Jan from Holland stumpled upon a company from Belgium who produce a chocolate
carrying the name "Nirvana" ! There is no word on how it tastes, but I'm sure
it's pretty good. Check their website
here, or a picture of the chocolate here.
Thanks to Jan for the picture and URL.
Bryon sent in this one; "I have recently stumbled upon something that has me severely
disturbed.I was looking for some info on a Nirvana tribute album and came upon a site
with information that startled me. Apparently, Shania Twain, Alan Jackson, Leanne Rimes
and other country artists are planning to cover several Nirvana songs COUNTRY STYLE!! The
address is http://www.thebug.com/nirvana.htm" Thanks to Bryon for this story. As it turns
out, the story is just a joke. A hoax even. There is no truth about it. But the thought of
a Nirvana tribute album, done country style, is pretty entertaining :) Thanks to Adam and
a few others for pointing out that there is no truth to the article.
From Jena; "I'm not sure if you are aware of this but just in case I thought I should
let you know. I was surfing the net to find some info on Frances Farmer and I stumbled
along an interesting article about Kurt. The website is about how psychiatric drugs ruin
people's lives. There you will find an article claiming that Kurt's ritalin intake as a
child could have resulted in his suicide. The address is http://www.cchr.org/art/eng/page00.htm
and near the bottom of the page click on 'Kurt Cobain 1967-1994-Ritalin Harms Teen Spirit' "
Thanks to Jena Santiago for this one.
Cher, of all people, is set to release an album dedicated to Kurt Cobain; "NIRVANA
frontman KURT COBAIN is to be remembered by CHER on her forthcoming Internet-only
album 'NOT COMMERCIAL'. According to reports on UK websites today, Cher wrote the song
'The Fall' after Cobain's suicide in 1994, when she was writing the album. It is reported
as being the first time that the chart-topping star has penned an entire album herself."
Story courtesy of NME. Some more info from music365; "The singer has recorded the song,
titled 'The Fall', for her forthcoming 'Not Commercial' album, which is to be released on
the Internet in November. The singer wrote the song after Cobain's suicide in April 1994,
but only feels prepared to release it now. The material on 'Not Commercial' was apparently
all written around the time of Cobain's suicide. This is the first time in Cher's 35-year
career that she has written every song on one of her albums. Cher is reported to be concerned
that the album is too 'dark' for her younger fans, and may consider labelling it with a sticker
which states that it is inappropriate for children. Cher, and presumably her record label, are
at pains to point out that 'Not Commercial' is not the official follow-up to her 'Believe' album."
Story courtesy of music365. Thanks to Reidar, Steve, Nick Kelly and Daniel for the news.
A speak preview of the exclusive and previously unreleased Kurt Cobain interview - to hit the 'net
next month (see September 22 story for more details) - is now available; "ThrottleBox has also
released a preview file of 'American Icon / American Tragedy - The Kurt Cobain Interview.' The
preview contains a segment of the never-before-heard interview with Cobain (recorded in late 1993,
a few months before his death) as well as an interview with rock journalist Jim DeRogatis, who
conducted the Cobain interview. The file also includes related film trailers, photos, quotes,
transcripts, and links to relevant musical BOX files. The Cobain interview will be presented
free of charge on ThrottleBox.com, in six weekly installments beginning October 12. Download the
preview at the Download.com location (see above) or here."
Information courtesy of the Throttlebox newsletter.
In a revolutionary and completely unprecedented move, the band Pearl Jam just
released not one, but 25 new albums at the same time! "Pearl Jam fans will have
their loyalty tested [this past] Tuesday. The rock band isn't just releasing a new
album - it's putting out 25 of them. In an unprecedented attempt to beat bootleggers
at their own game, the Seattle-based band is selling live two-CD sets recorded at more
than two dozen concerts during a European tour earlier this summer. Each album carries
a suggested retail price of $16.98. Each show contains about two dozen songs; Pearl Jam
played more than 80 different songs during the European tour. Pearl Jam released no
music from the June 30 concert in Roskilde, Denmark, where nine fans were trampled to
death and three seriously injured." Since each album is a double-CD, the band have
put out a stunning 50 CDs that are available at selected retail stores, and online
dealers such as
CDNow. Story courtesy of Yahoo! and AP. "With 25 official bootlegs from Pearl Jam's
recent European tour hitting retail stores across the land today (Sept. 26) via Epic, the
Pearl Jam camp is considering similar treatment for concerts from the band's North American
tour, the second leg of which kicks off Oct. 4 in Montreal. But of even greater interest to
fans is the possibility that concerts from previous tours -- Bierman says the band possesses
recordings of nearly every show it has ever played -- may eventually find their way into the
marketplace, as well as a video documenting this year's tour." This story was courtesy of
Billboard.com. You can find tracklistings to all 25 albums here.
