so overloaded with people, that I wondered if anyone ever got to actually make anything at all, and then I remembered real musicians don’t go to EMP when they want to jam. The decor and lighting of the museum is nice, moody but with some colored lighting (lots of purple). In the guitar room I was shooting next to a guy with a Sony DSLR; “Too dark,” he muttered with his consumer zoom, while I happily shot away with my s90 at f2 😀
The Sci-Fi Museum was interesting but small. I asked about it and they said everything they have is from donations. Amazing that they can get that much stuff for free. I suppose after a while of looking at that Yoda replica in your closet you’d want to donate it too? Hm. Anyhow, they didn’t have a replica Alien, which is what I kind of wanted to see, but ah well, so it goes. I’d have to say the old posters were some of my favorite! Who had a mint replica The Empire Strikes Back poster to donate??
Overall a pretty cool place and for 2 for the price of 1 worth going to!
EMP Sky Church
Original model Fender Telecaster
Flame On, Baby: A unique and recognizable costume worn by Jimi Hendrix
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Jimi and Eric Clapton
Original Hey Joe Vinyl
A destroyed Hendrix guitar
The "Guitar" Room that I mentioned earlier. On the left side, the very far right guitar hanging on the wall belonged to none other than Kurt Cobain himself!
Original model Fender Stratocaster - I used to own the guitar in this color!
Original model Gibson Les Paul: BB King anyone? What a beaut!
The age of Grunge, aka the music of my youth :). EMP's dedication to the Northwest Music explosion in their NW Music History exhibit
Survivor: Outfits worn by Destiny's Child
Throwback: Outfits worn by the Supremes
Tower of guitars, 2nd floor view
Jimi Hendrix playing Woodstock, on the huge teletron in the Sky Church
A recreation of the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise.
A mechanical Donatello, life-size (him, NOT the picture!)
A Stormtrooper costume worn by some really avid fan - then why donate it??
Sci-Fi through the ages
A full scale model of the original Terminator, side view
Ar-too-dee-too 🙂 (R2-D2)
"Hoth - The Poster". The lighting definitely made it one of my favorites 🙂 Brrr, feeling cold already...
What would a Sci-Fi museum be without Japan? This time it's Gundam, and models no less! Even more sad is how I can name the model series and the name of each one...
More Terminator goods
Ahhh here we are. Yoda I am not; replica, I am 😀
Shrunken Death Star model. The back was cut away to show the inside of what I assumed to be a re-enactment of the use of the actual movie prop
Sentinel from The Matrix. Bad ass!
Neo: The Movie 🙂
Space Needle - EMP Style (reflected off the outside of the building)
And that’s all she wrote! As I was taking the above picture, I ran into a guy who was taking the same on some B/W film – we talked for a bit more before Setsuko and I hopped on the bus to get back home. Nice to see others out shooting film!
Next post: EPIC YOSEMITE POST! Should be up this week, if I can also get all my grad work done…
Brian Chu Photography 