http://www.jessicaadams.com/2016/02/25/your-pisces-side
Today I wanted to share a piece by one of the contributors to ‘Cobain on Cobain’ – and someone I’m delighted to count a friend – Jessica Adams.
Jessica’s interview with Cobain came out in Select in 1992 from an interview that took place on January 23. She kindly permitted me to include the transcript of her phone conversation with Cobain in the book. I’ll let her take up the story:
“Talking to Kurt Cobain on the phone was a complete fluke. I was supposed to be interviewing Dave Grohl, but at the last minute I heard Kurt’s rather croaky voice in my ear. It is a total joy to be able to share the interview after all these years. I always wanted to give the cassette tape to his daughter, Frances, to prove to her that he had a dry sense of humor and a good heart and that he wasn’t a tormented creature as shown in the media. Kurt was very kind to me in the interview, and I feel bad about the photograph they used on the front cover of Select and the way the piece was written up. Writers can’t control editors or art directors. The piece sensationalized his illness, and to this day I feel guilty about the fact that he trusted me enough to share his memories of recording Nevermind, only to have those memories misrepresented in the published piece, which bore my name in the byline. Just another small letdown in what must have been a sea of letdowns for him, at a time when he was so vulnerable. I was very lucky to see Nirvana in Sydney, and the band was so powerful and so affecting, I have to admit I have not been able to listen to
Nevermind since. I literally have not heard it since that year. Wherever you are now, Kurt,
know how loved you are and how important you are—especially to women, for whom you
always took a stand.”
Jessica worked as a freelance writer at Select and other music magazines before turning to novels, including the bestselling Cool For Cats based on her time writing for rock newspapers. She works as an astrologer for Cosmopolitan and Harper’s Bazaar and also works as a medium. Jessica is also the editor of AMMP, the Australian Music
Museum Project, where you can hear her original Kurt Cobain interview online.
I’m a huge fan of the work Jessica has put into the Australian Music Museum Project – Australia has had a remarkably active, and very original, music scene for decades yet this is the first time there’s been a concerted attempt to document it. Even better, the work is being conducted in cooperation with the bands and artists concerned, not as an official deification, entirely as an attempt to capture the lives and works of the people who made it happen. Definitely a project worth a lot of respect.
All the best Jessica, and all the best to the AMMP!
Nirvana Legacy 
Well now, we’re discussing auatralian music. I don’t know theres a direct link between nick cave and nirvana- is there a birthday party one perhaps? I know Henry Rollins and Nick Cave are in mutuak admiration and have lots of interesting things to say about the other. Henry Rollins doesn’t appear to hold Kurts death against him at all, and he professed being a fan and that kurt was ‘the real thing’ when questioned recently. And henry is close with Kim and Thurston of Sonic Youth way back in the day. So theres my tangential link. So! Two docos about around Nick Cave. One is called 10;000 days on earth. It wasnt Nicks idea it was the filmmakers and they just kind of led him by the nose, he says. Knowing this in advance helps it not seem like a vanity project. Its very up close and intimate and human. The dvd extra with blixa bargeld i found enthralling-do include it
The one i have not seen is called Auto Luminesence and is about Rowland S Howard of theBirthday Party and specifically their incarnation (incantation?) In Berlin. Apparently an excellent job recreating berlin in the 80’s, east berlin I presume
Right. My apologies. The links work fine. It’s the interview that’s not available. Neither the download or the streaming options seem to be functioning. Ah well…
Jessica was so affected by the show she has not listened to nevermind since! Wow! I mean, people have said similar things owing to the death of Kurt. But this was 1992!!So it was the performance itself that shocked her. Thats amazing. What a delightfully sensitive receptive soul you must be, Jessica. ( Either that or she thinks Butch Vig totally butchered the Nirvana ethos!!) Hahahahahahahahaha just joking- but only partially- well, admittedly a sensitive person might be forgiven for feeling nevermind could never replace the ardour of that Sydney show- the band were totally in their prime for some of that australian tour
I wasn’t able to listen to anything by Nirvana since his death until only about 7 years ago. Crazy I know but I kind of felt guilty afterwards, knowing how much he hated being in the band. I had tickets to see the Glasgow leg of the European tour that never happened and while I wish he hadn’t died (of course) I am pleased I hadn’t seen them live knowing what I know now. I wish I still had the tickets though. My sister’s ex (an old school skinhead who hated Nirvana) stole them and sold them. Dick.
Ouch! I know a guy who used to have his tickets for the ’94 tour and he returned them to the venue to get a refund or something…I mean…Ouch…I feel ya on this on! That’s a pain.
I made a small mistake with the title of the nick cave film. Here it is :
http://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2014/jul/14/20000-days-on-earth-nick-cave-video
And an astrology article about jimi hendrix but includes a couple of references to Kurt because Kurt shared the same astrological patterning that meant
It would appear fate hard coded the absolute neccesity for the brilliance to flare only to ‘burn out [rather] than fade away’ – according to the mythic aspects of astrology.
http://www.astro.com/astrology/aa_article141201_e.htm
Nick you may wish to send this article Jessicas way 🙂 with a high five from Brisbane ( home of The Saints ) 🙂
I made a small mistake with the title of the nick cave film. Here it is :
http://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2014/jul/14/20000-days-on-earth-nick-cave-video
And an astrology article about jimi hendrix but includes a couple of references to Kurt because Kurt shared the same astrological patterning that meant
It would appear fate hard coded the absolute neccesity for the brilliance to flare only to ‘burn out [rather] than fade away’ – according to the mythic aspects of astrology.
http://www.astro.com/astrology/aa_article141201_e.htm
Nick you may wish to send this article Jessicas way 🙂 with a high five from .Brisbane ( home of The Saints ) 🙂
Two useful gems:
New big fat book filled with photos about underground music scene in australia
https://www.facebook.com/TheUglyAustralianUnderground
Oh dear I’ve forgotten the other! But theres this :
http://doublej.net.au/programs/jfiles/tism
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punk_rock_in_Australia
Check out The Scientists
Ahhh..memories of Select magazine. I used to love it and I had most of them for years. No idea what happened to them all. I kept them all at my folks place. Looking forward to reading it. The name Jessica Adams rings a bell and it must be from over the years. There isn’t really an equivalent magazine out now (unless someone can suggest anything). I get Q but I usually find myself dissapointed in the new music they recommend. These days band names always surpass the actual music.
It’s amazing how the music press has thinned out…NME is a shadow of what it was. Mojo/Q and the like are pretty middle-of-the-road but that seems to be the audience still used to buying and committing to magazine readership. Then the specialist magazines (Big Cheese, Viva Le Rock!, the Wire, Kerrang, Metal Hammer, Terrorizer) do well in their niches. There’s not really a dominant indie music magazine covering that mainstream/just outside of the mainstream area…