On June 3rd there will be a fundraiser event in Seattle to support the campaign for King County councilmember Dow Constantine. Guest DJ at the event will be none other than Krist Novoselic. If you would like to attend, head on down to 'VAIN' located at 2018 1st Avenue in Seattle, WA on Monday the 3rd of June. It begins at around 5 PM. Click here for a flyer with more information. Thanks to Krist for the info.

Joe sent in a link to an interesting interview with Eyes Adrift members Krist Novoselic and Bud Gaugh; "I'm writing to let you know that our ex-bass player ('Big Head Joe') went to an Eyes Adrift show a few weeks ago in Washington, DC and managed to get a video interview with Bud and Krist. The video is on his website." You can view the website with the interview here. Notice that the file with the video is rather large. Thanks to Joseph Pasco from the band Sky Blue Baby and Joe Panuska for the link.

A company in Italy are selling original Nirvana handbills from their 1994 Italian tour (see scan). These are original handbills and not re-prints of copies. If you are interested in acquiring one, here is the ordering info; "Buyer pays $25.00 per item plus $5 for Registered Air Mail postage. Payment by Credit Card, or in Cash BUT if cash is not sent by Registered Mail, it is at your own risk. NO Money Orders. ALWAYS INCLUDE YOUR SNAIL MAIL ADDRESS & E-MAIL ADDRESS IN CORRESPONDANCE. If paying by Credit Card we require you to fill in the on-line secure order form (SSL) which can be found here (you will get confirmation upon sending the data) or by FAX here.

Cash payments should be sent to:
Kaleidoscopic Srl
Viale A. Manzoni 52
Cerveteri
00052 Rome
Italy

Do let us know upon return which you have chosen. You can check out other Nirvana auctions I have going at the time here. Thanks to Andrea for the details. You can e-mail her here for more info.

Keith submitted this story; "One of Kurt Cobain's light blue Mustang guitars is on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio as a part of their '50 Years of Rock' display."

The Rolling Stone website put up a great Nirvana article from a 1992 issue (RS #628, April 16) written by Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana author Michael Azerrad. You can read it here.

It is now official; Hole have broken up. The band, fronted by Courtney Love, released a statement today confirming the longtime rumour; "What many Hole fans have assumed for years was made official Thursday (May 23) with a statement from founding members Courtney Love and Eric Erlandson that the band is over. The flamboyant singer and her longtime bandmate announced they will no longer record or tour together as Hole, though they will work together to promote future Hole catalog releases. 'I will always treasure the time we played together,' Love said in the statement. 'Eric has been an important part of my family for over 10 years and he'll continue to be a part of my life.' Added Erlandson, 'We're incredibly proud of the music we've made together, but it seems like time for both of us to move on.' 'Since Geffen Records closed during the promotion of our last record, there have been a lot of distractions,' Love said. 'Universal's lawsuit against us made it impossible for us to find a new record company despite overwhelming interest from other labels. After three years of waiting, Eric and I have decided to put Hole to rest.' " Read the full story here courtesy of VH-1 and MTV. Thanks to Bruce for the link.

I recently received a bunch of material, documenting the show that Eyes Adrift did in Detroit, MI on April 26 at the 'Magic Stick'. Eryn who was kind enough to share her concert experience wrote a detailed review of the performance; "The lights went down and I notice the Sweet 75 bass amp case on the stage. I knew that was Krist's corner and that I was right in front of it. Finally I saw shuffles and movement coming out behind the curtain. I take a picture with my camera hoping it would catch something. I got what I wanted. It was a picture of Krist. He was drinking out of a Styrofoam cup, walking out to the stage. He picked up his bass, as casual as if he was playing in a basement. He did the usual bass warm-ups -- that sound like the beginning of 'Dive'." Read the full account of the concert experience here. I also got a bunch of pictures from the event that you can view below. Click the thumbnail for a larger version of the pictures. Please do not use these pictures anywhere else as they were intended for this site only.













