FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

The GRAMMY Museum Presents

Strange Kozmic Experience:

The Doors, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix

Special New Exhibit to Explore the Legacies

Of the Artists Who Defined a Generation

 

 

LOS ANGELES (March 18, 2010) — On April 5, 2010, The GRAMMY Museum will debut its third major special exhibit, Strange Kozmic Experience.  Housed on the Museum’s second floor, the exhibit will explore the innovations, legacies, and continual impact of the artists who defined a generation: The Doors, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix.

 

 “Forty years later, the music of The Doors, Joplin, and Hendrix still resonate in rock circles and popular culture, an enduring testimony to the power and freedom of 1960s rock,” said Museum Executive Director and music historian Robert Santelli.  “Provocative, counter-cultural, and experimental, these artists stirred senses and celebrated personal freedom like never before, so we’re pleased to offer fans the rare opportunity to engage with them again in such a personal way.”

 

Rising from distinctly different backgrounds yet united by a common love of the blues and rock and roll, Hendrix, Joplin, and The Doors made music that revolutionized and energized rock’s most fertile and provocative period: the 1960s.  The untimely deaths of Jimi Hendrix (Sept. 18, 1970), Janis Joplin (Oct. 4, 1970), and Jim Morrison (July 3, 1971), all at the age of 27 and within one year of each other, marked the end of a decade unmatched in free-spirited and experimental creativity.  To this day, the losses are still being felt: Hendrix stands unsurpassed as the greatest electric guitarist of all-time; Joplin’s heightened dimension of blues singing has yet to be matched; and never has a band brought poetry and artistic sophistication to blues and rock the way The Doors did.  Strange Kozmic Experience will explore how these artists became icons, where they took music, and why their art still resonates.

 

Bringing together more than 60 diverse artifacts and 30 rare photographs never before displayed together in Los Angeles, the exhibit features holdings from the Doors Music Co, the Morrison and Courson Families, the Janis Joplin Estate, Experience Hendrix L.L.C., Experience Music Project, Jampol Artist Management, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Hard Rock International, and other private collections.  On display, visitors will see a wide-ranging array of items, including:

 

·                 Joplin’s custom-painted 1965 Porsche 356c Cabriolet

·                 Morrison’s never-before-seen journals

·                 Handwritten lyrics  and letters

·                 Iconic wardrobe pieces

·                 Original paintings by Joplin

·                 Instruments used during some of the 1960s most important performances and recordings

·                 1960s ephemera, including ticket stubs, concert posters, fan memorabilia

·                 Instruments and lyrics from blues influencers Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Odetta, Albert King, Howlin’ Wolf, and B.B. King

·                 Photographs from iconic 1960s photographers, Joel Brodsky, Jim Marshall, Elliott Landy, Lisa Law, Eddie Kramer, and more

·                 Seminal 1960s poster art

·                 And much more…

 

Artifacts will be accompanied by an exciting selection of biographical films and archive footage.  Archived talk show interviews with The Doors, Joplin, and Hendrix will also be on display, made available with the assistance of the Paley Center for Media.

 

On Wednesday, April 7, to celebrate the exhibit’s opening, the Museum will screen the critically-acclaimed documentary narrated by Johnny Depp from Wolf Films/Strange Pictures, in association with Rhino Entertainment, When You’re Strange: A Film About The Doors, just days before its theatrical release.  Public and educational programs related to Strange Kozmic Experience (including a master class on the music of the 1960s) will be announced shortly and will take place throughout the run of the exhibit.

 

Strange Kozmic Experience will be on display in The GRAMMY Museum’s Special Exhibits Gallery – where temporary exhibits will be showcased on a rotating basis – through February 13, 2011, before touring internationally.

 

The GRAMMY Museum is located at 800 West Olympic Boulevard, Suite A245, Los Angeles, CA 90015. With an entrance off of Figueroa Street, the Museum resides within the L.A. LIVE campus, at the intersection of Olympic Boulevard and Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles.

 

About The GRAMMY Museum

Paying tribute to music's rich cultural history, this one-of-a-kind, 21^st-century Museum explores and celebrates the enduring legacies of all forms of music, the creative process, the art and technology of the recording process, and the history of the premier recognition of excellence in recorded music — the GRAMMY Award. The GRAMMY Museum features 30,000 square feet of interactive and multimedia exhibits located within L.A. LIVE, the downtown Los Angeles sports, entertainment and residential district. Through thought-provoking and dynamic public and educational programs and exhibits, guests can experience music from a never-before-seen insider perspective that only The GRAMMY Museum can deliver.

 

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Media Contacts:

Katie Dunham                                                                                   

The GRAMMY Museum                              

213.763.2133                                                 

kdunham@grammymuseum.org