(From this article. Through Helman Taufani‘s link on Facebook)
By JACQUI SWIF
PEARL JAM – TEN (Reissue)
*****
A FEW miles from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in the district of Georgetown is a huge converted warehouse in an anonymous industrial neighbourhood.
It looks an unlikely location for a world-famous band, but for any Pearl Jam fan walking inside, it’s like entering Aladdin’s cave.
It’s the band’s HQ, rehearsal space and merchandise hub and impressively has all the stage sets, band memorabilia and instruments used throughout their 19-year history.
And the full guided tour offers more treats. The late Johnny Ramone’s baseball card and photo collection — he and singer Eddie Vedder were close friends — is on show near a skateboard ramp and an enormous baseball cage plus pitching machine.
Polaroid photos on display show Kings Of Leon in full baseball gear, ready to take a hit as a ball is spat out at 50mph.
Upstairs in the warehouse apartment — a place to crash if rehearsals extend into the night — Eddie is celebrating.
We meet on the day of Barack Obama’s inauguration and for Eddie, who was so central to the Vote For Change campaign, which urged people to choose John Kerry over George Bush in the 2004 presidential election campaign, it’s an extra special day.
“Let’s not even have his face anywhere on show,” he says with a beaming smile, as he turns over a copy of Rolling Stone magazine which features Bush glaring out from the cover.
“I’ve just watched him fly off to Texas on television. Finally we have got rid of him. I don’t ever want to see him again.”