Now if only Nirvana did the same, and released 25 soundboard recordings of live concerts to
the market, the world would be a better place :o)
From Patrick; "One 80s glam-rock and now poppy-rock band Enuff Z'Nuff, famous for their
Top 50 hit 'Fly High Michelle' covered a Nirvana song. They covered the Nirvana song off
In Utero 'All Apologies.'"
A little warning: A Nirvana song labeled as "Laminated Effect" has been spreading rapidly
through the MP3 file sharing software Napster. THIS IS NOT THE CORRECT TITLE OF THE SONG!
The song is in fact called "White lace and strange" and is a Thunder and Roses cover. It
was done by Nirvana for their 4/17/87 Radio show. Someone incorrectly labeled it as "Laminated
Effect", fooling people into thinking that this is Fecal Matter material. It is not. It is
just mislabeled. Alternatively, it could be a track lifted from the fake Fecal Matter tape
that started spreading in 1997. Upon listening to this, it should be obvious to identify
it as a fake. On the contrary, "White lace and strange" is a very nice song, it's just not
called "Laminated Effect" as the filename suggests. The file in question is 1,512,304 bytes
and last 2:09 minutes. As for warnings about other crap floating on Napster, please refer to
question #117 of the NFC FAQ.Speaking of Napster, the stupidity of people sharing (or worse: downloading) Nirvana songs from there is amazing. Thus, just today someone e-mailed me a 6 meg MP3 file of the Stone Temple Pilots classic "Creep", cause it had been labeled by some moron as a Nirvana track entitled "Half the man I used to be" ! And of course, when the file has the word "Nirvana" in it, it must be a Nirvana song - even if it sounds nothing like Nirvana. Wrong! Use your common sense people, or I'll lose my mind soon.
The latest NFC Poll; "Do you use Napster to get Nirvana MP3's ?" ended with a
result I had anticipated; out of the 2519 votes, 78% (1958) answered "Yes"
while only 22% (561) answered "No". So indeed, Napster is also being used by
many Nirvana fans. Check out the current poll question which is "Do you think
the September 2001 release date for the box is good?" The 'box' in question is
of course the forthcoming new Nirvana album, which is rumoured to be released
in exactly one year. Good or bad? Vote on the main page!
Today it has been exactly nine years since the groundbreaking album "Nevermind"
was released. The album, considered by many to be the best of the 90's, was officially
released in the US on this date - nine years ago. On March 24, 1999 it was certified
with the 'Diamond' award by the RIAA, honoured to albums selling more than 10 million
units. There is a rumour going that the Nirvana boxed set will be released on exactly
on year - to mark the 10-year anniversary of the Nevermind album.
I just finished an interview with Carrie Borzillo, author of the brand new Nirvana book
"Eyewitness Nirvana: The Day-By-Day Chronicle". Carrie is also the managing editor of
the popular All Star News service, which is a part of the online music store CDNow.
The interview gives some more insight on the book, and Carrie's opinions on current
topics such as MP3 file swapping and the Nirvana boxed set. Thanks a bunch to Carrie
for doing this and for her prompt answers. This is actually my 5th interview with a
journalist/book author. You can check out the other ones here.
An Interview with Carrie Borzillo.
Another new Nirvana tribute album is underway. This one, entitled "Smells Like Bleach",
is set to be released by Cleopatra Records on October 3, 2000. The covers are done by
artists such as Flipper, Vibrators, DOA, Turd and ICU (wowee!). If you want, the album
can be ordered already now from CDnow. You can also
get more info here. Thanks to Franziska fo this
story. One of the most common Nirvana tribute albums previously released has a dolphin
on the cover and features covers by artists such as Mother of Mary, Flow, Wasted Youth
and NME Within.
