As mentioned earlier, the NBC show Access Hollywood recently aired a Courtney Love interview over two days. The show also featured a short clip of the elusive studio version of the unreleased Nirvana song "You Know You're Right". According to a recent NME story, the song is to be released with an 'introduction to Nirvana' album at some point. Listen to the clip of "You Know You're Right" that was aired on Access Hollywood by clicking here (provided by 'robot700').

Speaking of Courtney - the latest interview she did with the British magazine NME has now been published on their site. This interview is far better and much more coherent and relevant than the last one she did with the mag. She also mentions Nirvana and Kurt Cobain a couple of times, and responds to the allegation that she doesn't write her own songs; "I honestly can't answer that question, it's so ridiculous. The boys get all weird when you sell as many or more than they do. It's rare for a female who plays rock so they really want a piece of you one way or another - a piece of your ass, a piece of your history, a piece of immortality - by being one of your 'helpers'. They wanna fu##k you, and if you spend one night in a room they scream they wrote everything or (in the most recent case) they simply beg you to help them sell tickets and pull the plug when you're at your most vulnerable. I'm used to it, and I'm very flattered. I just wish I had a bigger sorority." Read the full interview here, courtesy of NME.

In the first 24 hours the new poll has been running, it has already gotten about 1000 votes. Thanks to everyone who voted so far! Keep it up! If you haven't voted yet, you can do so by looking near the top of this page where the form is.

For several years, the most popular Nirvana book has been "Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana" by Michael Azerrad. Written and originally published prior to Kurt Cobain's death, the book has long been loved by Nirvana fans. The author recently came across a document on this site (not written by me, but not fact-checked either), which stated some incorrect info concerning the book. The unfortunate document in question has now been corrected. In light of this, I asked the author to state some of the most common misconceptions and incorrect rumors concerning his book, to avoid further false information on the book from being printed (on the Internet as well as other places). So, with that, I give the word to Mr. Michael Azerrad:

Greetings, Nirvana Club!

Mr. Rasmus Holmen has very kindly given me the opportunity to clear up some misconceptions about my book, "Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana" (Doubleday, 1993).

Ironically, most of these misconceptions were invented by journalists who weren't conscientious enough to contact anyone who could definitively deny or verify the claim. While I'm sure there are some errors in "Come As You Are", I think it's pretty clear that I worked very hard to be accurate. OK, I hope the following will set the record straight on a few matters.

1. "Come As You Are" is not an authorized biography. "Authorized" does not simply mean that the subject agreed to be interviewed. It is a very specific publishing term meaning that the subject or the subject's representatives have control over the contents of the book. This was simply not the case with "Come As You Are".

In fact, the first time I discussed the book with Kurt, I told him flat out that I didn't want the book to be authorized. He knew exactly what I meant and replied -- and this is a verbatim quotation -- "No way, that would be too Guns N' Roses."

To claim that "Come As You Are" was authorized is not only ignorant, but seeks to compromise the credibility of the book. That's why I get ticked off when people say 'CAYA' was "authorized."

2. The Cobain family has never prevented me from selling the film rights to my book; in fact, they can't -- that's because I own the film rights exclusively. It's amazing to me that anyone would claim otherwise -- all it takes is a quick look at any copy of "Come As You Are" to see that it's my name and my name only next to the copyright mark.

The truth is, despite dozens of offers, I haven't sold the movie rights to "Come As You Are" because no filmmaker I can think of could get it right. Out of politeness I would, however, ask for the blessings of the band, Courtney Love and Kurt's family before proceeding with a film based on my book.

3. I completed "Come As You Are" in June of 1993. Many of the most sordid and horrific events in Kurt's life occurred after that time so there's no way they could have been in the book. It's as simple as that.

It's true, I did write an extra chapter after his death, but I was too distraught to do any extensive reporting about everything that happened to Kurt between June of 1993 and April of 1994 and so the chapter is more of a remembrance. I wrote it partly as a way of working through my grief and partly to express sides of Kurt that I thought were missing from the book. And besides, 'CAYA' is so comprehensive that it would have been odd for it to omit that most important event.

I'm sorry that people who bought the original version of the book can't get the new chapter for free -- if I had my way, it would be up on the Doubleday web site. If you can't borrow it from a friend, just read it in a bookstore.

4. It's true, I didn't realize the full extent of Kurt's drug addiction while I was writing the book. But even Krist and Dave didn't know how much Kurt was using.

