EMP--Image, Shape, Texture--It's Art.

By Stevan Morgain

Inside Jimi Hendrix' guitar MEG can help you find information on any object in the museum. A display case contains uniforms worn by Paul Revere and the Raiders. Reporters preview the video wall inside EMP's Sky Church.

It was hot and Gehry was clearly tired. He slipped into what seemed his best Socrates, spread his arms and with more than a little sarcasm said, "I don't know, you tell me?"

The Gehry challenge drew a few comments about the EMP's appearance. But then from the back of the pack one reporter quietly mumbled, "It looks like pig iron."

The seeming insult is right on target. The EMP does look like steel ladled hot onto the ground. Its glowing, undulating, reflectiveness, and the questions it evokes instantly classifies the structure as a true work of art.

The EMP is fresh. Its colorful outer skin articulates what the new home of rock 'n' roll should look like. It teases your mind's eye as it breaks all the rules about how things should "be"--just like rock 'n' roll does.

You stare--it stares back.

Its deeply mirrored finish wraps the world around you. You move and its shiny walls distort everything until you want to kick it.

Then you "get it."

For the first time itís clear why ancient Greeks and Egyptians loved fine architecture. And like those remarkable structures the EMP seizes you and makes you realize the need "...for buildings of art...," as Gehry put it.

Eventually the EMP gives up its secret. That first visceral "I hate it" response gets replaced by feelings of style and grace. Like being in the presence of a masterpiece. A work of art so huge it goes unrecognized and whose gleaming exterior is wrapped in the official colors of Fender guitars.

Inside the EMP's soundproof walls and dark shadows hide the fact that the edifice is very computer driven. There is an incredible 25 thousand miles of wire beneath the floors and in the walls.

It's also highly interactive. Using the museum's self-guided Museum Exhibit Guide (MEG), the little electronic gizmo steers you from exhibit to exhibit.

From the entrance turn right into the 140,000-square-foot facility and immerse yourself in the legend and history of rock.

First stop--Sky Church.

Paul Allen, EMP's owner, built Sky Church, with its forty-by-seventy foot video screen that plays six music videos at once, to immortalize Jimi Hendrix. The idea for 24,000 square feet of open space comes from Hendrix's desire for a space where artists could gather and exchange ideas, write and make music beyond the commercial factors of the music business.

The Guitar Gallery, The Quest for Volume exhibit follows the history of guitar amplification. Beginning with a 1770s Italian guitar, it shows how instruments got larger, went electric, and finally dominated the stage.

The Guitar gallery praises the work of pioneer guitar makers like Orville Gibson, Leo Fender and Les Paul. Each of the 55 vintage guitars on exhibit are selected for their unique role in music history.

At this point the museum divides into five galleries. Point your MEG at any display in the Hendrix gallery and listen to the connection it had to Hendrix's life or career.

The Roots and Branches guitar sculpture stands in the museum's main hall. Composed of more than 500 guitars, the 40-foot sculpture looks like a tornado that plays music.

The Northwest Passage gallery makes clear how Northwest artists had an impact on the evolution of rock 'n' roll. The gallery follows the area's tortured beginnings as a small, isolated community to its rise as the center of the "rock universe" during the grunge years.

The Northwest Passage gallery also veers into the early years of jazz, R and B and the "Louie Louie" craze, and how kiddie-pop spawned the ìgarage bandî era.

Travel forward to the 1970s and '80s. Get personal with Heart and Queensryche. Learn that this popular type of music went underground to form the network of musicians that invented the punk and hip hop scenes.

The gallery concludes in the 1990s when the world watched Seattle and the triumph of grunge.

The question "where does rock 'n' roll come from?" remains. The EMP implies that it evolved from a number of social, cultural and musical upheavals. And though its origin can't be determined, by 1956 everyone knew rock 'n' roll was here to stay.

The Milestones gallery examines rock 'n' roll's roots. It looks at musicians; their styles and some of the key artists from Wynonie Harris and Jump Boogie to The Dominoes, to Muddy Waters, Elvis Presley and Little Richard.

The Next is Rock 'n' Roll Record. The exhibit shows that the first generation of musicians to grow up immersed in the rock 'n' roll sub-culture looked back to folk, blues and gospel music to find their vision.

In Hip Hop Nation gallery: Hip hop is today's popular music scene. The multi-billion dollar industry sprang up overnight and followed Disco. The exhibit shows how pop music shifted from guitars to turntables as musical instruments.

With Hip-Hop, graffiti grew into an art form, and the public marveled at the antics of the break dancers in the streets. The EMP has a dazzling array of artifacts from the period that include everything from the outrageous outfits from the late 1970s to the side of a graffiti-painted train.

The New Day Rising gallery follows the birth of "alternative rock" or "punk."

By the late 1970s, punk culture had its hooks in America's youth. The new bands chucked social convention and tossed off the trappings of traditional "rock stardom." New Day Rising follows this heated, aggressive music trajectory from New York to London to the West Coast. And in an odd twist it looks at how "punk" culture adopted the skateboard as a part of its street life.

Crank it up in Sound Lab gallery. Rock like a star. The exhibit lets the visitor explore their creative talents--or not. It brims with the latest in interactive music and audio technology. Beat the drums; strum your favorite guitar song; do a song mix at one of the sound consoles--the museum teaches you how.

Directly across from Sound Lab is the Virtual Stage gallery where you and friends can form your own band and perform before a virtual audience of thousands.

The souvenir shop is also worth checking out. Along with the standard T-shirts and hats, the EMP has put together an extensive CD collection. And for the die-hard rocker it offers posters and the newly published "Encyclopedia of Northwest Music."

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