Here is some more info on that previously unreleased Kurt Cobain interview
that I mentioned last month; "A never-before-heard audio interview with Nirvana lead
singer Kurt Cobain, recorded six months before his death, is being made available for
download in a novel multimedia file that includes audio, video, photographs and text.
The audio, which comes from a 90-minute interview between Cobain and Chicago Sun-Times
pop music critic Jim DeRogatis, is being released by Berkeley, Calif.-based Sobent and
Johnson City, N.Y.-based multimedia company ThrottleBox Media as a way to showcase the
latest version of ThrottleBox's 3.0 Player. ThrottleBox's 'Box file' technology lets
people download to their desktops a single file that contains audio, video, photographs,
text and hyperlinks. In the past, an individual would have to separately download an MP3
music file, AVI video file, JPEG photo file and so on." - "In its current promotion,
ThrottleBox is featuring an interview that took place in 1994 in Cobain's home on Lake
Washington in Seattle shortly after the release of Nirvana's 'In Utero' album. DeRogatis
spoke with Cobain in the singer's living room, decorated with just a couch, a playpen, a
guitar and the dummy from 'In Utero.' The journalist said Cobain talked about his new album,
his new baby and other topics, including guns. DeRogatis said in an interview with CNET
News.com that there were no indications Cobain was having problems. 'This was a guy who was
really proud of his record, and he was happy with the state of his band, and he was starting
to get comfortable with the idea that a lot of people cared what he had to say.' Pieces of
DeRogatis' interview were published in the Chicago Sun-Times and other publications, but this
will be the first time the actual audio of Cobain's voice has been released. In addition to
the audio interview, the download package will include exclusive photographs taken during the
'In Utero' tour, photos of the Meat Puppets, who opened on that tour, and photos of Cobain's
wife, musician Courtney Love. The trailer from the controversial documentary 'Kurt and Courtney'
will be included as well as a trailer for the independent film 'The Vigil,' in which a group of
fans travel from Canada to Seattle for Cobain's 1994 vigil. DeRogatis is also featured in the
package, describing what it was like to interview Cobain." Story courtesy of CNET and Yahoo!
News. Full
story.
As far as I have been told, the interview will be released officially at throttlebox.com
on October 11. It may be available on cnet.com prior to that. The interview will be spread over
17 downloadable segments. Some people have been complaining about having to download the custom
software to get the interview. To that, Allison - who is Throttlebox Media's Marketing and Account
Manager (music) - said; "We're quite proud of our product, which is one of the only mulitple media
format players out there. The player is part of the presentation - it's not just an audio clip.
Our new viewer will allow fans to listen to the audio and tear off a window with the transcript
text to follow along. The interview is free as is all of our content. It's got some information and
insights that has never been heard before. Allison also reported that it was upon reading the info
about 'The Vigil', in this news section's September 13 update, that it was decided to include a trailer
for the film in the Throttlebox package. Thanks to CNET and Yahoo! for this information. More info coming soon.
An interesting story about a new artist; "Under normal circumstances, one might scoff at a 19-year-old
singer-songwriter citing Marc Bolan, David Bowie, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Kurt Cobain as inspirations.
In the case of up-and-comer Michal, however, those influences are genuine, and each is detectable on her
debut CD, Sky With Stars. The daughter of artistic parents (her mother is a painter; her father, an art
history professor), Michal studied classical music throughout childhood before turning to rock. 'I think
the big turning point, for me, was when I turned 13 and hit that whole teen angst, emotional crisis stage
of my life,' says the New York-based songwriter. 'I was trying to figure out who I was, and when I heard
Nirvana, that was really an outlet for a lot of the emotions I had been experiencing. I started writing
right after I found out that Kurt Cobain had died. I felt that he really spoke for a lot of people of my
generation, and once he died, we had to learn to speak for ourselves.'" Story courtesy of Yahoo! and Wall
of Sound.