A big thanks goes out to the lovely Eryn Mulloy for sharing her pictures and telling all about the concert.

MTV and VH-1 put up a very interesting and more well-researched article on last weekend's leak of the song You Know You're Right; "Portions of the last recorded Nirvana track surfaced online this week, bringing a new twist to the legal debate between Courtney Love and Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic. Live bootlegs of 'You Know You're Right' have circulated for years, but until now the studio version has gone mostly unheard. (Love spun the song at a London club in March and provided part of it to 'Access Hollywood.') Should the song be widely circulated and its mystique eroded, it may not be as central in the lawsuit since whatever release contains it — box set or otherwise — could be met with less demand. Before the leak, Love's manager has suggested that a release featuring the track could sell 15 million copies worldwide.

How the snippets of 'You Know You're Right' made it to the Internet is unknown. Several Nirvana fan sites claim it was found on an advance CD from Grohl's Probot side project, though Grohl issued a statement Friday (May 17) saying otherwise. 'I have never copied any version of You Know You're Right for anyone,' the Foo Fighters frontman said. 'It has been rumored on the Internet that the song appeared on a CD that had songs from my side project, Probot. A guy from Spain said he got an advance CD. No such CD exists. It was not on any CD that I put out or compiled for anyone. I am perplexed by this and have no idea how or why anyone would leak this song.' The portions of the song have not been posted long on any one site, as Love's manager, James Barber, has circulated a warning noting that posting the unpublished material is a major violation of the International Copyright Law, which protects an author's right of first publication. 'There's a copy that got out somehow,' Barber said earlier this week. 'I can't confirm yet that it's real, but I've convinced the source not to circulate the entire track while we sort this out. This is an invaluable copyright that needs to be protected before its proper release.'

In the latest issue of Rolling Stone Love claims to have 109 tapes of unheard Cobain material, a number Novoselic's spokesperson called 'highly exaggerated.' " Story courtesy of VH-1 and MTV. What's in particular noteworthy about this piece is Grohl's statement where he confirms that the song did not come from him, or any Probot CD, which was also stressed by this site's news stories throughout the week. Where the song did originate from remains unknown, but there's speculation that it stems from a theft at Conway studios in L.A. This is just another rumor, though.

Ananova put up a news article on the weekend's leak of 'You Know You're Right', quoting from this very news section; "A Nirvana fansite has removed clips of the band's unreleased song You Know You're Right from its service. Four clips of the track were posted on the www.nirvanaclub.com site by a Spanish fan. But the clips have now been removed for legal reasons. The song is currently the subject of legal proceedings between Kurt Cobain's former Nirvana bandmates Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic and Kurt's widow, Courtney Love. The two sides are arguing over the rights to all Nirvana's recordings and songs." Check out the full story here. Apparently, the event (along with this website) was also mentioned on Channel 4's teletext service in the UK, under their 'Planet Sound' news. This service is used by more than 2 million people. Thanks to CF. Finally, dotmusic put up a story on the song as well; "A Nirvana fansite has been forced to remove downloadable clips of the band's unreleased track, 'You Know You're Right'." Apart from this, this article says largely the same as the Ananova piece. Read it here.

Today, former Nirvana bassist Krist Anthony Novoselic turned 38. Happy birthday Krist!

The new issue of Rolling Stone magazine features a Kurt Cobain cover story "Who Owns Kurt Cobain? Courtney vs. Nirvana and the Lost Music". As the title indicates it goes over the legal battle between Courtney and Nirvana's remaining members, and mentions the song "You Know You're Right". This is the June 6 issue (#897) and should be available now. Here's what the managing editor wrote on the article; "Last year, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic of Nirvana announced they would be releasing a box set of the band's material to mark the tenth anniversary of its masterpiece, Nevermind. The set was to include the unreleased but legendary track 'You Know You're Right,' which was recorded less than three months before Kurt Cobain's death in April 1994. The box and the song remain in limbo, the victim of infighting among the band's surviving members and Courtney Love, Cobain's widow. Why this music has yet to surface is the spark for Chris Heath's story in this issue, 'The Nirvana Wars.' We're not taking sides in this fight except for the fans' side: Like everyone else, we are eager to listen to as much of Kurt Cobain's work as he was able to produce in his all-too-brief twenty-seven years." You can read a great excerpt of the article in the mag at the RS website here.

