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Nirvana

I might have to go back to Seattle!!

Kurt Cobain’s first smashed guitar to go on show at Nirvana exhibition
Pieces of the first guitar Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain destroyed onstage will be included in a new exhibition about the band in Seattle.
Shards of the Univox Hi-Flyer guitar will be among the 200 band artifacts to be featured in the exhibition, called ‘Nirvana: Taking Punk To The Masses’.
The show will also feature the yellow cardigan Cobain often wore between 1991 and 1994, handwritten lyrics to ‘Spank Thru’ and ‘Floyd The Barber’ and the winged angel stage prop featured on the bandís ‘In Utero’ tour.
The exhibition will run from April 16-22 at the Experience Music Project in the bandís hometown.
Bassist Krist Novoselic said: “Itís great that there will soon be a collection that celebrates [Cobainís] contribution to music and culture.”
He added: “Thereís a story with Nirvana at its centre, but itís a story that also includes the many people, bands and institutions that make up a music community.”
Along with the exhibits the show will feature recorded recollections from Nirvana associates.
These include Novoselic, ‘In Utero’ producer Steve Albini, ‘Bleach’ producer Jack Endino and original drummer Chad Channing.
A 250 page book, Taking Punk to The Masses: From Nowhere To Nevermind is also being planned to be published by Fantagraphics Books in conjunction with the exhibition.
Nirvana’s rare ‘Hormoaning’ EP is set to be re-released for Record Store Day on vinyl on April 16.

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Nirvana

Love that title, ‘Stinking of You’!!!

Unreleased Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love song featured in new film
A new documentary telling the story of former Hole drummer Patty Schemel features never-before-seen footage of Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain singing an unreleased song they wrote.
The film, Hit So Hard, received its world premiere at the South By Southwest festival in Austin this week (beginning March 14). As well as footage of the song, ‘Stinking of You’ being performed, it features revealing interviews with Love and former Hole members Melissa Auf de Maur and Eric Erlandson.
The documentary addresses Schemel’s struggle with drug addiction and the deaths of Cobain and Hole bassist Kristen Pfaff. All four original Hole members are set to reunite for the first time in 13 years at the New York premiere of the film on March 28.
Schemel was replaced on the band’s 1998 album ‘Celebrity Skin’ by a session drummer, with the film revealing that this what caused her to leave the band for good.
Candid home footage recorded by Schemel of Cobain and Love, including footage of them playing ‘Stinking of You’, is featured.
“Kurt used to hang around us, ‘cos he hated his band [Nirvana],” Love says in the film when discussing the last year of Cobain’s life.
At a question and answer session after the screening at the Texas festival Schemel discussed being replaced on ‘Celebrity Skin’, saying she was “angry, but OK about it”.
Go here for more details about the film.

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Nirvana

Wooooooooooooo!!!!!

Foo Fighters “officially done” recording album
NEW YORK (Billboard) ñ The Foo Fighters have finished work on their seventh studio album, according to a post on the group’s Twitter account Tuesday.
“Ladies and gentlemen … we are officially done. Champagne, anyone?,” said the post, which was accompanied by a shot of frontman Dave Grohl holding a bottle of bubbly alongside band and crew.
The as-yet-untitled 11-song album, due out in the spring via RCA Records, marks the follow-up to 2007’s “Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace.” Four new songs — “Back + Forth,” “White Limo,” “Dear Rosemary” and “These Days” — were previewed during a secret show in Los Angeles last month.
Grohl’s former Nirvana bandmate Krist Novoselic appears on the track “I Should Have Known,” while Husker Du/Sugar frontman Bob Mold guests on “Dear Rosemary.” Grohl has described the album as the band’s “most rocking record yet.”
The Foo Fighters will return to the stage May 27 at the Sasquatch Music Festival in George, Wash. The group will then play headlining and festival dates in Europe through early July.

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Nirvana

This is super cool!!!