In the October issue of the movie magazine Premiere, there is an interesting
string of articles about the Internet's impact on the movie industry; "Premiere
delivers a status report on how the Internet revolution has changed movies and
movie stardom forever. Our exclusive survey reveals the 20 most popular movie
stars on the Web." The mag also features an interview with Buffy star
Sarah Michelle Geller, who graces the magazine cover in a beautiful pose, in
which she reveals her plans for an upcoming official site. " 'I don't think we'd
be here if it wasn't for the Net [referring to the net fueling the popularity of the
Buffy show]', she says. 'It was the Internet that really kicked us off, because
that's where this loyal fan base could get together and spread the word.' " The
interview also mentions how most of the 8x10's being auctioned at eBay with her
autograph are in fact fakes; "... when she checked out the Gellar memorabilia
that was up for auction, she was distressed to discover that on every item
purporting to sport her autograph, the signature was counterfeit." This is
an interesting statement, considering how many of those autographed images
trade hands every day. If we put our Nirvana glasses back on, this problem is
very evident, as eBay is flooded with counterfeit 8x10's supposedly signed by
Nirvana's members. The problem is that it can be very difficult to spot these
fakes. Basically, it is a good idea to check if the seller has a high feedback
rating; if the COA (Certificate of Authenticity) is legitimate (and not just
some note the seller crafted together in 2 minutes) & if the signature(s) on the
item being sold can be compared to the signatures that are known to be authentic.
As for the Premiere feature, you can find some of it on their official website
here. The newsstands in the US are
probably displaying the January 2001 issue at this point, so you'll have a
better chance of finding the October one in Europe :) The picture of Sarah
Michelle Gellar was shot by Cliff Watts. Article courtesy of Steve Pond and
Premiere.
Something I got in the e-mail today that some of you out there might be interested
in; "Biting Bullets is a feature length documentary celebrating death by rock excess!
Fatal Impact Productions is calling on fans to attend the grave/memorial sites at the
times listed to discuss each of the following artists; Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Keith
Moon, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Bon Scott, Sid Vicious and Michael Hutchence.
The allegiance of fans many of whom still frequent the grave/memorial sites of their icons,
maintain vigils etc are invited to discuss their passion, elements of attraction and insights
whilst touching on biographical details on the artists from their own unique perspective. The
documentary is intended to be a tribute and celebration of these artists lives, not an expose
or exploitative tabloid exercise. The dates and locations are: Kurt Cobain Sunday OCT 1ST 2000
Seattle Centre Seattle." - "Aaron Stevenson the films writer/director and producers Laurie Basten,
Dean Scherger and Brett Sharpe will be present at these sites from Midday. Anyone interested is
invited to attend and discuss their attraction/respect/admiration for any of the featured artists.
The intention of the filmmakers is to present a documentary that celebrates the lives of these
people, associated myths and their status as icons." More details and the dates/locations for the
other artists can be found here. Thanks to Aaron for
this one. If you can attend, don't forget to tell 'em who sent ya :)
Next month there will be an interesting music event down in Southern California; "It's called Blood
Drive-2000. It's all happening next month, on Saturday October 28. Here's the line-up so far: THE DAMNED,
THE MISFITS, SUPERSUCKERS, ZEKE, Plus a VERY SPECIAL MYSTERY GUEST. Also appearing: Zen Guerilla, Gluecifer,
Throwrag, The Bleeders, Blazing Haley, Hellbound Hayride, and more! Along with these great bands we'll be
having a Kustom Car, Bike and Hearse show and cool vendors peddling tons of Halloween swag, fluids and solids.
Topped off with great charity organizations that will benefit, this is THE music festival of the year." You
can get more info about the event here. Thanks to Andy for the info.
"In the current issue of Entertainment Weekly , its feature is the top 100
greatest entertainers from 1950-2000. Kurt Cobain is on the list, ranked #72,
while the Beatles were ranked #1." Thanks to Patrick for this one.
Ben sent in this little story; "Ok I was on my way home from my wonderful job at Six Flags New England
late sunday night (about 10 p.m. est). I was flipping around the stations on my radio in my car to see
if I could actually get something good. I then flipped it on Radio 104 WMRQ where I caught the second
verse on of 'Love Buzz'. What caught me was the solo, it wasn't how it sounds like it does on their album
Bleach, it was live! Then after it, people started cheering and they started playing 'Spank Thru'. Then
I got home and jetted up into my living room and turned on the radio and 'Son of a Gun' had begun and it
was still live. After 'Molly's Lips', there was a station identification 'On a Plain' began, but it wasn't
from the same concert, it was from their amazing MTV Unplugged performance. After that one, there was
another station identification after that song the studio version of 'Rape me' began. No mention of why
they played all those NIRVANA songs in a row but it was truly nice for all the people who
listen to that station and adore NIRVANA. I'm guessing that those live songs (excluding 'On a Plain') were
from a European show from 1989 because most European shows have good recordings and the rarity of those songs."
If you, like me, are a fan of the show "Buffy - The Vampire Slayer" you might want to know that
over in the US, the new season premieres on September 26 at 8/7c. You can view a sneak-preview of the
episode at the official Buffy website. The star of the show, Sarah
Michelle Gellar, also did an interesting interview recently that you can read here.
They do polls on everything these days. A sick example of this is E! Online's
latest poll of 'The Top Ten Dead Celebs' ! Here is E! Online's introduction to
this weird poll; "In life, they had, well...presence. And they still do. Oddly,
being dead hasn't slowed their careers. They're the musicians, actors and comedians
whose bodies may be in compost production, but their celebrity is still heating up."
- "Although the competition was--er, is--stiff, the 10 who follow are those very
special performers whose absence has given them even more presence." Our very own
Kurt Cobain made it to the number one spot; "It's nearly impossible to achieve rock
'n' roll immortality in the '90s. It's a mature genre now, and much of the cool stuff,
if you'll pardon the expression, has been done to death. Leather pants and incoherent
warblings won't gain you a Jim Morrison-like mystique anymore (just ask the Cult). Kurt
Cobain is one deceased modern rocker who has ascended into the Lizard King's pantheon.
And he did it the old-fashioned way--going supernova just as his career was kicking into
high gear. The Nirvana singer-guitarist helped introduce the rough-edged 'grunge' sound.
But his songs were more than just a big noise from the Northwest. Cobain's ingeniously
expressed cynicism toward all things, including himself, was real. And his nihilism burst
forth just as young, recession-era audiences were yearning for it. When he finally, fatally
wasted his talent, well, that was too much. We may not be mad at Tupac, but we're still a
little steamed at Kurt. Whatever, nevermind. Cobain still has the power to inspire and anger,
as the proliferation of fan sites and tribute pages shows. And there are more than a few
Morrison-esque theories floating around that place him alive and well in his hometown of
Aberdeen, Washington. We wish it were true, but the best we can do is give Cobain the primo
spot in our online graveyard." Uhm ... interesting. Thanks to 'Riot Grrrl' for the link.
Other people on the list include Hank Williams, the guy from "Weekend at Bernie's", George
Burns and Jerry Garcia. Story 'They're Stone Cold, But They're Still Red Hot!' courtesy of
Daniel Frankel and E! Online, LLC, copyright 2000.
Betty, a user of this site, was kind enough to make a little sound promo for NFC. In addition
I persuaded her to sing a cover of Nirvana's terrific song "Sappy", which was covered beautifully.
Check out the little promo here. You will need an MP3 player
such as WinAMP or Microsoft Media Player to use it. Thanks a bunch to Betty Chamberlain for making
this file.
I just got some interesting information about a movie called 'The Vigil';
"My name is Justin MacGregor, I'm a Canadian filmmaker who wrote and directed
an independent feature film called 'The Vigil' which was shot in British Columbia.
The film is about a group of young people drawn together by their love of music
who drive from Lethbridge, Alberta to Seattle for Kurt Cobain's vigil. The film
received two grants from the British Columbia Arts Council and was an official
production of the Cineworks Independent Filmmakers Society." The film has just
been released on video in Canada. Justin sent me a bunch of interesting press info
about the film that you can now read here; press
release, Rogers Video press release,
production notes and filmmaker's timeline,
reviews of 'The Vigil', including festival
guides. Thanks a bunch to Justin for this information. Now go check out his movie!
Note that you can find more info about the film at
thevigil.com. You may also e-mail questions about it to: thevigilfilm@hotmail.com
"MTV's 'Daria' television show recently had a 72-minute full length animated film
entitled 'Is It Fall Yet?' that premiered on Aug. 27. The Nirvana-related news
item is this: The voice of the pretentious artist Daniel Dotson was done by Dave
Grohl. Here
is a link as to when the episode 'Is It Fall Yet' is airing on MTV in the US." Thanks
to Brian Flota for this story. More news on Dave; "There is an episode of a local Seattle
show called 'Almost live'. Dave Grohl made a guest appearence. And on occasion, the show
plays various clips of Nirvana songs."
