By Chris Murray

I always celebrate photographer extraordinaire, Alfred Wertheimer’s birthday, which is tomorrow. My collaboration with Alfred led to my editing four of his books featuring his photographs of Elvis in 1956. I also had the great pleasure of curating over 25 exhibitions of his photos in museums and galleries.

It was a great honor when Paul Allen and the Experience Music Project invited me to curate the first exhibition at Allen’s museum in Seattle. The exhibition was called Artist to Icon, and it featured early photographs of Elvis by Alfred Wertheimer, Bob Dylan by photographer Daniel Kramer, and the early Beatles by Astrid Kirchherr and Max Scheler. It was a great honor for myself and the photographers, and at the end of the exhibition the museum acquired all of the photographs in the exhibition. Alfred and the three other photographers were delighted. Hats off to the late great Paul Allen and his sister and executive director, Jo Allen Patton, for establishing that great museum.