Foo Fighters Return, Dave Grohl Recruits Krist Novoselic
The Foo Fighters will release a new album next year that features special help from singer Dave Grohl’s old Nirvana bandmate, bassist Krist Novoselic, the frontman revealed to BBC Radio 1. The as-yet-untitled set, which would be the group’s seventh studio album, is also being helmed by “Nevermind” producer Butch Vig.
Grohl told Radio 1 host Zane Lowe that he and his bandmates have spent the last month and a half “recording in my garage, totally old school analog,” and that the group has finished seven songs thus far. “This whole project has been really cool. I haven’t made a record with Butch for 20 years,” he said.
The as-yet-untitled album will be the Foos’ first since 2007’s “Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace,” which earned a Grammy nod for album of the year and moved 889,000 units, according the Nielsen SoundScan. Afterwards, the band went on hiatus as Grohl focused on his drumming duties for Them Crooked Vultures, his hard-rock supergroup with Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones and Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. During Foo Fighters’ downtime, a “Greatest Hits” album was issued in Nov. 2009 and has since sold 333,000 copies.
Although their new album is incomplete, Foo Fighters have already announced two U.K. stadium shows at Buckinghamshire’s Milton Keynes Bowl for July 2-3, 2011. Biffy Clyro, Death Cab For Cutie and Jimmy Eat World have been tapped as openers for the shows.
“I know the record and I can’t wait ’til everyone else hears it,” Grohl said. “Foo Fighter fans are going to freak out because honestly, it’s awesome.”
The band also plans to release a film that captures it in the studio. “Basically 2011 you’re not gonna be able to get us out of your hair, that’s what we’re planning,” Grohl said.

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Nirvana

She’s 18 already?!?!? Man am I old!!!

Cobain daughter inherits fortune
Tragic Kurt Cobain’s little girl has gone from teen student to super-rich kid overnight after inheriting a large chunk of her late father’s fortune as an 18th birthday gift.
Frances Bean Cobain hit the legal age on Wednesday and will pick up almost 40 per cent of her father’s estate, according to experts.
The teen, whose mother is rocker Courtney Love, was just about to turn two when her father killed himself in 1994.
Little is known about the reclusive rock offspring’s birthday plans – but she won’t be blowing out candles with her mom.
Frances was placed under the guardianship of her grandmother, Wendy O’Connor, after falling out with Love last year, and the move to distance herself from the Hole rocker has only served to infuriate Love, who attacked her daughter in online rants.
The 18 year old will kick off adulthood at Bard College in upstate New York next month, and she’ll be one of the most well-off kids on campus thanks to a trust fund set up in her name three years after her father’s death.

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Nirvana

Tuesday, baby!!

Cobainís best concert
THE day after his daughter was born, Kurt Cobain, terrified that Frances Bean would be taken from him, walked into Courtney Loveís hospital room with a pistol and suggested they kill themselves in a double-suicide pact. Less than two weeks later, he played the most thrilling show of his entire life.
Nirvanaís set at the UKís prestigious Reading Festival in August 1992 is the most cherished and widely bootlegged concert in the bandís history. On Tuesday, it will be officially released for the first time, as a limited-edition CD/DVD. (Separate CD, DVD and LP versions will follow on Nov. 24.)
While the show is revered for Cobainís high-energy performance, its legend is rooted in the circumstances surrounding his downfall.
ìMany people thought Nirvana was no more,î says Charles R. Cross, author of the Cobain biography ìHeavier Than Heaven,î which chronicles the hospital anecdote. ìThere were rumors that the band had broken up. Rumors swirled that Kurt wouldnít appear because he was either too ill or deceased.î
But Cobain surprised everyone by not only showing up, but also making one of the more memorable entrances in the annals of rock. Rolled onstage in a wheelchair, he wore a frizzy blond wig and a hospital patientís gown, looking like Norman Bates from ìPsycho.î Bassist Krist Novoselic, meanwhile, fueled whispers in the crowd by saying, ìItís too painful.î
Cobain then stood up, warbled the first two lines to Bette Midlerís ìThe Rose,î and collapsed ó before rising again, fully revived, and leading the band into the feedback intro of ìBreed.î An impassioned 25-song performance followed, showing just how alive Cobain really was.
ìKurt always had a certain sort of mocking attitude with the audience,î says Mickey Zetts, a longtime Nirvana fan and author of ìApathy: The Gen X Musical.î ìBut he seemed like he was actually enjoying it ó like he still cared.î
Cobain would have many less glorious moments in the months and years that followed ó he died less than two years later ó but ìLive at Readingî is a shining reminder of why Cobain remains a rock legend.
ìThe first 30 seconds of that show,î Cross says, ìhave to be some of the greatest 30 seconds in rock history.î

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Nirvana

Sweeeeeeeeet!!