Yet another new Nirvana domain opened to the public today (at 1 AM to be
exact!). This one is quite interesting though. Labeled "Live Nirvana", the
site offers a ton of original material and a great design to present it, made
by Katie of 'Obituary Birthday' fame. Among other things the site offers; rare
Nirvana concert photographs; a detailed list of bad traders; the Nirvana first
and Last Performance Guide (originally by Alex Bender and Chris Blaney); the
Nirvana fakes guide; concert statistics; lifetime achievement award and much more.
My favorite section of the site is a Trader Database, powered by a script I wrote :o)
The script allows you to search through the base, for example to find a trader in
your country, one that trades your favorite format, or your favorite artist for that
matter (Nirvana ??) - with more search options available. Of course, you can also register
for the database yourself, edit your current information, or remove your profile. Well,
try it out for yourself if you are a trader.
Thanks to the main forces behind the site - Franklin Morris and Matt Reeder - for giving us
this great resource. Check out Live Nirvana here.
Jeff over at novoselic.com put up a little info about the forthcoming
Nirvana boxed set; "We also talked about Nirvana.com, which he has no plans
for at the moment. Krist is also working on the 10/31/91 video to be released,
possibly with the box set. The box set information he gave me was very vague, he
still 'hopes' it will be finished in time for September 2001." My best theory at
this point is that the box will contain at least four CDs and probably 2 videos.
As far back as 1998 I speculated that it would contain the 10/31/91 video which
seems to have been more or less confirmed now. It wouldn't surprise me if they
also included the Amsterdam 11/25/91 video. Thanks to Jeff and Krist Novoselic
for some of this info.
An interesting eBay auction, offering a free copy of the Love Buzz 7" single, was
found by Tove; "I joined the Subpop Singles Club back in '88. I recall this was the
first 7" single issued called "Lovebuzz/Bigcheese" by Nirvana. When the club sent me
this single, I played it a few times and put it away. After almost 12 years, this August
I came across my old record collection. In a priority mail envelope (addressed to me from
Subpop), I found this single once again, along with a receipt and my Subpop Singles Club
membership card. I believe this single must be very rare, because the flap reads 933/1000.
I have no idea what kind of price this would fetch, nor do I care. I doubt you could find
this 7" in such mint condition anywhere else, unless it would be in their vaults. Bored and
old, I have no use for this punk record, and I'd rather it go to someone who does. I've noticed
through the media that Nirvana has gained a cult-like following and loyal fan base. I remember
as a teenager exchanging words with Kurdt at a Tacoma grocery. These days I have a family and a
well-off career. I would like to personally give this gem, free of charge, to someone who can
tell me what they see/hear in this band. I would only ask that you would pay for insured shipping.
I have created an e-mail address for all entries, which is: Subpop1988@hotmail.com. Please tell me
what Nirvana means to you, how it affected you, changed your life, etc. Poems and prose are fine
to express this, too. (Please don't send entries to this eBay account!!! I am using my cousin's
account for this auction.) I figure by hearing your rants and raves, I can distinguish between a
bonafide fan and a shlock-rock merchant. This is a legit, and unique auction, to say the least."
I don't know if this is genuine, but it's worth a shot I guess. You can find more info about the
auction here.
Thanks to Tove for the link.
As mentioned in the news section yesterday, the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards
was aired last night. The Foo Fighters didn't win any of the two awards they
were nominated to, but lost to Blink 182 and Eminem. One funny moment of the
show was when Carson Daly and the creator of the MP3 file-sharing software
'Napster' introduced a Britney Spears live performance. The Napster creator,
Shawn, walked out on stage wearing a Metallica T-shirt saying he borrowed it
from a friend. Lars Ulrich, who was in the audience, didn't look pleased!
Though, a little later in the show there was a funny sketch with Lars Ulrich
raiding the room of a guy downloading Metallica files off Napster. I would
have put up an MP3 of the sketch here, but Mr. Ulrich would probably have me
arrested if I did :o) You can find a full list of the winners along with more
information about the show at MTV.com.
Alex Coletti who produced this gigantic show did a short interview with me a few
months back about Nirvana's Unplugged show (which he also produced). You may read
the interview here if you haven't already.