The fact is, using heroin doesn't necessarily mean nodding out and puking all the time -- if the person is using just a little, it's hard to notice. While I was researching the book, I spoke with a former heroin addict who told me that often only a fellow junkie can spot someone who's high on heroin. For instance, the late author William S. Burroughs used heroin every day of his life for decades and was completely functional.

But it was obvious that after June of 1993, Kurt's drug use worsened dramatically. I saw him very high many times. It was not pretty. So please don't get the wrong idea about heroin. It will not make you as talented as Kurt Cobain or William Burroughs. In fact, it will probably kill you, one way or the other.

Finally, 'CAYA' is a band biography and not a personal biography, and so the book had limits about how deeply it delved into the lives of the individual band members.

5. I am not related to anyone in Nirvana. If I were, I would not have written the book.

6. Some people have faulted 'Come As You Are' for not giving sufficient credit to the bands that helped make the Nirvana phenomenon happen: great bands like Black Flag, Husker Du, Dinosaur Jr and Mudhoney. Partly in response to that, I wrote a whole book about those bands. If you want to know the "back story" to Nirvana, I humbly recommend you read "Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991". (I'm not asking you to buy it -- by all means check it out of the library if you want.)

I'd also like to add that words cannot express how flattered I am that people are still interested in this book eight years after it came out. I've received countless wonderful, thoughtful letters about "Come As You Are". Some people have even said it's the first book they've ever read cover to cover, and I'm delighted to know that I may have helped some folks get into the priceless habit of reading. So thank you. Nirvana fans are the best.

-- Michael Azerrad

Something proving that Michael Azerrad's book is indeed quite popular is the latest NFC Poll; "What do you think is the best book about Kurt Cobain and/or Nirvana?" Based on 5669 votes, here is the final result:

"Heavier Than Heaven" - 1976 votes (35%)
"Come As You Are" - 2265 votes (40%)
"Cobain" (by RS editors) - 400 votes (7%)
"Eyewitness Nirvana" - 122 votes (2%)
"Nevermind: Nirvana" - 611 votes (11%)
"Nirvana and the Sound of Seattle" - 82 votes (1%)
"Nirvana: Winterlong" - 66 votes (1%)
"Route 666: On The Road ..." 147 votes (3%)

'Come As You Are' just barely won with 40% of the votes, closely followed by the new Kurt Cobain biography 'Heavier Than Heaven' that also got quite a lot of votes. On a third place is another Charles R. Cross book, 'Nevermind: Nirvana' that documents the Nevermind album. Thanks to everyone who took time to vote. A new poll has now been put up; "If a 'Best of Nirvana' CD is released, which song would you most like for it to include?" In other words, you can use this one to vote for your favorite song. The poll can be found near the top of this news section, or around the middle of the main page. Go vote now!

Here's an interesting story from NME; "COURTNEY LOVE has given NME world-exclusive access to the unreleased NIRVANA track 'YOU KNOW YOU'RE RIGHT'. Having spoken to both Barber [Courtney's manager] and Love, NME understands that they propose to release a ten-or 12-track 'Introduction To Nirvana', featuring the song. Then, a year or so later, it would be followed with a box set featuring unheard and new material (some of which would be taken from a selection of tapes discovered after Cobain's death, containing 200 song 'fragments'). For the full story, NME's assessment of 'You Know You're Right' and the full lyric to the song, see this week's NME, dated December 1, on sale around Britain from Wednesday, November 28." Story courtesy of NME. Thanks to Reidar and others for the link (You can read a Norwegian version of the story here).

Apparently Courtney Love will be doing an interview with NBC's 'Access Hollywood', to air tomorrow (November 28); "Courtney Love tells tomorrow's 'Access Hollywood' (7:30 p.m./Ch. 4) that ex-boyfriend Edward Norton saved her from a life of drug abuse. Norton, Love says, 'was a real savior and came to my rescue and I came to his rescue. His mother was dying and I was dying and he got me out of Seattle and he got me into rehab.' Love also talks about her infamous evening with Russell Crowe at the Bel Air Hotel in Los Angeles. 'I just hung out with him and we drank some tequila and we wrote a bunch of poetry and we talked about being buddies,' she says. 'Our sadness really matched up as buddies . . . He has a grieving beautiful heart and I like his heart as a friend.' Part two of AH's interview with Love airs Thursday." Story courtesy of Michael Starr and the New York Post.

As mentioned earlier, the magazine US Weekly recently ran an article featuring an interesting interview with Courtney Love. Now we have some scans of the article available so you can read it; #1, #2, #3 and #4. Once again a big thanks to Amanda.

