Punk Rock Museum to open in Las Vegas with Canadian punk at the helm

The last seven months have been some of the busiest in the life ofHamilton punk rocker Talli Osborne.

Osborne left Hamilton for Las Vegasat the end of August to be the spokesperson for the strip's newest attraction, the Punk Rock Museum, which is opening its doors on April 1.

"It's been pretty fun lately. It's just like, not chaos, but just the busiest I've ever been in my life," she told CBC Hamilton last week.

She said almost immediately after she landed in Sin City, the museum's creator andNOFX lead singer "Fat"Mike Burkettput her to work.

"Fat Mike was like, 'You're setting up the tour guide program.'And then he's sending me all these really famous punk rockers, like punk rock legends," she said. "Just sending me their contact from his phone, like, 'Go call this person.'"

Osborne told CBC Hamilton back in August that she landed the gig after two decades of friendship with Burkett.The pairmet at a NOFX concert in Toronto, after whichBurkett wrote a song about OsbornecalledShe's Nubs.

She said the museum's tour guides areallmembers of iconic punk bands, like Flogging Molly, Anti-Flagand The Germs.

"The museum is for the punk rockers, by the punk rockers," she said.

The museum also features a barcalled The Triple Down whichthe museum's publicist, Toronto residentMelanie Kaye, said is named after two legendary punk venuesThe Triple Rock in Minneapolis and the Double Down in Las Vegas.

Over 250 Canadian punk artifacts in the museum

As of last week, the museum wasstill working on setting up some of the displays inside the museum, Osborne said, butshe has a few favourites already.

"The ones that have been exciting for me are Joan Jett's leather jacket, T-shirt and shoes," she said.

Kaye said she worked with the team doing "artifact outreach" andhelped secure over 250 Canadian pieces of punk artifacts for the museum.

One of the items, she said, belonged to her late friend and Canadian punk band D.O.A.'s guitarist DaveGregg.

"His partner loaned a guitar that he used to light on fire all the time. He was really into Jimmy Hendrix, and so I think that's what it was inspired by," Kaye said, adding that a photo by Vancouver photographer Bev Davies will be included in the exhibit as well.

Museum experience a first for group of 'just punks'

Osborne said she has spent the last seven months researching old punk show postersfor one of the museum's exhibit projects a huge floor-to-ceiling mural of punk history.

She said working on the project has opened her eyes to the punk scene of the past.

"It's just cool because punk rock was differentbeforein the '70s and hearing about those times and reading about them, it's just really cool," she said.

15:26We want The Punk (Rock Museum) with Fat Mike and Talli Osborne

NOFX frontman Fat Mike and Hamilton, ON punk superfan Talli Osborne discuss their two-decade-long friendship, which has culminated in their current roles representing the new Punk Rock Museum opening this weekend in Las Vegas.

Bryan Raye Turcotte, one of the museum's curators, donated some items from his own personal collection, like a jacket belonging to 1970s punk rocker Johnny Thunders.

Osborne said it has been a huge collaborative effort to put the museum together, but it has paid off.

"None of us have ever opened a museum before. We're all just punks and... we all just want to make a really awesome place for everyone," she said.