Speaking of Rolling Stone, as mentioned before, their website published excerpts of the cover story. One of the segments includes new information about the 100+ Kurt Cobain tapes that Courtney Love has been talking about a couple of times; " '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, awe-inspiring acoustic songs to stupid, fucked-up shit. The songs began at our home, usually in a closet or in his room, and I have everything from stuff you've already heard in demo form to gasp-out-loud acoustic songs to things he's playing with Patty [Schemel, Hole's drummer] and Eric [Erlandson, Hole's guitarist] to things he's playing with the fucking heroin dealer to collages.' 'Things he's playing with the fucking heroin dealer' refers to tapes recorded when Cobain would take his four-track and go score dope with a musician friend. He'd check into a motel room next to the dealer's room, do dope and record with the friend and the dealer. 'It's really good,' Love comments. 'Pretty much, Kurt was not a loser when it came to songwriting, you know.'

Online, Love has mentioned three songs by name: 'The Son' ('magical'), 'Opinions' ('funny and sad') and 'Ivy League' ('sick'). Love also mentions to me a song she and Cobain wrote together called 'Stinking of You,' the same night he wrote the Hole B side '20 Years in the Dakota.' 'It's really cute and Breeder-y,' she says. She sings some of it to me, humming the riff in between the lyrics: 'I'm stinking of you . . . I don't care if my life is shattered, it's my point of view . . .' She says she wrote the 'stinking of you' bit ('that dumb little line') and he wrote the 'life is shattered' verses ('the more sophisticated, better part'). The highlight of this article, however, is when the journalist begins to describe the contents of the boxed set that was scheduled to be released last September. There has been speculation for several years over what it would contain and the only thing known for sure was that one of the songs would be "You Know You're Right". Now, this article sheds some light on the other recordings planned for it; "Among the material that Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl and bassist Krist Novoselic planned to put on the Nirvana box set, aside from 'You Know You're Right,' was, according to Novoselic, material from: 'KAOS radio, 1987, BBC Peel sessions, studio outtakes, sessions that we did in North Seattle, Rio de Janeiro, In Utero outtakes, live stuff.' He specifically mentions the 'Butch Vig raw mix of Teen Spirit, a rough mix that's really different.' He adds, 'You are going to have the people that were into Nevermind but never bought Bleach, and they are going to hear shit that sounds like Scratch Acid, shit that sounds like the Butthole Surfers; they are going to hear crazy fucking Flipper punk rock, and that's what excites me, because I got turned on to that shit when I was a kid and it changed my life.' He and Grohl also say that they planned to include various jams on the box set." Very interesting! This great article was courtesy of Chris Heath and Rolling Stone. You can also read it here.

Canadian rock station Rock 106 in Alberta had a follow-up story on the weekend's leak of "You Know You're Right", based on the May 13 story in this very news section. Thanks once again to Doc Roberts for his support and for getting the Nirvana news out there.

