Year: 2014

News Flash: Police Unwilling to Waste Time on Cobain Death Fantasies

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/03/20/no-seattle-police-arent-reopening-the-kurt-cobain-case/

I’m editorialising for sure…But, frankly, welcome to the twentieth year of zero evidence indicating anything other than that what Krist Novoselic, Dave Grohl and all serious investigators stated was true twenty years ago is still true.

My view remains that when someone says something untrue we say “that’s rubbish.” But when that person says twenty things that are untrue we say “oh, but there’s no smoke without fire…” For some reason the quantity of unprovable, unsupported rubbish is deemed to replace the truth/untruth of the individual elements:

Murdering Kurt Cobain: Finishing it all Off

A Bigger Better Brighter Conspiracy with Twenty-First Century Production Values

Kurt Cobain Conspiracy Theory Part 2

Love, Death, Drugs, Killing, Murder, Money, Conspiracies…

For fun, here’s the audio files of Tom Grant:
http://www.cobaincase.com/audio.htm
What I love is that this is a guy who cares so much about ‘justice’ that after twenty years he still hasn’t found an official body or authority to whom he would submit his ‘smoking gun’ tapes, who doesn’t trust the public to whom he appeals sufficiently to let them listen to his supposedly earth-shattering tapes. The evidence would disappear? Give me a break. It’s been two decades – is the evidence a major geological formation or something to do with tectonic plate movements – i.e., something that requires 7,300 days to move…?

It’s a stunning 208 seconds of inconclusive pieces – that he’s edited and where the only statement of context is his own. Take a look at their last conversation. This is how a guy talks to someone who he knows has suffered a major bereavement and who isn’t exactly stable in the first place. I may not love Courtney Love but I think nothing at all of Tom Grant.

Nirvana, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame…Minus Chad Channing

http://pitchfork.com/news/54358-nirvanas-bleach-drummer-chad-channing-wont-be-inducted-into-rock-hall-of-fame-finds-out-via-text-message/

The article is phrased in the language of disappointment, built to emphasise that someone is being let down or not being treated right – hence the quotation about how much he was looking forward to it, the point about the text and so forth. That’s infotainment for ya!

Another way of looking at it would be that what is being commemorated is not ‘Nirvana’ as a full historical entity – in which case why draw the line at inviting Chad? Why not invite Aaron, Dave Mk.1, Dan, Dale, Jason, Pat…? The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame sells peak fame, not the years of puttering along, so realistically the induction is a celebration of two things; the Smells Like Teen Spirit single and the Nevermind album – nuance and the kind of ephemera that keeps fans occupied is far less relevant than than the one song most everyone in the world remembers plus that ‘album with the baby on the front’ that tens of millions of potential Hall of Fame customers purchased. In a way, what’s being celebrated is two spikes in attention, not even the full two and a half years of fame (let alone the full winter 1986-spring 1994 band), just the explosion around Nevermind and Teen Spirit in late 1991-early 1992, then Cobain’s elevation to sainthood in 1994.

An argument could be made about Chad’s contribution but what metric to use? Grohl serves 41 months compared to Chad’s 24, Grohl plays 207 shows compared to Chad’s 140, Grohl records 59 songs over 7 recording sessions while Chad records 35 over 6 sessions – again, if the other drummers are excluded because they’re not around long or they don’t play much then it becomes tenuous arguing Chad ‘did enough’ he should be there. An argument based on quantity doesn’t really cut it.

A different argument would be that Chad lay down the drum patterns in studio subsequently followed by Grohl on around half of Nevermind thus making him a contributor – unfortunately that again opens up the door to inviting others given Polly was first attempted either with Aaron or Dave Mk.1. It’d also make it hard to exclude the others given a lot of the work on Bleach was first created by Aaron or Dave though subsequently recorded formally by Chad. Too many blurred lines to exclude anyone unless everyone is excluded apart from the guy who has become most comfy alongside the LA/NYC rock tradition and business.

That’s where the shame is really, having true representatives of the late Eighties’ North-West underground on stage would be a joy – guys who really did slog it out for no thanks and no cash in the times when Seattle was barely mentioned in a musical context so the people making music there had to love it very much to want to make something happen. It’d be a nice contrast seeing Aaron’s weathered rock look, Dave’s everyman expression, Chad’s ‘pixie of eternal youth’ walking out past the applauding suits. That would have been a real statement saying that Nirvana really had broken the line between underground and mainstream – instead the ceremony will be a reminder that the barricades were rolled back across the path soon enough with those deemed less able to commoditised ignored.

