\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJoseph Bondi\/MoPop<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\t\u201cThe Nirvana exhibit has been up for longer than any other exhibit that we\u2019ve ever had,\u201d McMurray adds. \u201cLet\u2019s use it as an opportunity to recast our Seattle music story. Have an exhibit that still includes Nirvana and all of these other bands, but also as the opportunity to tell some broader, more inclusive stories.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThese Pacific Northwest stories extend outside of grunge: McMurray cited the city\u2019s early hip-hop movement, glam rock band Ze Whiz Kids, and Portland\u2019s the Kingsmen of \u201cLouie Louie\u201d fame as other artists that played a crucial role in the region\u2019s musical history.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWhat if we created an exhibit that told 15 to 20 vignette stories across time and genre that will always include [grunge] \u2014 the stuff that people really want to see as tourists or when you think of Seattle music \u2014 but where we\u2019re able to constantly highlight these stories that were also very important, but maybe don\u2019t get as much airplay.,\u201d McMurray says. \u201cNirvana is part of MoPop\u2019s DNA and will always be here, but as a museum, we also just want to tell different stories all of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tMcMurray\u2019s personal favorite items in the exhibit: A handwritten letter that Melvins singer Buzz Osborne sent his friend Krist Novoselic forecasting that this Cobain kid \u201cmight have some kind of future in music,\u201d as well as the reassembled remains of a guitar Cobain smashed at an Evergreen State College dorm show in 1988.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cMaybe there\u2019s 50 people in the audience, and [Cobain] probably doesn\u2019t have enough money to pay rent, much less buy another guitar, and for some reason, he smashes that guitar out of the spirit of punk rock nihilism,\u201d McMurray says. \u201cThat idea that one, [Cobain] was so moved to do that, and then two, somebody in the audience was so fucking psyched about that that they grabbed that guitar and held onto it for like another 10 years before we acquired it.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tNeal Kosaly-Meyer<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJoseph Bondi\/MoPop<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tLongtime MoPop museum guide and resident music expert Neal Kosaly-Meyer, who on Saturday led the final two guided tours for a select number of fans, also pointed to the Osborne letter to Novoselic about Cobain as one of the items he\u2019ll miss the most. \u201cThere\u2019s that prophetic line at the end: \u2018I think he might have some kind of future in music if he keeps at it.\u2019 I think that\u2019s beautiful,\u201d Kosaly-Meyer says.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t(This writer\u2019s favorite items: The sacred text that is the printed MTV Unplugged<\/em> set list housed behind plexiglass, and early photo proofs of the naked baby on the Nevermind<\/em> cover with the handwritten note: \u201cIf anyone has a problem with his dick we can remove it.\u201d)<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\tIn addition to one last walk through the exhibit, Saturday\u2019s closing ceremony touted extracurricular activities like shirt screen-printing, zine-making, DJs spinning grunge classics, a theater showing Nirvana\u2019s concert films and music videos, and a panel of Seattle area music folk \u2014 including McMurray, Sub Pop CEO Megan Jasper, and Recording Academy executive (and Seattle native) Jessica Toon \u2014 discussing the grunge era, the exhibit\u2019s impact, and the museum\u2019s future. What wasn\u2019t on the lineup, however, was the biggest (and definitely tallest) surprise of the afternoon: An unannounced appearance by Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, who provided the opening remarks prior to the panel.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI started to get involved with, it was EMP, Experience Music Project, then MoPop, and it was just a great place to keep my stuff,\u201d Novoselic joked. \u201cLike, \u2018Why is this guitar under my bed? Or, \u2018why am I playing this guitar at a gig when I\u2019m going to lose it and it\u2019s gonna get ripped off. These are basses I played with Nirvana.\u2019 So I donated to the museum. \u2018Here you go.\u2019 And people enjoyed them.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tNovoselic added, \u201cJust that thinking and foresight like, \u2018This is a vault with certain conditioned air and certain fire suppression. Security, white gloves\u2026 this is a bass that I bought for like 300 bucks at a pawn shop, and now it\u2019s this artifact. It\u2019s priceless.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tKrist Novoselic at MoPop\u2019s exhibit closing panel<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tFollowing the panel, Novoselic hung around to chat and take photos with every Nirvana-shirted adult and Cobain-looking teenager that approached him. Sidling up to the towering figure, I asked him how he felt about the exhibit coming to an end. \u201cGrateful,\u201d Novoselic said, and not because he\u2019s getting his stuff back.<\/p>\n\n
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