New York – Rock ‘n’ roll fans with deep pockets can buy a Beatles guitar or a mugshot of the pop star formerly known as Cat Stevens at what Christie’s said on Wednesday was its biggest auction of show business memorabilia. The Gibson SG electric guitar, played by George Harrison from 1966-1969, is the star attraction among over 400 lots, ranging from Britney Spears’ book report to a handwritten 1991 letter from the late Kurt Cobain to Courtney Love. The guitar, expected to fetch around $500,000, was used while recording the Beatles’ “Revolver” album and in two Beatles films “Paperback… Read more »
Kurt Cobain and his band, Nirvana, spent only three years in the public eye, and they released only three studio albums. But what he accomplished before committing suicide 10 years ago Monday at age 27 – deciding it was “better to burn out than fade away,” as he quoted Neil Young in his suicide note – was remarkable. Beneath this bridge above the muddy banks of the Wishkah River, a troubled young Cobain would come to escape his unhappy home and the persistent gray drizzle of the Washington coast. Among the cracking concrete supports, he would smoke pot and drink… Read more »
Leland Cobain spreads a few yellowing pieces of art across his dining room table. The Aberdeen Museum of History, in the next town over, has asked him to contribute to an exhibit about his grandson, late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. One adorable Christmas card Kurt made for his grandparents at age 13 shows a hapless toddler, fishing, who has hooked the back of his shirt. There are radiant watercolor seascapes and depictions of Disney characters. Then there are the other paintings, in an apartment 55 miles northeast of Leland’s trailer. They are surrealistic, stark and powerful, revealing skeletons, aliens and… Read more »
Kurt Cobain regretted using heroin to ease the pain of a stomach ailment but could not bring himself to stop, and talked of shooting himself, according to excerpts from the late Nirvana star’s diaries. The writings, printed in Newsweek this week, are from the upcoming book “Journals,” which contains letters and diary entries from the 1980s until 1994, when Cobain shot himself to death at age 27 in his Seattle home. While some of the entries are rambling or humorous, they reveal a man tortured by drug addiction and illness. “… I decided to use heroine (sic) on a daily… Read more »
Bids exceeding $40 million for a house where the late grunge rocker Kurt Cobain lived as a boy were not serious, the sellers say. Since the nondescript, rust-colored house with white trim was offered on eBay last Thursday, the high offer from a serious bidder is $210,000, which is $10,000 over the minimum set by Ed and Jennifer McKee of Oregon City, Ore. More than 50 bids had come in, the highest for more than $40 million, by the time the McKees began checking on the validity of the bidders. “It feels good to be a millionaire – on paper,… Read more »
“I have a buttload of material,” says Courtney Love of the archive of unreleased material by Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. “I have the holy grail of rock & roll. That’s the story.” There are 109 tapes. “But not all of it’s great. Some of it’s fragments.” She thinks there are between five and eight “solidly good,” unheard acoustic songs. “There’s some stuff that’s not very melodic that I’m not fond of, but, hey, if you’re a fan of [Radiohead’s] Kid A, it might be really great. “On those tapes,” Love continues, “are everything from shitty collages to some pretty stunning,… Read more »
The mother of Kurt Cobain, the late singer of grunge rock group Nirvana, says she is “shocked and disgusted” by the two surviving band members’ attempts to oust his widow, Courtney Love, from a board controlling the band’s musical legacy. Wendy Fradenburg Cobain O’Connor’s comments stem from a bitter court battle between her son’s widow, rocker and actress Courtney Love, and surviving Nirvana members Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl, over a boxed set of the band’s greatest hits. The set was planned for release in October – to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the band’s chart-topping “Nevermind” album –… Read more »
Man Of The Hour keeps getting better every week, meaning this is the best episode yet, meaning Kurt Cobain probably would have loved MOTH.
There’s something strange about Gerard Way up there in the spotlight, something new. It’s not just that the My Chemical Romance frontman has traded his usual elaborately layered stage outfits for snug black jeans and a shredded black T-shirt, revealing a torso that’s gone from chubby to Bowie-in-Berlin gaunt. It’s not just that he’s dyed his once-dark chin-length hair a crazed-clown red — a look that Way, 33, also rocked in his pre-fame teenage years, inspired by Kurt Cobain and Wayne Coyne.
Billie Joe Armstrong loves to have the time of his life whenever he performs. Especially when playing a 600-capacity venue with his side-project, The Coverups. This special stint at The Garage in the UK included a surprise guest performance with Courtney Love. “Ladies and gentlemen, Courtney Love,” Armstrong introduced the singer halfway through their show. Love, while known for her relationship with late Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain, also fronted one of the main riot grrrl acts of the ‘90s, Hole. “My name is Courtney Love—you may not remember me. I’ve been living in a cave in Birmingham for about nine… Read more »