Apparently the Guinness Book of World Records compiled a list of the 'Best Songs Ever' and Nirvana landed at spot #11 with "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Number one on the list was Queen's legendary "Bohemian Rhapsody" with John Lennon's "Imagine" coming in at number two. Funnily, former Take That member Robbie Williams landed spot #6 on the list with the song "Angels" and 8 out of the 10 artists in the Top 10 are British ... as Guinness is. Go figure :)

AllStar News also put up a blurb about the weekend's events in the Nirvana community, which seems to be largely based on information from this site; "Seems a fellow in Spain popped in his new Probot advance CD (one of Dave Grohl's many side projects) and found himself listening to Nirvana's 'You've Got No Right' (a.k.a. 'You Know You're Right') -- yes, the very same track that's at the center of a heated legal battle between Courtney Love, representing the Kurt Cobain estate, and Grohl and Krist Novoselic, representing Nirvana. Sound clips were posted online May 10, sparking much debate as to whether they were the real thing or merely clever fakes. Turns out that yes, they were genuine, kids, though the clips have since been replaced by a statement from Jim Barber (Love's manager/boyfriend) insisting on their removal post haste. Not that this has stopped the clips from spreading like a stealth virus over the net; though down in Spain, you can still find links to the clips on other sites if you search around. The four clips only run around a minute total (and include the clip that was played on Access Hollywood a few months back), but offer a tantalizing glimpse of a song Nirvana fans have been desperate to hear. Cobain's voice is heavy with passionate sadness, especially in the chorus, which erupts in a swirl of guitars. Love took it upon herself to spin the complete track (twice) at London's Metro Club last March. But you can expect this more unauthorized release to result in much finger-pointing on both sides." Courtesy of CDNow Online, Inc. It must be stressed that it is only speculation that the song was indeed placed on an advance CD of the Probot album.

As reported in the May 11 news story, a person from Spain apparently got hold of a recording of the studio version of Nirvana's unreleased song "You Know You're Right" and released four sound clips of the track. Initially, the person was planning on distributing the full length version of the track but this was halted when Courtney Love and her management found out about the leak. Love's manager James Barber informed people distributing the song that what they were doing was a copyright violation; "The song is UNPUBLISHED and first publication rights are controlled by Kurt Cobain's publishing company The End of Music and the rights are administered by EMI Music. International Copyright Law absolutely protects an author's right of first publication of his or her works and this is a major violation of that law." Because of this, the clips will no longer be posted here and it is doubtful that the complete song will be leaked, prior to an official release. We are hoping to get a more detailed statement from Mr. Barber shortly.

The events of this weekend was one of the more exciting moments in the Internet Nirvana community for a while and was followed closely by thousands of fans. Sources in the media also started to pick up the story, and NME in the UK published an article about it today; "The row over access to the unreleased NIRVANA song 'YOU KNOW YOU'RE RIGHT' looks set to be reignited after someone claiming to have access to the song reportedly posted a clip online. According to the unofficial Nirvana website, www.nirvanaclub.com , four short clips of what is claimed to be the song were posted online over the weekend, raising the possibility that the whole track could appear in the future. It is understood that lawyers acting on behalf of Cobain's estate are acting to ensure this doesn't happen." Read full story here, courtesy of NME. The Canadian radio station Rock 106 in Lethbridge, Alberta also ran a story on the song being leaked - essentially saying the same as the NME piece. It is mentioned in Monday's daily rock news. Thanks to Doc Roberts for this one!

On May 7, a person from the livenirvana.com discussion board posted a message about the possibility that he would be getting a complete recording of Nirvana's elusive "You Know You're Right" from a friend who acquired the song. The January 1994 studio version, that is. This very song was to be the highlight of a boxed set, originally scheduled for a September 2001 release. Before it got that far, however, Courtney Love filed a lawsuit against Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl - effectively halting the release due to a judge granting an injunction. Back then, the song was described as "a spectacular piece of music. Probably one of the most important pieces of music to be released in years" by Courtney's attourney. James Barber, Love's manager and boyfriend, went even further; " 'You Know You're Right' could sell up to 15 million copies worldwide, more than 'Nevermind.' Without the song, he said sales may be one-fifth that number." The song was later rumoured to be the highlight of a proposed 'Best of Nirvana' CD that was to be released later in 2002. However, after the events of the past few days - all this could now change.

On May 10, the person shocked the Nirvana community by releasing three sound clips of the song and proposed that he would eventually release the full recording. The three clips sparked a heated debate at the discussion boards of both livenirvana and this site, dividing the fans into two groups; the believers and non-belivers. This would take a whole new turn later that evening when the person posted a 4th clip - one far more convincing than the initial three. This clip was in fact the same segment of the song that was aired on the TV show Access Hollywood last November, only with a few more seconds added in the end - and clearly not a version taken from the TV broadcast. This one seemed to convince the majority of the community that this thing was for real. At the time of writing this story, the full song has not yet been published, but it is rumoured to happen tomorrow (May 12).

As it turns out, the late Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley died on the exact same date as Kurt Cobain - only 8 years later; "Layne Staley, lead singer of the seminal grunge rock band Alice in Chains, died of a heroin and cocaine overdose, an autopsy has established. Laboratory test results released Monday by the King County medical examiner's office came as little surprise. Staley's body was surrounded by drug paraphernalia when he was found dead April 19, and several of his songs dealt with heroin addiction. An earlier autopsy showed he died April 5, two weeks before a relative found the body at Staley's home in the city's University District. Later tests established that the cause of death was acute intoxication from an injected mixture of heroin and cocaine known as 'speedball,' 'dynamite,' 'murder one' and 'Belushi,' for comedian John Belushi, who died of a similar mixture in 1982. The autopsy by the King County Medical Examiner's office listed the drug overdose as accidental, ruling out homicide or suicide in the death of the 34-year-old recording artist." Story courtesy of The Associated Press. Thanks to Reidar, Gary and others.

A bunch of people sent in this story; "Luke Helder, 21, faces federal charges in several states Wednesday after admitting to FBI agents that he planted mailbox pipe bombs in five states, according to an affidavit filed Wednesday in federal court. In addition to the bombs he built at home, the document said, 'Helder further admitted to assembling an additional 16 pipe bombs at a motel in Nebraska.' Helder was arrested in connection with 18 mailbox pipe bombs in five states. Six of the bombs in Iowa and Illinois exploded Friday, injuring four postal workers and two others." Story courtesy of CNN. Apparently, Luke Helder's favorite band was Nirvana and one of his hobbies was the Internet. Hmm! In addition, Luke was wearing a Kurt Cobain T-shirt when he got arrested (see picture). "Helder was a junior majoring in art and industrial design at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, in Menomonie. Former classmates said Helder loved the grunge band Nirvana and was preoccupied with Cobain, its lead singer, who committed suicide. Helder was placed under a suicide watch at the Nevada jail. Helder had not apparently attended classes since at least April 24, a school official said. He played guitar and sang in a punk-rock band called Apathy." This bit was courtesy of AP and iWon News. Also thanks to Arya, Scott, GGG, Alan, Daniel Green and Eryn.

The Smoking Gun put up a screenshot of Helder's website, including an online biography in which he states; "I'm a huge Nirvana fan. I really am quite infatuated with this band. I know everything about Kurt ... try me, hahaha." Read more here. Link courtesy of Daniel Green.

A new story with a little more info on the Kurt Cobain journals; "Smells like another book: Riverhead Books - an imprint of Penguin Putnam - won the rights to publish Kurt Cobain's journals when they were auctioned off by his wife and estate executor, Courtney Love, in February. Consisting of 23 notebooks - totaling about 800 pages of text and drawings - the diaries date from before Nirvana's formation in 1987 to Cobain's death in 1994, and are purported to contain his suicide note as well as hand-written lyrics to 'Smells Like Teen Spirit.' The hard cover version is due out in the fall." Courtesy of the June issue of Guitar Player. Thanks to Mike.

Some various tidbits; In the May/June issue of mag No Depression there is a story on Eyes Adrift. A slightly different story on the band, by the same journalist, appears in the latest issue of Seattle music mag Backfire.