"MP3.com will be forced to pay Universal Music Group damages ranging from $117.5
million to $250 million because of a federal judge's ruling Wednesday that the
online music provider 'willfully' violated copyright law when it illegally copied
80,000 CDs onto its servers to create its my.mp3.com digital locker service. U.S.
District Court Judge Jed Rakoff told a courtroom filled with onlookers that his
decision to award damages of $25,000 per infringed CD was based, in part, upon
deterring other Internet companies from violating copyright law in hopes of making
'huge profits.' The judge could have gone as high as $150,000 per CD. 'We're disappointed
in the judge's ruling,' [MP3.com CEO Michael] Robertson told reporters. 'We'll definitely
appeal. The laws need to accept that consumers have the right to listen to their own CD
collections online.' " Story courtesy of Yahoo! and the Hollywood Reporter. Feel free
to discuss this sickening ruling on the NFC Discussion Board in the 'Junkyard' forum.
Related stories.
The current NFC Quiz was created in July 1998 (and briefly updated a couple of times
since then), so I thought it was about time to add a new quiz. The new quiz only has
10 questions for now, but more should be added at a later time. The old quiz is still
available in case you haven't tried that one yet. You can try the brand new quiz
here or the old one here.
Don't forget to tune into MTV tonight, as it is once again time for the annual MTV
Video Music Awards. The show will air live from New York at 8 PM Eastern Time (2 AM,
Central European Time). The show features live performances and appearances by some
of the currently best selling artists in the music business. The Foo Fighters are
nominated in the category 'Best Group video' for their hilarious video to "Learn
to Fly". The same video is also nominated in 'Best direction in a video' For a full
list of the nominees, go to the MTV website.
An employee of the music television channel VH-1 sent in some interesting information;
"I am working on a 5 hour show for VH1 about the 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. The
show is broken down into five one hour shows that will air from Monday, November 13
through Friday November 17. I am sure the guests that visit your site would enjoy this
program and see where their favorite artists are on the list. The artists were voted on
by other hard rock musicians, critics and others in the know about hard rock music. The
artists on the show range from heavy metal, punk, alternative and more so its sure to hit
on everyone's favorites." - "Basically the show lists off 20 bands or singers per one hour
show in what I feel is best described as 'mini tribute' form." That Nirvana is included is
not conclusive but more than likely. Thanks a bunch to Kelly for this information. Keep an
eye on the VH-1 website for more details on the show.
Speaking of VH-1, a number of Nirvana fans have wished for them to do a "Behind the music"
special on Nirvana. If you are one of those people, it is worth contacting them and perhaps
if they get enough e-mails, they will do the special eventually. So just send them a polite
letter, saying something to the effect of; "Hello. I am a fan of Nirvana and want to ask that
you please consider the idea of doing a 'Behind the music' special about Nirvana." You may
contact VH-1 at: inbox@vh1mail.com. Don't forget to
tell them that nirvanaclub.com sent you :o) Also, it is a good idea to make the subject of
your e-mail to be: "Nirvana: Behind the Music".
Kevin Bremner noticed something funny, namely that if you access www.nirvan-a.com, you are
automatically transferred to this site! I don't own the nirvan-a domain or have anything to
do with it so this is pretty funny. Thanks to whoever created that alias! Speaking of aliases,
my other domain nirvana2.com is currently not working. Whether it will be again is still up
in the air.
A British "Top 1000 albums of all time" chart was recently published;
"LONDON, England -- The Beatles' musical crown is under threat, according to a
new ranking of the greatest albums of all time. Radiohead's 1995 album 'The
Bends' is ranked second behind The Beatles' 'Revolver' in a new survey of
the 1,000 greatest albums of all time. In fact, between them, Radiohead and
the Fab Four hold the list's five top spots, with 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts
Club Band' third, Radiohead's 1997 disc 'OK Computer' fourth and The Beatles'
1968 'White Album' in fifth place. The placings are revealed in a new book,
'Virgin All Time Top 1,000 Albums,' which compiles more than 200,000 votes
cast by record buyers, music enthusiasts and journalists." - "Other bands have
been a victim of changing times. Nirvana's 'Nevermind,' ranked No. 4 in the
1998 edition, has slipped to 17, while The Beach Boys' 'Pet Sounds' has dropped
from 6 to 18." Story courtesy of CNN Online
The August 2000 issue of Yahoo! Internet Life magazine offers some interesting
articles about music on the net; "A look at the past, present, and future of
online music". One of the articles feature comments from Danny Goldberg, once
an important figure in the Nirvana camp. I picked out a snippet from the article
that I thought was pretty funny; "Top Five Rationales for stealing all those tunes:
1: Death to the one-hit wonder: Now we can realize the rest of the album sucks
before we buy it. 2: It's only 'theft' if some prosecutes. 3: Artists who regularly
sing about revolutions have little right to protest this one. 4: $17.99 for 40 minutes
of Sugar Ray? 5: Maybe David Hasselhoff, John Tesh, and Rosie O' Donnell will find out
there's no money to be made in music - and go away!" If you don't have the magazine,
you may also find the articles online.
"Elton John has recruited ex-Nirvana bass player Krist Novoselic, former Soundgarden
guitarist Kim Thayil and Red Hot Chili Peppers' bass player Flea to play on his next album.
Elton is set to begin recording his new album in LA next month and has told Rolling Stone
Magazine, 'I've always wanted to be in a rock band. I've always wanted to smash a guitar over
someone's head. You just can't do that with a piano.' More sessions with top contemporary
musicians are planned in February." Story courtesy of Yahoo! News. Thanks to Sharky for
passing it on.
Since getting back online exactly a month ago, the NFC Discussion Board has received a lot
of attention. In fact, the "Born in a Junkyard" forum (free discussion) alone has had more
than 23.000 posts in one month. At the same time, the "Nirvana" forum is up to about 6.300
posts spread over some 420 topics, while the two remaining forums each hold some 350 topics.
In total the four public forums currently present more than 35.000 posts - all submitted
within just one month! And these figures don't even include several threads that were
deleted for various reasons. Thanks to the some 2.000 users for being so active, and especially
thanks to the moderators for keeping the board clean. Note that the recently created 5th forum
is strictly for moderators to discuss technical issues.
"In the latest issue of SPIN, they published the 100 Sleaziest Moments, and at #34, they write;
'Dylan Carlson of Seattle group Earth goes shopping with troubled friend Kurt Cobain for the gun
Cobain would use to kill himself.' Also at #13, 'Courtney Love's infamous public and private
shenanigans.' Meanwhile, at #1; 'Led Zeppelin's Seafood Fetish: Led Zeppelin are the undisputed
gods of rock 'n' roll perversity. Their most infamous moment: a disgusting 1969 incident at Seattle's
Edgewater Inn involving fornication with fresh seafood. The event remains the standard by which all
rock debauchery has been measured.' For the full list, go here."
"A March 6 2000 interview with Butch Vig comments on the difference of working with Nirvana compared
to the Offspring: 'I know you worked on the early Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins stuff, is the environment
any different when working with a band like The Offspring? - Vig: Well every band is kind of different.
Part of it is the nature of how bands play together and the dynamic of how they interact. And it depends
on what studio you are in and what kind of record the band is making. Some records are simple to record
and overdub and mix. Some records are complicated just because they get more parts in them or it's more
difficult to get the sound you are looking for.' " Courtesy of offspring.com
Note that the MP3 file sharing software 'Napster' is being used to spread a ton of fake songs, labeled
as "Nirvana". These include, but are not limited to, "Nirvana - Enter Sandman (Metalica Cover)" [2:41 min
or 0:28 min], "Nirvana-verry rare kurt cobain solo 18yrs old - change" [0:19 min or 0:54 min], "Nirvana -
Opinion (Heavy Version)" [2:06 min. This one is not fake but actually a really good cover of the song],
"Rocked by rape" [4:29 min], "Sorry yesterday" [5:00 min. SLTS played backwards], "Asshole" [2:18 min. Song
by Oleander. Also known as 'Loser']. There are more fakes but these are the worst. Essentially if you find
a Nirvana song on Napster which is not mentioned in the list of songs, then
it is almost guaranteed to be a fake. Also, please use your common sense and don't jump to conclusions.
Archive of past months news and website updates:
1999:
[ Oct | Nov | Dec ]
2000:
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Mar | Apr |
May | Jun |
Jul | Aug |
Sep | Oct |
Nov | Dec ]
2001:
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2003:
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2005:
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Nov ]