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 [2016-07-30] Guide to Nirvana sights in Aberdeen, Olympia and Seattle [2015-03-22] Foo Fighters - Sonic Highways DVD/Blu-ray up for pre-order [2013-09-24] In Utero 20th anniversary release - OUT NOW! [2011-04-02] Follow NFC on Twitter - @nirvclub - for latest news |
| NFC News Krist, Dave and Butch Vig re-unite for new Foo Fighters album |
 Butch Vig who produced Nirvana's Nevermind will also be at the helm for the upcoming Foo Fighters album, which features a surprise guest appearance by Krist Novoselic on bass. From Spin.com: "This whole project has been really cool," Grohl said. "I haven't made a record with Butch for 20 years." So far, the Foos have cut seven tracks and are planning to lay down five or six more. Read the full story here. |
    Posted or updated: 10-27-2010 @ 4:05 PM (GMT) by RH. |
| NFC News Photos from Nirvana exhibit |
 As reported previously, next year the EMP in Seattle will open a massive Nirvana exhibit. Rolling Stone put up some photos displaying some of the items that will be featured in the exhibit. The photos show smashed guitars, previously unseen candids of the band and more.Click here to see the photos, courtesy of Rolling Stone. |
| Posted or updated: 10-25-2010 @ 8:34 PM (GMT) by RH. |
| NFC News Article about various interpretations of Teen Spirit |
| Interesting article with a legend of the various interpretations and covers of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit by artists as diverse as Tori Amos, Paul Anka and Weird Al. Includes YouTube videos. Check out the article here. Thanks to Robert. |
| Posted or updated: 10-19-2010 @ 5:21 PM (GMT) by RH. |
| NFC News Kurt Cobain drawing sells for $7,040 |
| A drawing made by Kurt Cobain recently sold in an auction for $7,040 although it was only estimated to fetch up to $1,000. The Legends auction also included an unsent letter penned by Cobain to MTV which sold for no less than $12,800 as well as a sheet of handwritten lyrics that went for $7,680. You can check out the three auctions for pictures and more information here. Thanks to Randy. |
| Posted or updated: 10-19-2010 @ 5:19 PM (GMT) by RH. |
| NFC News Heart-Shaped Box cover on Swedish idol |
| On the Swedish version of Idol, talented Jay Smith performed a cover of Nirvana's Heart-Shaped Box. Check out a video of the performance below. Thanks to Lovisa, Jenny, Kjell and Emelie for the tip. |
| Posted or updated: 10-19-2010 @ 5:14 PM (GMT) by RH. |
| NFC News Extensive Nirvana exhibit to open at the Experience Music Project | |
Very exciting news: Seattle's Experience Music Project museum (EMP) will open a comprehensive Nirvana exhibit in April 2011. Some of the items featured include smashed guitars, Kurt Cobain's artwork, handwritten lyrics and a wealth of photos from the band's career. The exhibit opens on April 16, 2011. most extensive Nirvana exhibit. Opening in April 2011, Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses traces band's rise with rarities including candid snapshots, never displayed artwork, smashed guitars, signed lyrics and more. SEATTLE, WA - Experience Music Project (EMP) announced today the 2011 opening of the world's most extensive exhibition of memorabilia celebrating the music and history of Seattle grunge luminaries, Nirvana. Curated by EMP's Jacob McMurray, and featuring rare and unseen pieces from the band, their crews and families, Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses runs April 16, 2011 - April 22, 2013. Nirvana singer, songwriter and guitarist Kurt Cobain "was a visionary artist who touched people all over the world," said Krist Novoselic, the band's bassist and co-founder. "It's great that there will soon be a collection that celebrates that contribution to music and culture. There's a story with Nirvana at its center, but it's a story that also includes the many people, bands and institutions that make up a music community. The show is a celebration of Northwest music." More than two years in the making, Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses features 200 artifacts tied to the band and the independent punk rock music community that nurtured it. Among the many pieces of music history included in the exhibition are: Kurt Cobain's never-before exhibited, high school painting of two aging, Reagan-era punks in the post-apocalypse, informally known as "punk American gothic." The Teac reel-to-reel tape machine owned by Mari Earl, Cobain's aunt, on which a young Kurt recorded material for his early bands, Organized Confusion and Fecal Matter. Cobain's handwritten lyrics for Nirvana songs including "Spank Thru" and "Floyd the Barber." Numerous instruments, including pieces of the first guitar Cobain destroyed onstage (a Univox Hi-Flyer); Dave Grohl's Tama Rockstar-Pro drum kit; and Krist Novoselic's Guild acoustic bass guitar and Buck Owens American acoustic guitar used during the recording of "MTV Unplugged." The yellow cardigan worn often by Cobain between 1991 and 1994. The winged angel stage prop featured on Nirvana's In Utero tour. Scores of candid snapshots capturing the band's early years, from their beginnings in Aberdeen, Washington to the media frenzy that erupted after Nevermind."Most people know Nirvana as mythologized rock stars; this exhibit balances that understanding with a tangible, human look at their journey from Aberdeen to the world stage," said Jacob McMurray, senior curator at EMP, who envisioned and assembled the exhibition. Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses tells the public and personal story of Nirvana within the context of the independent, underground music scene that evolved in the United States throughout the 1980s and culminated with the 1991 release of Nirvana's ten-times platinum album, Nevermind. "I'm really excited for Nirvana to be a touchstone for this exhibition - and especially proud that it's happening at Experience Music Project," Novoselic said. "In addition to their great work presenting artists and music, EMP has a comprehensive educational component that makes it so much more than 'just a museum.' It's a technology-based invitation to anyone who might be interested - the more you're interested in something, the more information on that topic becomes available." The exhibit contains more than 100 new and archived oral histories from key figures in the independent music scene of the late 1980s and early '90s, including: Novoselic; Mark Arm and Steve Turner of the band Mudhoney; Jack Endino, who produced Nirvana's first album Bleach (1989); Steve Albini, who recorded their third album, In Utero (1993); Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman, co-founders of Sub Pop Records; Seattle scene photographers Charles Peterson and Alice Wheeler; Nirvana drummer Chad Channing; and Earnie Bailey, Kurt Cobain's guitar tech. Steve Fisk, who co-produced the band's Blew EP (1989), created the ambient soundtrack fans will hear as they move through the exhibition. Visitors eager to dig even further into the vast store of images, audio and video that informed the collection will be able to explore them in detail at media kiosks. To highlight the integral role that fans played and continue to play in relationship with Nirvana, the exhibit will also include a "confessional" in which fans can record their own stories, memories, poems and other thoughts about the band, its music and its members. That footage will be woven into concert film and interviews that screen continuously during the exhibit. Concurrently with the exhibit launch, renowned Seattle publisher Fantagraphics Books will release Taking Punk to the Masses: From Nowhere to Nevermind, a 250-page, full-color exploration of grunge's explosion, set within the cultural environs of the punk underground that developed in the U.S. in 1970s and '80s. Read more at the official EMP website. Also check out an article from the Seattle Times which includes exclusive information from curator Jacob McMurray. | |
| Posted or updated: 10-15-2010 @ 8:32 AM (GMT) by RH. |
| NFC News Letter written by Kurt Cobain up for auction | |
An unsent letter written by Kurt Cobain to MTV has been put up for auction by Julien's Auctions. The auction, starting later today, has already garnered several bids and is expected to go for several thousand dollars. The letter reads in full: Dear Empty TV/ the entity of all Corporate / GODS / We will survive without you/ easily - - the / oldschool is going / DOWN FAST/ my lifes Dedication/ is Now to Do Nothing/ But SLAG something / Kurdt Kobaineee professional Rock musician You can view a scan of the letter as well as more information about the auction (or make a bid) here. The item is part of the Legends #5 auction which also includes movie props and other movie and music memorabilia. | |
| Posted or updated: 10-08-2010 @ 9:49 AM (GMT) by RH. |
| NFC News New film: It's Kind of a Funny Story | |
My friend and fellow Nirvana fan (and former Nirvana webmaster) Ned Vizzini's novel It's Kind of a Funny Story has been turned into a major motion picture from Focus Features and is in theaters now.The film is based on the novel of the same title. It was adapted for the screen and directed by Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden (Half Nelson, Sugar) and stars Keir Gilchrist, Emma Roberts, and Zach Galifianakis. Check out showtimes near you at Fadango. | |
| Posted or updated: 10-08-2010 @ 9:35 AM (GMT) by RH. |
| NFC News Steve Albini blasts Sonic Youth in new interview |
| In Utero producer Steve Albini lashes out at Sonic Youth, among other things, in a new interview with GQ Magazine: GQ: What about bands like Sonic Youth, who signed to a major label with a full adult understanding of the choice they were making. SA: I don’t know the exact circumstances of Sonic Youth’s decision, so I’m not comfortable saying they did it wrong. But a lot of the things they were involved with as part of the mainstream were distasteful to me. And a lot of the things that happened as a direct result of their association with the mainstream music industry gave credibility to some of the nonsense notions that hover around the star-making machinery. A lot of that stuff was offensive to me and I saw it as a sellout and a corruption of a perfectly valid, well-oiled music scene. Sonic Youth chose to abandon it in order to become a modestly successful mainstream band—as opposed to being a quite successful independent band that could have used their resources and influence to extend that end of the culture. They chose to join the mainstream culture and become a foot soldier for that culture’s encroachment into my neck of the woods by acting as scouts. I thought it was crass and I thought it reflected poorly on them. I still consider them friends and their music has its own integrity, but that kind of behavior—I can’t say that I think it’s not embarrassing for them. I think they should be embarrassed about it. GQ: How do you think music might be different today if Sonic Youth hadn’t brought all those bands—Bikini Kill, Pavement, Nirvana, to name a few—into the mainstream fold? SA: I think what they did was take a lot of people who didn’t have aspirations or ambitions and encouraged them to be part of the mainstream music industry. They validated the fleeting notions that these kids had that they might one day be rock stars. And then they participated in inducing a lot of them to make very stupid career moves. That was a period where the music scene got quite ugly—there were a lot of parasitic people involved like lawyers and managers. There were people who were making a living on the backs of bands, who were doing all the work. Had Sonic Youth not done what they did I don’t know what would have happened—the alternative history game is kind of silly. But I think it cheapened music quite a bit. It made music culture kind of empty and ugly and was generally a kind of bad influence. You can read the full interview at GQ.com, courtesy of GQ. |
| Posted or updated: 10-08-2010 @ 9:26 AM (GMT) by RH. |
| NFC News Dave Grohl talks about Nirvana in Q Magazine |
| In a recent interview, Dave Grohl talks about his time in Nirvana: "I remember being in the same room with them [Kurt and Krist] and thinking, 'What? That's Nirvana? Are you kidding?' because on their record cover they looked like psycho lumberjacks but I was like, 'What, that little dude and that big motherf*****? You're kidding me.' I laughed, I was like, 'No way!'" he recalled to Q magazine. Read more here. |
| Posted or updated: 10-08-2010 @ 9:21 AM (GMT) by RH. |
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