"If anyone's in Seattle, there's a new exhibit at the Experience Music Project museum, (Un)Common Objects, which features the shirt that Kurt wore for the Spin mag cover shoot (late '91 or early '92, with the band, not the late '92 one with Courtney). And of course there are other Nirvana artifacts on display in the rest of the museum, and you can go up to the Sound Lab and learn how to play 'Teen Spirit' on the guitar!" Thanks to GGG.

Paul sent in this one; "Just something I stumpled apon today; an interview with Buzz Osbourne [of The Melvins] talking about Kurt and Nirvana, and he mentions the court case between Dave, Krist and Courtney." You can read it here. Thanks to Paul for the link.

The article in Spin Magazine, mentioned in the May 3 update, has been scanned and put on the web. Follow these links to read it; #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 and #6. The article was written by journalist Jim DeRogatis who also wrote this great article for The Chicago Sun-Times. Buy the June 2002 issue of Spin Magazine if you'd like a hardcopy of the article.

Apparently Nirvana is also mentioned in the June issue of Guitar World magazine -- a mag that mentions Nirvana in just about every issue; "In the '60 Minutes' feature, Mike Einzinger, Incubus guitarist, picks his favorite songs. Among them is 'All Apologies'. He says: 'Kurt Cobain had this unique way of taking these odd chord movements and finding a way to glue them together perfectly with a melody. This is a very simple song, but put the lyrics and the guitar figure together and they have such incredible power. As mellow as the Unplugged version is, it's still a thousand times heavier than anything coming out of these bands you hear today with downtuned guitars. Every time it comes on the radio it grips me. To me, that's what heavy is: when you've gotta stop and listen to a song because of its inner vibration, not its outer tuning.' " Thanks to 'Italian Seafood'.

Someone on the NFC Discussion Board posted this story; "In the June 2002 issue of SPIN magazine (the one with Moby on the cover) there is a full article about the legal battle between Novoselic & Grohl versus Love. The article also takes an exclusive look at the songs: You Know You're Right, Skid Marks, Opinion, Dough, Ray, and Me, and Old Age. Dough, Ray, and Me: 'That's a beautiful song,' says Novoselic. In addition to the solo demo, Cobain recorded a four-track version in the basement of the house on Lake Washington in March 1994. Eric Erlandson Played bass, touring guitarist Pat Smear played guitar, and Cobain drummed and sang. Skid Marks: At the same session (January 1994) the group recorded this oddly funeral, mostly instrumental lounge-music tribute to stained underwear (the chorus is simply the title, shouted repeatedly). Also in the article there is a picture of Kurt, Krist, and Dave posing with the gold records from Nevermind album (Kurt's wearing his weezer glasses)." Thanks to 'riotboy'.

Ok I suppose the following story can't be avoided anymore; "Nirvana fans, listen up! Think you have every collectible out there on the famed Seattle band? Well, here's something to add to your collection: a nude of bassist Krist Novoselic. Any Northwest fan probably has already seen the cover of the Seattle Weekly, which hit newsstands last week, depicting a nude Krist with his girlfriend, boutique owner Darbury Stenderu, in a photo by Patricia Ridenour that parodies the classic painting, 'Dejeuner sur L'herbe' by Manet. The original painting shows a nude woman at a picnic with clothed men lounging around, but they swapped roles for this cover story, which shows Darbury in a man's suit. And, yes, Krist's private parts are discretely covered." Courtesy of CDNow/All Star. Should you want to see the pictures in question (who wouldn't ?!), click here and here. Be warned :) Thanks to Jeff and novoselic.com. Also thanks to Scott and pharmacyrock.com.

I recently got hold of a DVD of the movie 'Highway' which features a much debated scene from the April 10, 1994 vigil for Kurt Cobain. As the movie was filmed a couple of years ago, the vigil had to be re-created for the purpose. Here are some high quality DVD screen captures of the scene in question. Special thanks to Fabian for going through the trouble of getting the DVD for me. Click thumbnail for larger pic.