A relatively new section of this website, 'The Vault', had a significant update today. For one, the script controlling it was completely re-written and now it operates on an actual database, unlike previously where it was based on a text file. The Vault is a collection of files submitted by the users of this site. The files include drawings of Kurt Cobain, personal poems, stories, various photos and more. The Vault can be navigated a number of different ways, by sorting the file listing as you wish. Finally, about ten new files were added today. Check out 'The Vault' here, or read this document for more info on how to submit new material.

The German channel Viva II will be airing a Nirvana-special this Wednesday (November 28) at 8 PM (CET) for the show 2Rock. I am not aware of what the special includes, but some of Nirvana's music videos and possibly interview clips would be a good guess. If you have access to the Astra satellite, you can find Viva II at the following frequency: 11.303H.

I got an e-mail from a person of the French radio show 'Helter Skelter' who did an interview with Kurt Cobain about 10 years ago; "The meeting was planned for Aligre FM & a fanzine named Hyacinth. We [had been] following the band & the Seattle scene since 1989 and it was obvious for us to keep on. We met [them] when they were in Paris for the first day of their promo tour, for the release of Nevermind - a late thursday evening in a hotel in Pigalle in October 1991. Kurt Cobain had preferred to talk to a french fanzine [rather] than to the Parisian corporate rock radio." The interview has been put up in audio format, unedited. Listen to it here. Special thanks to the interviewer Vivian for the info.

The Austin American-Statesman newspaper put up an article about a possible new music-related project for Krist Novoselic; "December is usually a slow time for studios, but Stuart Sullivan's Wire Recording on South Lamar is all booked up for Month 12. A new power trio consisting of Curt Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets, Nirvana's Krist Novoselic and Angelo Hernandez of Queens of the Stone Age has blocked out 30 days to record an album that is not yet attached to a label. Kirkwood, Novoselic and Sullivan were spotted at Ocean's 11 recently, discussing the project over ridiculously huge tropical drinks. Contacted later, Sullivan said that there's no pressure on this new indie rock supergroup to produce anything: They just want to hunker down in the studio to see what comes out." Should be worth looking out for! Story courtesy of Michael Corcoran. Thanks to Richard for the link.

Courtney Love made another interesting post at the Hole discussion board on 11/8 talking, in part, about Dave Grohl; "He [Dave] had zero creative input, except for one genius drum roll (for which he received a small amount of publishing), and from Cobain a B-side - 'Just let him fu##king do his dumb song.' " Then Courtney talks about Chad Channing not receiving credit for doing the drums on the Nevermind version of 'Polly' - a fact well established several years ago. Courtney continues; "I named Nirvana songs and Cobain gave me some good lyric ideas here and there. But Dave Grohl was NOT Kurt's friend at that point in time and even when they were friends briefly (which they were for a short period), Dave Grohl was not a creative participant in [song] titles or other things in Nirvana's music." She also talks about a Nirvana bootleg; "Recall a Nirvana boot named uhh ... 'The Eagle Has Landed' ... just goes to show how, when your fans turn into jocks and people you don't like anymore, it fu##ks up your bootleg titles." This is a pretty funny statement, considering that 'The Eagle Has Landed' is an early song title that Cobain himself (as a joke) announced at Nirvana's show at Reading in 1992. The song (which is actually an early version of In Utero's 'tourette's'), with the band's introduction, can even be found on Nirvana's "From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah" album. The Courtney post (corrected for spelling errors and whatnot) was courtesy of hole.com.

Speaking of Courtney - the world's number one tabloid 'The National Enquirer' put up an article about her; "In an exclusive ENQUIRER interview, Love's former male nanny Paul Garnica reveals life in the home 'was crazy. I could not get any sleep. It was chaos.' - 'She kept the TV blaring until 4:30 a.m., but that wasn't the worst of it. Then she turned on Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin at full volume until 7 a.m. It was wild. Her behavior was erratic. One minute she'd be nice and the next she'd be snapping at people.' Paul spent a weekend from hell at the Love household when he agreed to take on child-care duty and got an eyeful he'll never forget. He claims he got stiffed out of his $25-per-hour pay and he is suing the performer in small claims court." With the source in question, the credibility of the story is questionable, but nevertheless it's an interesting read. Find the full story here. Thanks to Jonathan.