Courtesy of my Friend Carlos Sierra: Verse Chorus Verse Cobain Web Documentary

My friend in Spain Carlos presented me with links to this genuinely well constructed webdocumentary on Nirvana today – damn, what a great gift for a Friday!

I’m sure a lot of you have seen it, it seems to have kicked off around a year ago, but its a neat collage of Nirvana related footage, interviews and other elements carrying the tale from early days to final finish.

Not sure I need to add much more really apart from mentioning that I had my haircut at the weekend, there’s a hint of a mullet about it, that touch of length at the back…And I must guiltily admit to really liking it…

As an aside, the Scottish band Urusei Yatsura…Everytime I listen to them I shake my head and wonder how they never got big…And then I hear the noisiness, the dissonance and remember why it is that I like them and therefore why they’d never break through to the mass consciousness.

Then I listen to the Everyone Loves Urusei Yatsura album and realise that without that dissonance they become…Ugh…A bit like listening to Cast. Yeuch.

So I return to the Hello Tiger single, or the We Are Urusei Yatsura album or the amazing Yon Kyoku Iri EP and remind myself that pop and noise together is a brilliant thing and that this band is a brilliant thing.

And I smile, sing along, enjoy the broken guitar breakdowns…

…And all is well with the world. Have a good weekend! Scottish rock kicks ass!

(Quick) Nirvana Tour of Edinburgh

NME

It seems I’ve been granted my 15 seconds of Internet era fame, how funny. The dearly beloved girlfriend of a dearly beloved friend pointed out there was a new NME Nirvana Special in the local newsagent during a trip to Edinburgh. Late last night on the way home at 23.00 I started flipping through and stopped during the discussion of Cobain’s Fecal Matter demos because the NME referenced me in the piece. How chucklesome! Made me smile. This is the post I made that it seems to be referring to – nice to be seen…

Songs Dissected: Laminated Effect

Now, the things my poor friends have to endure…A quick stroll of the centre of Edinburgh readily throws up two Nirvana locations; the former Calton Studios where Nirvana played on October 26, 1990 and November 29, 1991 plus The Southern Bar where Dave Grohl and Cobain played an acoustic set for a local charity on December 1, 1991 – usefully still called ‘The Southern.’ Even I could spot that!

Carton Studios_1

Carton Studios_2

The Southern

Not much to add really except the fact that these shows had a genuine personal connection for Cobain. For a start, he’d personally requested that the Japanese band Shonen Knife join Nirvana for the tour in late 1990 which involved contacting their booking agency in Japan to set things up. Next, he used the Edinburgh show as a chance to persuade the Vaselines to reform for one night only – again, this was a chance to flex some personal musical loves – two on the same night! Remember also this was pre-Nevermind Nirvana, the Nirvana that didn’t have that much weight or power. This was the first real moment where Cobain could indulge in this way by getting those he adored to come play with his band; imagine if there was a first time that you were able to get your favourite artists to come perform with you, to reform just for you, that’d be a pretty great evening.

The 1991 performances were a further personal event; Nirvana had toured with a band way back in 1989, on their first U.K. tour, called the Cateran – another Scottish favourite (damn, Scotland had a lot going on! Cobain’s loyalty continued later with Teenage Fanclub being his choice for summer 1992.) The Cateran morphed into The Joyriders (Murdo MacLeod and Kai Davidson, former Cateran-ers forming the core of the new band) and, while he brought Captain America (heir to the Vaselines) and Shonen Knife on tour again, he paused for one night to support a local event set up by his old friends in the Joyriders.

There was a further personal reason for the hook up given Murdo was the brother of Nirvana’s tour manager Alex Macleod and had stayed in touch over the intervening years. Apparently Cobain and Grohl turned up so late many people had gone home after the Joyriders’ set (word had gotten round that the ‘very special’ guests were Nirvana) but once they arrived a lock-in ensued with the Cobain/Grohl combination kicking out a mini-set for the lucky couple dozen left. A charmed night indeed with all money then turned over for the Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

Here’s a little map ripped off from Google in case the stroll appeals to you sometime.

Edinburgh Map

February 20: Have a Birthday the Cobain Way

All the best to the town of Aberdeen and all who attend the Kurt Cobain Day celebrations today, hope it goes really well! Gillian G. Gaar (who also has a cool new ebook on Smells Like Teen Spirit out — check it!) describes the events here:

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/soundposts/2014/02/13/aberdeens-first-kurt-cobain-day-to-be-held-next-week/

So, was Kurt Cobain bothered by his birthdays? Certainly it’s noticeable that even if the week of his birthday found him on tour the band never played that day:

02/19/90 – The Mason Jar, Phoenix, AZ / 02/21/90 – Blue Max, Chico, CA
02/19/92 – Nakano Sunplaza, Tokyo, Japan / 02/21/92 – Pink’s Garage, Honolulu, HI
02/19/94 – Patinoires du Littoral, Neuchâtel, Switzerland / 02/21/94 – Palasport, Modena, Italy

It’s at least possible to say that in those three years Cobain spent his birthday either in one city or the other, or on the drive/flight between them. In 1993, the band had finished most of their playing for In Utero so actively took time out to celebrate Cobain’s birthday while in residence at the Cannon Falls, Minnesota studio of Steve Albini. Though four occasions do not make a trend, what can be said is that, even if by accident, Cobain never worked on his birthdays — maybe that’s a positive acknowledgement, taking a day off for it, maybe it’s a negative never wanting to associate a birthday with a creative act, that’s up for debate.

One way of considering the attitude toward birthdays is to expand the data pool a bit…What did the band do for Krist Novoselic’s birthday between 1987 and 1993? His birthday falls on May 16…Hmm…Again, they never play on his birthday, though they are somewhere in amidst the preparation for Nevermind on his birthday in 1991. The one time though that they’re actually touring around his birthday they do skip the date:

05/14/90 – The Garage, Denver, CO / 05/17/90 – The Zoo, Boise, ID

Nor did the band ever play a show, record or play a radio session on Dave Grohl’s January 14 birthday though, of course, for him we’re only looking at 1991 to 1994, four data points. For the record they don’t play on Chad Channing’s January 31 birthdays in 1989 or 1990 either. I think it’s all just coincidence given the limited number of data points and examining the three tours; February 1990, May 1990 and February 1994 doesn’t suggest a deviation from a trend either. So! It’s a glorious point of no answer today, but Cobain never played on his birthday.

Anyways, in terms of my own small marking of Kurt Cobain Day, I thought I’d simply give away my favourite chapter of the Dark Slivers book — it’s called Family Man. Click on the link, it’ll take you to a redundant new page where you can open the PDF and download.

Family Man

I’ve always found attempts to state a single uber-meaning for a Nirvana song fairly ludicrous given the disjointed writing methodology on display; most choruses have little relation to the verses around them, verses barely connect while the lines within a verse often flip focus. It doesn’t mean though that it was just impressionistic gibberish — compare it to Beck’s album Odelay where the lyrics consist of a gush of one-line/two-line images — Cobain’s work has a consistency of theme and image running across years if not necessarily within individual songs.

Rather than sinking into endlessly asking “what is In Bloom ABOUT, mannnnn?” I felt a better approach was to draw together the lyrics from Cobain’s three albums, plus Incesticide and the single/compilation tracks released during his lifetime and break them by theme to identify the way certain modes of expression persisted, how certain topics were tackled and how some subjects became more or less prevalent. Incidentally, as context, I believe Cobain wrote three types of song; story songs which declined and halted by 1990, character sketches which became ever more vague by the time of Oh the Guilt and Curmudgeon; leaving the mode he’s primarily known for which I call the abstract address, series after series of not intimately related points relayed to an unknown audience. I’ve hooked a few pages from the preceding chapter into it as well just to expand the number of funky tables.

Happy Kurt Cobain Day denizens of the musically obsessed world. Every best wish for your day!

Nirvana and Lollapalooza

Nirvana: Lollapalooza Tour EP 1994

I’ve muttered on about Lollapalooza before, this is just a very brief addition to the topic. I noted that Perry Farrell and the organisers hadn’t been asked about it. A few brief attempts to contact Mr F didn’t get far so I just popped a question on Twitter – land of those incapable of making an extensive or wide-ranging argument or luxuriating in a flow of words (a comment on the medium not Mr F I assure you – he’s a sharp guy!) Anyways, just a minor addition to the store of Nirvana knowledge but he did reply with the following:

Lollapalooza

Not a major addition, more a touch more chronology indicating that the band did accept – after one of their usual bursts of word play and teasing. I shouldn’t credit Cobain with all light plays on words but it does hint that he either was involved, or that he had allowed someone to go ahead and agree on his behalf even if he had only the slimmest intentions of going ahead with it. The silence is just fairly typical passive-aggressive North-West behaviour – best not to reply than to offend by saying something someone might not like or might come back on. It was suggested to me the other day that this is a fairly common characteristic of the area – a bit like how I was once told that the Japanese would rather move office and disconnect the number than say no to you on a phone call. As I’m British and therefore make weasling out of blunt honesty a core part of my average day I can definitely sympathise.

