Rock&Roll

Legends of Rock&Roll find an unusual home in the Valley

By CASEY RESSLER

Valley Life editor

A stunning Legends of Rock and Roll photography exhibit is popping up this week in an unlikely spot -- the Museum of Alaska Transportation and Industry (MATI).

Executive Director David Wharton, who took over at MATI in July, put together the exhibit, which will run through February, with a big hand from famed photographer Andrew Kent, who happens to be a good friend.

"He's my oldest fly-fishing buddy," Wharton said. "Over the years I watched his work get more and more well known. I started seeing all these pictures around his house, and when I came up here, I wanted people to be able to see them."

Kent was on contract from A&M Records for around 10 years during rock and roll's heyday, Wharton said. He toured with the biggest of the biggest, and his photographs capture the essence of the 1970s.

At the exhibit at MATI, there are photographs of rockers like Jim Morrison, Neil Young, Ozzie Osbourne, Iggy Pop and Led Zeppelin, among others.

"He toured with them all," Wharton said. "Lou Reed, The Grateful Dead, David Bowie, Joe Cocker. You name it."

The exhibit encompasses some of the biggest acts from the late 1960s through the 1970s. All of the photographs are for sale -- they aren't cheap, around $400 -- and half of all proceeds are being donated by Kent to the museum.

While it doesn't exactly fall within the transportation and industry model of the museum, Wharton said the entire museum can benefit from having such an exhibit.

"It's great for us because people can come out here and see things they normally wouldn't get to see at the museum," Wharton said. "We can attract a younger audience than we've been attracting. We still have all the other attractions, though, that people are accustomed to seeing here. I think it's a good change for the museum."

While the rock and roll exhibit is upstairs at the museum, the watercolor prints of artist Nancy Stonington will be on display downstairs.

"We've got Nancy's watercolors and the Legends of Rock and Roll at the same time. There is no middle ground there," Wharton said with a chuckle. "We've definitely got both spectrums covered I guess."

Wharton has large posters promoting the Legends of Rock and Roll exhibit, and he plans on giving one away each weekend to museum visitors.

On Thursday, Wharton said he expects to have the entire exhibit up by this weekend, and plans on keeping it up through February.

The museum recently went to its winter schedule.

The museum is now open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays. It is located off Museum Drive at Mile 47 Parks Hwy.

For more information, interested people can call the museum at 376-1211.