From Rolling Stone's newsletter; "When KURT COBAIN took his life in April 1994, he left behind more than 100 tapes of unreleased songs and demos, as well as pages of lyrics and poetry, according to the new issue of 'Us Weekly.': 'It's amazing,' his widow COURTNEY LOVE said of 'You Know You're Right,' an unreleased NIRVANA tune. 'I remember when Kurt brought it home. He said, 'It's like I wrote a really good Alice in Chains song, except it's sort of better.' There's only one guitar track because he had to go get some drugs. So there's sort of a poignancy to it.' Love plans to release some of the material after resolving a legal battle with Nirvana's label." Sounds good! Thanks to Jordana for passing on the story.

As previously mentioned, in the November issue of Vogue magazine they have models dressed up as celebrities - including models of Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain; "Seattle family values. On Carolyn Murphy as Courtney Love (with husband Jake Schroeder as Kurt Cobain and daughter Dylan Blue as Frances Bean)." View scans of the two pictures here; Courtney - Kurt. Special thanks to Amanda for these scans.

Over at eBay, an 'original drawing of guitars by Kurt Cobain' has been set for sale; "This is an original drawing by Kurt Cobain of Nirvana fame. It measures about 12 inches by 18 inches (18 3/4 by 24 1/2 with frame) and has been museum quality matted and framed. The drawing was done in 1984 or 85 for a commercial art class at Aberdeen High School as a 'comp' (comprehensive) composition for a class project. At the end of the class it was given as a gift to a fellow student - 'While he was working on a comp drawing of three guitars with a snake wrapped around it, I mentioned how much I liked that particular piece. When the project was finished, he gave it to me. I was struck by his polite nature, and his apparent shyness - he was so quiet you hardly knew he was there.' Included with the drawing are two photo certificates and two notarized letters as proof of authenticity."

You can make a bid on the item or view scans of it here.

Here's another interesting item that made it to eBay recently; "This is the original autographs of Kurt Cobain and William S. Burroughs that was used to make the TK [Tim Kerr] record. The item is absolutely authentic. I am selling this on behalf of Thor Lindsay, former president of the record company. In 1992, Thor persuaded Kurt and Burroughs to do a record together. This was released the next year as 'The Priest They Called Him'. On the record, the B side is actually an engraving of their signatures. The item up for bid is the original artwork containing the original autographs of Cobain & Burroughs. The way that these were made is that Thor mailed the board to Burroughs who signed it and mailed it back. Then, Thor flew down to San Francisco where Cobain was playing. Cobain signed it backstage on Friday, April 9, 1992 at the Cow Palace. (The photo on the back of the record jacket was taken backstage on that night). The signed board is 10.75" x 11"." The auction also includes other items such as a backstage pass, a test pressing of the record, a couple of extra copies of it, a CD and a poster. With about 4 days left of the auction, the current highest bid is $3,650.00 which is actually less than the unknown reserve price. The item can be purchased directly for nothing less than $7,500.00! You can view the auction here. Thanks to Richard for the link.

Another Nirvana oddity; "Recently I went to a store called hot topic and they had a Kurt Cobain Lunch Box. I bought it immediately. This Kurt Cobain Lunchbox is Limited Edition and a collectiors item. There are [at least] two versions. Each Lunchbox is numbered. There is only 6000 made of each. I was lucky enough to get number 4015 :D" Thanks to Amanda for this one. View scans of the lunchboxes here; #1 and #2. In an online store, the product is described as follows; "The late singer/songwriter from the rock group Nirvana is immortalized on this cool metal lunch box. Share a sandwich with a former spokesman for a generation of disaffected youth!" Interesting! You can purchase the lunchbox online here for $17.99.

"The latest in a long line of remix bootlegs featuring Missy Elliott's Get Ur Freak On is currently doing the rounds and worldpop is able to let you hear a snippet of it. The track, called Smells Like Missy Elliott, mixes Get Ur Freak On with Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit and was originally picked up by London-based radio station xfm, but has since been played on Steve Lamacq's Evening Session on Radio 1 [in the UK]." To read the full story behind this scary remix, and hear a clip of it, go here. Story courtesy of worldpop.

A person recently auctioned off some rare Kurt Cobain pictures on eBay. The photos were shot in March of 1994 in the city of Rome, about a month before Kurt's death. The winner of the auction ended up paying a whopping $1000 for the pictures. If you hurry, you can view scans of the pictures here. Thanks to Richard and others for the link.

Sub Pop's website put up this story; "No Quarter Records has announced they will be reissuing the 1995 EARTH record Sunn Amps and Smashed Guitars, November 6. The record is freshly repackaged with new artwork and four completely unreleased songs, including a pre 'