Kurt Cobain

Last week was the anniversary of Kurt Cobains death, and so KormaCurry feels he should reflect .... .... ....

The first time I heard Nirvana was on the radio in Manchester. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was tearing through the airwaves. At that time I was in a band and some of us were thinking about calling it a day. The song totally re-energised me. The phone rang, the singer Zig goes "What's going on?, you still interested". I was so in. That song like all inspirational gigs/songs ... Sex Pistols in Manchester, "I Wanna Be Adored' .. Stone Roses, made me feel "We can do better than that!". Of course we couldn't, but that was the power of that song. The sands of time have given us many bands that were inspired by "Smells Like Teen Spirit".


In 92 I headed off for a travel of the US, starting in the Santa Cruz Mountains of Northern California and in New York City ~6 months later. The soundtrack for that summer was Nevermind which my Mum had bought me for my birthday.. All summer it wailed on my walkman.

Fast fwd 2 more years, I moved to Seattle to start my Pacific Northwest odyssey. My first job was in the Terminal Sales building, ~6 floors below Sub Pop records. On the rooftop was a deck/garden area that was shared by the tennents of the building. We always went up there to catch the epic sunsets, smell the fresh sea breeze .. clear our head of code. We'd 'mingle' with the prickly sub-pop types, mostly far too stand-offish for their own good. Yeah, we're all kool .. but get this .. we like living and want to live. You can chat with us. Eventually they warmed up to us. Our fave dude was a guy we called "Green Day", who changed his hair colour every other week.

So... one day we're working away on a 20th Century Fox game - The Tick, and my boss rushes out .. "Kurt's dead". Whoah!. His friend from LA had heard on the news. Next thing .. Sub Pop shut down, and they all walk down the stairs shocked, upset..

The following Sunday, my friend and I went to his wake at the Seattle Center. I'll skip this details because it's all been documented well.

After the wake, the crowd headed over to the fountain where Nirvana was being piped through the sound system. All the kids headed into the fountain, hundreds and hundreds them. They all danced, wailed as the fountain sprayed the air. I have to say, it was one of the most profoundly poetic images I've ever seen. Kids clinging on to this mine like fountain structure, water jetting everywhere with "All Apologies" booming in the background.

A few years later we headed out to the mighty Pacific Coast of Washington State to a town called Moclips. After checking into the cabin and walking the ocean we fancied a beer so we headed into the local bar. What a trip. It was like a Fellini film full of characters: The bar maid was a lesbian biker chic, hosting a karokoe night ... the cast ... elder logger and his young son (son looked well old!), several smashed Native Americans, a Diana Ross look-a-like and a bunch of hillbillys.

To the point .. A native chatted with us for a while, said his name was "Speedy" -- "Cuz, the cops can't catch me!". His in-law was a judge, "A hanging judge".. Speedy reckoned he hanged around with Kurt in his Garage in Hoquiam (not the purpoted town of Aberdeen) making all kinds of racket. He said "Kurts Mom used to come on down and yell at us to be quiet". Who knows if it's true? It made for a good conversation. One thing he did say that struck a chord with me, was... apparently... he used to motion a gesture to Kurt - which was to hunch his shoulder and rub his elbow into a him? "You know what that means?", "No!", "It's Indian and means .. give, but don't give all yourself ... keep some hidden for yourself". The look in his eye was wild.