Earlier this year I briefly wrote about Shon Abrahamson, a Pearl Jam fan who made his own personal Pearl Jam museum. Last week The Everett Herald publsihed more of Shon’s story in an article I wrote for their quarterly Sound & Summit magazine. Below is the unedited version of the article, which was originally published on Aug. 16, 2024.
ARLINGTON – The first thing you notice upon driving up to Shon Abrahamson’s six-acre home are the gates.
A gated entry for a property of that size isn’t all too noteworthy, but these gates feature a pair of distinct figures in bright red on the left and right doors. Those figures are the Pearl Jam “Stickman” logo – as seen on t-shirts and tattoos from the 1990s – and after driving through the gates and onto Abrahamson’s driveway you know you’re about to see something special.
That something special is Abrahamson’s personal collection of Pearl Jam memorabilia and autographs. It’s a collection so large he had a seven-room, 5,000 sq. ft. structure built on his property to house everything. It’s such a massive, carefully curated personal collection that it feels like you’re in a museum.
Inside Abrahamson’s personal Pearl Jam museum are treasures that would be coveted by any Pearl Jam fan or collector. Signed guitars, a stage-used drum kit, hundreds of posters, personalized notes from band members, iconic photos and more. In total he estimates there are 20,000 items in his collection.
“I started collecting at birth,” Abrahamson joked. “I collected Legos, action figures, Hot Wheels and then I got into music. My parents were big country and Elvis fans. I hated country but Elvis I liked and then I had to find my own thing.”
His own thing ended up being collecting celebrity autographs and eventually latching on to Pearl Jam.
“It was love at first listen,” he said, recalling his first experience with the band.
“One day in January of 1992 Pearl jam played at (local club) RKCNDY and I was just in awe of the music that was coming out of their instruments and mouths. It was incredible,” said Abrahamson. “That was when my passion and love for Pearl Jam began.”
Abrahamson, who is known as “Seattle Batman” in collecting circles, has been following Pearl Jam for more than three decades since that day and has seen the band live a total of 216 times. And that number will go up when he travels to New Zealand and Australia to follow the band during their tour down under later this year.
So how did such a large collection of memorabilia and autographs come to be?
Patience, persistence and passion, according to Abrahamson. And sometimes those are the things that get him in hot water. He said this has happened in the past when he has waited outside of rehearsal spaces, venues and other unadvertised places for hours in order to have an interaction with a member of the band.
“I’ve never had any negative interactions with anyone in the band, but the crew is a different story,” he said. “I understand they are just trying to protect the band. I get that … I’ve never given them reason to think my intention is to harm the band. It was always clear that I’d like to get autographs and talk and take pictures and that kind of thing. But yes, sometimes my personality can be a bit over the top.”
Pearl Jam fan Jessica Letterel-Rivera traveled from New York to Seattle to see Pearl Jam in concert in 2018. When she was in the Pacific Northwest she toured Abrahamson’s museum. She described her experience as a fan seeing the museum as “almost child-like.”
“I didn’t know where to look at first,” she said. “It’s an absolutely a vast collection of amazing artifacts. Not only posters but things you would never imagine you would see. And it’s displayed in such a way that’s so accessible.”
Abrahamson agrees there is a lot to take in at his museum.
“Overwhelming is the comment I get a lot when I show people my museum,” he said. “I have a lot of fun collecting and I just enjoy sharing my love for Pearl Jam with people.”
The enthusiasm for Pearl Jam goes beyond the music. He has also donated to several of the band’s charitable causes, including spending $50,000 on a guitar used by Eddie Vedder during a charity auction.
“Shon was so enthusiastic when we first connected on the philanthropic side of the band. We really bonded over that,” said Abrahamson’s friend Eric Lilavois. “Then it became so cool to just nerd out over the band together. It’s really cool to see such a fandom turned up to eleven.”
Lilavois knows a thing or two about Pearl Jam. He is producer and co-owner of London Bridge Studios, which is where Pearl Jam recorded their breakthrough album “Ten.” Abrahamson loaned Lilavois several items from his collection to display at the studio for when Lilavois offered studio tours themed around Pearl Jam earlier this year.
One of Abrahamson’s favorite items in his collection is a signed setlist and signed poster from his 200th show. The poster and setlist were given to him by Eddie Vedder following the show with a personalized note.
“When he handed it to me, I didn’t look at it and just said thanks. It was a very nice gift. Then, when I opened it, I was floored. I couldn’t believe it,” he said about receiving the poster and set list.
Other interesting unique pieces in his collection include Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready’s personal copy of the band’s album “Backspacer” on vinyl, which has artist Tom Tomorrow’s brain-in-a-jar artwork replaced by McCready’s head instead of the brain that appears on retail copies, a drumkit formerly owned by former Pearl Jam drummer Dave Abbruzzese that was used onstage and for recording with Pearl Jam and a motorcycle rumored to have been owned by the late Alice in Chains vocalist Layne Staley.
You can see more of Abrahamson’s collection on his Instagram account, SeattleBatman23, where he also arranges private tours, and on the MeTV YouTube channel where his collection is spotlighted on an episode of the program “Collector’s Call.”
A personal Pearl Jam museum by the numbers
- $50,000 the most expensive item in the collection (an Eddie Vedder guitar)
- 20,000 items in collection
- 5,000 sq ft building built to house the collection
- 2,000 posters from various concerts and events
- 800 ticket stubs
- 500 items signed by Eddie Vedder
- 250 guitar picks from various concerts
- 10 signed or stage-used guitars
- 2 surfboards signed by band members
- 1 stage-used drum kit
