To sum up, I had an incredibly lucky summer in 1992. I was
stranded in Rhode Island for a summer between years of college.
Throwing Muses played a rare show
in their hometown, Newport, which is where I was living. So they
got their pals Cell and Sonic Youth to drive up from NYC to play
a benefit for a spinal-injuries charity. There was a raffle to raise more
money, since tickets were only $10. My sister had to work
and so had given me some money to pick her up some raffle tickets
before the show. I bought 4 tickets. 3rd prize was the latest CD by
the Youth or the Muses. 2nd prize was a limousine ride to Providence
to see another Muses show. And 1st prize was round-trip airfare for
2 to Los Angeles for another Youth show.
Here's where it gets good. Of the 4 tickets we bought
between us, 3 won. We got 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize. They must
not have mixed the raffle tickets up very well, or something. I was
practically hyperventilating. So my sister and I flew to LA for 2 days
in the middle of the semester, rented a car, did the whole tacky
Hollywood/Rodeo Drive scene, ate great Mexican food and
failed miserably at attempting to blend in with the locals, possibly
as a result of
our hopelessly Oregonian complexions. The charity people had
supposedly arranged for our free admission to the show, but the
people at the gate never heard of us. So we sat outside, pissed, until
Youth's manager, Bob, drove by and somehow recognized us from the
Rhode Island show 2 months earlier. He felt bad about the inconvenience,
piled us into his van and drove us straight backstage and gave us
backstage passes. Then we saw the Youth
play with Mudhoney & Pavement opening. I barely knew Pavement
at that point, but I thought they were good. Mudhoney were pretty good.
Then Kurt Cobain, who was there with Courtney to visit his pals in
Mudhoney, showed up alone onstage and played a solo acoustic version of
an old Leadbelly song. Kurt died before I ever saw Nirvana in concert,
and they are still one of my favorite bands. So that memory is the
strongest one I have of him. All I could think was how unlike a multi-
million-selling rock star he seemed. After the show I tried to tell Kurt what his
band meant to me but all that came out was some mumbling about
could I have my picture taken with him. He semi-smiled for the camera
but just kept wandering around like he was looking for someone, but
he never really looked happy.
Everyone else backstage was much more social. That night a sober member
of Mudhoney told me it was "bullshit" that I was from Seattle (I really was,
at that point), and a drunken member of Mudhoney jokingly tried to trip
me, and succeeded in falling over himself. The Youth's manager asked us
onto their tour bus, where the Youth, Pavement & Mudhoney were
partying, and Kurt & Courtney were showing pictures of their new daughter.
Thurston from the Youth was a really cool guy. Kim Gordon intimidated
both of us. Mark from Mudhoney seemed like a jerk. I still kick myself
for not chatting with Pavement, since within a few months they were
one of my favorite bands. We got a few more pictures of the scene on
the tour bus and Bob said we would have to go. Anyway, that's the whole
story of the picture.
I still keep that picture in my wallet for when people don't believe a)
that I once met Kurt Cobain; or b) that
I once had long hair.
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