2000: The first Rockrgrl Music Conference makes its debut in Seattle

March 2000: The Kingdome, site of many concerts — from Paul McCartney and Wings to U2 — is demolished

June 2000: The Experience Music Project, featuring “swoopy” architecture by Frank Gehry, opens at Seattle Center

January 2001: The Vera Project, a music and arts center for youth, produces its first concert

2001: Napster’s popularity peaks; Dr. Dre and Metallica sue Napster over illegal distribution of their music

2001: Beatle George Harrison dies

2001: While filming a video in the Bahamas, soul and hip-hop singer Aliyah dies in a plane crash at age 22

2002: Layne Staley, lead singer of Alice in Chains, dies; he is a pivotal figure of Seattle’s grunge scene

2003: Johnny Cash, the so-called Man in Black, dies after a remarkable series of albums that seal his legacy as one of country music’s greats

2003: Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels creates the Seattle Music Office and commissions an economic impact study that documents $1.3 billion in annual revenue and nearly 8,700 jobs generated by Seattle’s growing music industry

2003: After months of hype, rapper 50 Cent’s debut album, “Get Rich Or Die Tryin’,” becomes one of the fastest-selling rap albums in history

2004: Ray Charles, who began his career on Seattle’s Jackson Street scene, dies

2006; Funk and soul star James Brown, the “hardest-working man in show business,” dies

2007: Led Zeppelin reunites, but Robert Plant decides not to go on tour

November 2008: Jimi Hendrix drummer Mitch Mitchell dies in Portland, Ore., while on tour

2008: Northwest band Death Cab for Cutie releases the innovative album “Narrow Stairs”

2008: At long last, Guns N’ Roses releases “Chinese Democracy”

2008: Mayor Nickels launches his “Seattle, City of Music” campaign to boost the city’s musical profile

March 2009: Pearl Jam re-releases “Ten,” its breakthrough 1991 album, with special commemorative packaging