Nirvana’s ‘Bleach’ Turns 20, New Live Recording Coming
Nirvana’s first full-length album, “Bleach,” is getting a deluxe reissue treatment on the 20th anniversary of its release, the band’s original label home, Sub Pop, announced today. The special edition will include a previously unreleased live performance, along with a newly remastered version of the original album and a collection of previously unseen photos of the band. The deluxe package is set for release on Nov. 3.
“Bleach,” the band’s first album and its only full-length on Sub Pop, was recorded in December, 1988 and January, 1989 and was released in June of 1989. After initially selling more than 40,000 copies and starting the group’s ascension to worldwide renown, the album went on to sell more than 1.7 million copies in the United States alone, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The reissue will include a complete live recording of the band’s Feb. 9, 1990 show at the Pine Street Theatre in Portland, Ore. The 11-song show includes a cover of the Vaseline’s “Molly’s Lips,” and has been remixed from the original tapes by “Bleach” producer Jack Endino (who also oversaw the remastering of the original album for the new edition).
The remastered “Bleach” will be released as a single CD and a double LP, pressed on 180 gram white vinyl. More details about the release and and pre-order information can be found on subpop.com.

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Nirvana

Come on, leave it!! It is just a word!!

Granite quote in WA park sparks Cobain controversy
ABERDEEN, Wash. ñ The late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain is igniting a new controversy in his hometown of Aberdeen, Wash. This one involves one of the quotes attributed to him on a new granite marker at an unofficial neighborhood park honoring him.
Aberdeen city officials are upset about the quote that says, “Drugs are bad for you. They will f— you up.” The marker contains the full F-word.
The Daily World reports the property is considered a right of way for both Tori Kovach, who lives adjacent to the land and had the idea for the park, and the city, which also owns the nearby Young Street Bridge, where Cobain is said to have spent some time in his youth.
Cobain struggled with drugs and committed suicide in 1994.
Aberdeen Mayor Bill Simpson says the city Parks Board will consider the fate of the F-word on the stone marker.
Grays Harbor Monument donated the granite stone, which bears eight quotes; Kovach submitted the ones he wanted used.
Monument company Manager Jerry Myers said it would be easy to sandblast the offending letters. “In the granite industry, it’d be a bleep,” he said.

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Nirvana

Super, super, super, super sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!!

New Live Nirvana DVD in the Works
Nirvana’s performance at England’s Reading Festival on August 30, 1992 is legendary. But it’s not one of those “hey, it’s Nirvana and everything they did is legendary” deals. The much-bootlegged set saw Kurt Cobain refuting illness rumors by slyly entering the stage in a wheelchair and hospital gown before tearing the festival into teeny tiny bits. Some rudimentary Googling and YouTubing can give you a pretty good idea of the spectacle, but as NME reports, an official DVD of the performance is on the way.
Universal plans to release the disc in November, and NME reports that it has been “officially sanctioned by the remaining members of the band” and features some never-before-seen footage. Opportunistic stocking stuffer or painstaking reissue of an essential rock’n’roll document? Time will tell.

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Nirvana

Maybe it is time to get a turntable again!!

Nirvana catalogue to be released on vinyl
The full music catalogue of Seattle grunge band Nirvana, headed by the late Kurt Cobain, will be released on vinyl this year for the first time.
The band ó whose hits include Smells Like Teen Spirit, Come As You Are and All Apologies ó released only four CD albums before Cobain killed himself in 1994. Band members included Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl.
Their first album was 1989’s Bleach and it is being re-produced for vinyl release by the band’s first label, Seattle-based independent label Sub Pop.
Nirvana’s second effort, Nevermind (1991), which contained the breakthrough hit Smells Like Teen Spirit, and their last album, In Utero (1993), as well as Unplugged in New York, will be released by another company ó Original Recordings Group, which produces and sells vinyl records for a niche audience of record turntable users.
Unplugged was recorded live for an MTV show.
“To our knowledge this is the first time Unplugged has ever come out on vinyl,” Monti Olson, founder of ORG, told Billboard magazine. “They might have done a limited promotional thing, but I doubt it.”
In 1992, Nirvana did release Incesticide ó a collection of unreleased early recordings, some previously-released singles and material from the band’s sessions for the BBC. These will not be part of the vinyl re-release.
More vinyl plans
Olson also indicated several other iconic rock albums will be getting the same remastered vinyl treatment.
“We’re going to be releasing a lot of classic alternative music from the ’80s and ’90s on 180-gram vinyl. Stuff that’s more obscure and more popular. We’re in negotiation with quite a few of those artists,” he said.
Nirvana is widely regarded as the band that made the early ’90s Seattle grunge scene a mainstream commodity.
In their wake, other Seattle acts, including Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, also gained fame and fans.
Nirvana remains popular to this day and has sold more than 75 million records worldwide.
Grohl formed his own band, the Foo Fighters, in 1994 and has participated in other acts, including Queens of the Stone Age.
Novoselic has played with other bands, most recently Flipper, and has been writing a regular music and politics online column for Seattle Weekly.