Space Needle, Seattle Center, Seattle, WA

Jeff & Kelly, Experience Music Project, Seattle, WA

Pike Place Market, Seattle, WA

One day we spent entirely at Seattle Center and Space Needle and the Experience Music Project (EMP) are.

We didn’t actually go in the Space Needle but we did go to EMP, which I thought was one of the highlights of the trip. Imagine an entire museum dedicated to modern music. And the way that they do it is so technically innovative. Each person gets an electronic “pack” that they sling over their shoulder. Attached to it is a remote control and headphones that allow you to select what you want to hear when going to each exibit. Want to listen to Kiss songs while viewing the Kiss exhibit? Ok. Done. Want to listen to interviews of members of bands from the grunge movement while browsing artifacts? Ok. Done.

I loved the exhibit on music-related poster art entitled “Rock, Paper, Scissors”. Being that the museum is located in the Northwest, they had an excellent exhibit on grunge rock.. how it came about and how it changed things. I remember a quote from an interview with Krist Novoselic .. he said, after admitting that Nirvana was the first band he was ever in, that the rise of Nirvana was like the explosion of the spaceshuttle Columbia. Except he and Dave Grohl made it back down to earth.. and Kurt didn’t. Everything at EMP is just so interactive.. I think that because the subject of the museum is modern music that they were able to break a lot of rules of traditional museums, but traditional museums around the world could also learn a few things from EMP. Oh, and the Gehry designed building is amazing.

Pike Place Market was cool.. but you’ll only want to go for a few hours. After that the crowds of tourists will start to get to you. But you can purchase locally produced products from vendors.. anything from honey to seafood to vegetables to jewelry. And you, of course, get to see the fish being thrown.

More photos.