I’d simply been curious regarding what point in time the invitation had been made – this is still up for grabs. I’ve never been a fan of the idea that Cobain plotted his end over a lengthy period of time and I was wondering whether the invitation was made in late 1993 or whether the band received the invitation in the spell from February onwards when he seems at his worst. Ah well, nice there are always questions.

The Gits, Boycotts and NBC

http://thegits.com/?page_id=3459

Even in amidst the peaks and troughs of his troubled final year, Kurt Cobain’s basic decency remained on display. Reacting to the news of the brutal rape and killing of Mia Zapata the band used their weight to ensure that there’d be a good audience for the benefit that allowed Mia’s friends to begin the private investigations into her death that ultimately led to finding the murderer.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/gits-drummer-blasts-nbc-for-exploiting-mia-zapatas-death-on-tv-20140114

After a crazy time in which band members and male friends were the obvious first suspects, during which the police investigators questioned the role played by whatever Mia happened to be wearing that day in her fate (for the record and though I’m sure it doesn’t need stating, rape is not a crime that relies on someone dressing for the occasion – it’s about power and opportunity. The physical vulnerability of the victim versus the physical strength of the attacker plus the availability of a suitably discreet venue are the key factors – the attractiveness or otherwise of an individual is why you date them not why one forces an unwanted sexual act on them. Anyways, I digress…) and nothing seemed to be moving. An awful lot of money, an awful lot of work went into solving the crime and it took over half a decade to reach a result. Simultaneously, the hopes and dreams of an up-and-coming group of musicians were broken; they lost a beloved friend and also their own day-to-day lives were irrevocably altered as the chance to play, tour, record and progress as a group (and as a job that gave them their living) was whipped away. It’s understandable that the entire incident was extremely wounding to those involved and that reprising it comes with pain that must be considered.

That’s all context though – I think I’ll let individuals at the heart of this speak for themselves.

Happy Friday comrades!

http://fiberglassjacket.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/lets-get-gitsploitation-straight.html

Cobain’s Drugs Party in 226/526

A fun and entertaining sideline presented to me by Jeremy Keene – thank you fella! At about the three minute mark of this neat little interview with Duff McKagan there’s a mention of the famous room at the Marco Polo Hotel. Duff points out the echo of a song by punk band GBH:

The thought therefore occured that maybe the room was wrong but there’s definitely no fifth floor or room 526 at the motel – but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a knowing echo. Cobain’s work is strewn with puns on other words and twisted meanings. It’s an intriguing possibility that, even when at his lowest, there was room for a sardonic smile when it came to choosing the room.

I’ve mentioned before how the final months of Cobain’s life are filled with echoes of his past – that he seems to have been looking backwards – a 1984 punk track isn’t out of place at all. Examples? Jesus Don’t Want Me for a Sunbeam had been played only twice after its heyday in 1991 until it reappeared at MTV Unplugged; similarly Where Did You Sleep Last Night had cropped up only once or twice a year since 1989 before becoming a landmark TV performance for the band; in 1994 only two new songs featured in Nirvana set-lists but one was My Sharona by the Knack – a band Cobain had pointed to back in 1991-1992 as a comparison for Nirvana- while the other was My Best Friend’s Girl by the Cars, played at Nirvana’s last show and reputedly one of the first songs he ever learned; the suicide note reference to ‘dear Boddah’ tying to a childhood imaginary friend; calling his grandfather out of the blue, for the first time in ages, just to talk. It made sense too that key tour partners in Europe were his teenage favourites, the Buzzcocks, and perennial supporters, inspirations and Aberdeen buddies, the Melvins – his desire to support and see favourites was of course on display but was another part of this apparent cocoon of old comforts. The fact he mainly did it with music and with family is an indication of the twin poles of salvation he’d looked to.