Search Results for: nirvana

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 »

Rick Van Santen, a co-president of Goldenvoice, a Los Angeles concert promotion company that ushered punk rock from the fringes of the music scene to a wide audience, died last Sunday at his home in Ventura County of flu-related complications, his Goldenvoice partner Paul Tollett said. He was 41. In the 1980s, a time when major promoters shunned punk because of its reputation as a violent subculture, Goldenvoice presented acts in large, established rooms with quality sound, such as the Hollywood Palladium and the Palace (now the Avalon). “There cannot be any L.A. band since the early ’80s that was… Read more »

Cris Kirkwood, former bassist for influential alternative rock band the Meat Puppets, remained hospitalized Monday after being shot in the abdomen on Friday. Kirkwood was shot outside a post office in downtown Phoenix by a security guard escorting him off the premises after he was involved in an argument with a woman over a parking space, according to a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He was taken to Good Samaritan Medical Center in nearby Banner, Arizona, in critical condition and underwent surgery on the wound, a hospital spokesperson said. As the 43-year-old Kirkwood attempted to back into a… Read more »

A judge postponed a hearing Thursday for singer-actress Courtney Love, who faces two felony counts of possession of a controlled substance. Superior Court Judge Lisa Hart Cole gave no explanation for delaying the hearing until Jan. 27. Defense attorney William Genego declined to say whether Love is undergoing drug rehabilitation. Love, who wore a pink jacket and pink sandals and carried pink roses, became anxious when the judge asked to review the probation report. “Probation…. What is that? What is that?” she said, before making growling noises and clawing motions with her hands. Love was charged in October with illegal… Read more »

Ryan Adams hasn’t arrived for a scheduled afternoon interview, sending instead an apologetic manager with an explanation. “Ryan went out last night with Ron Wood,” the manager said. Oh. Enough said. The bar tab for a summit between two generations of notorious rock ‘n’ roll party animals must have approached the gross national product of some small nations. But all is not as it seems. The next day, Adams insists it was a low-key evening; his Rolling Stones pal wasn’t drinking. Twin cups of Alka Seltzer and black coffee suggest some recovery time for Adams. His music is confounding expectations,… Read more »

Courtney Love turned herself in to Beverly Hills police on Tuesday afternoon (October 28) to face two felony drug-possession charges. A warrant was issued for Love’s arrest on October 22 after the Los Angeles district attorney’s office received evidence from police that Love was in possession of the prescription painkillers hydrocodone and oxycodone when she was picked up on October 2 following an overdose. “She was never arrested on these charges, but she was found to be in possession at the time,” Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office spokesperson Sandi Gibbons said. The felony charges are separate from Love’s other… Read more »

These days Good Charlotte are on top of the world, but there was a time when Benji Madden felt like taking his own life. “I’ll be the first person to say I have the most amazing life of anyone I’ve ever met, but I did come to certain points of my life where I thought that [suicide] was an option,” Benji admitted recently, sitting next to his brother Joel inside the Sunset Marquis Hotel. His voice trailing off, he quietly acknowledged the role that music played in ultimately steering him away from such a tragic and horrible act. The Madden… Read more »

Two weeks after her arrest on drug charges, Courtney Love was in Los Angeles Juvenile Court on Thursday in an attempt to regain custody of her 11-year-old daughter, Frances Bean Cobain. The custody battle came in the wake of Love’s October 2 arrest and subsequent charge for being under the influence of a controlled substance. Just hours after her arrest, Love was reportedly transported to a Century City hospital by Beverly Hills emergency services for an undisclosed drug overdose. On October 10, officials from the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) came to place Frances Bean,… Read more »

Many people are under the impression that Wes Scantlin, the singer and guitarist of Puddle of Mudd, is the sole creative force behind the group’s pain-stricken melodies. That’s not the case. His bandmates help shape the arrangements and throw in complementary parts, and there’s an even more powerful influence at work – one that’s ingrained in Scantlin’s blood. Unlike the many hard rock bands who sing about how badly their parents screwed up their lives, Scantlin has nothing but praise for his dad, who helps the singer decide which Puddle songs make the cut and which are scrapped. “I bounce… Read more »

What everyone always wants to know is: who’s the worst? Meaning: which really famous person out there is a berk whose lack of personality is in inverse proportion to their abundance of fame? And the answer is, of course, all of them. No, it’s not. It’s Jon Bon Jovi. The next question – who’s the best, of course – is more difficult. The interviewees I like are the ones that turn out to be more than you expected, whether that’s more intelligent, or honest, or bonkers, or fun, whatever. And there are plenty of those. Madonna (sharper), Björk (wilder), James… Read more »