Wed, December 10, 2008
A whirl of sounds and colors surround visitors to the Grammy Museum, an interactive experience that opened this weekend in Los Angeles aiming both to educate and be fun.
From the rock-and-roll of Elvis Presley to hip-hop, country and classical music, a visit to the sprawling four-floor museum is an entirely interactive adventure including touchscreens allowing one to remaster songs and mix them with psychedelic graphics while learning about music making.
"The displays provide broad and entertaining overviews of American music. This is not a building simply for awards and history buffs," said Grammy Museum Executive Director Robert Santelli.
"I want to reach kids, I want to inspire them to explore. If they're hip-hop fans, I want them to know that there's a great conductor up the street from us," said Gustavo Dudamel, who will become music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic next fall at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
The museum, which officially opened Saturday, also includes more traditional displays of historic items such as a costume by Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti and guitars used by Elvis Presley and Nirvana's Kurt Cobain.
But those are far outnumbered by the interactive stations, which together form a truly 21st-century museum.
Several music-themed museums already exist in the United States, including the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio and the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.
But the Los Angeles museum is the first to cover all aspects of American music culture through interactive technology, Santelli said.
The museum, which boasts a 34-million-dollar budget and hopes to welcome 300,000 visitors per year, will also present more intimate interview and performance sessions with musicians.
"Beach Boy" legend Brian Wilson opens the series on January 15.
The museum is part of LA Live project funded by entertainment giant AEG, which has invested 2.5 billion dollars in neighboring performance centers, restaurants, discos, hotels and public events.
The 51st annual Grammy Awards ceremony is scheduled to be held on February 8 at the Staples Center, just across the street from the Grammy Museum. Nominations for the awards were announced on Wednesday.
(Agencies)
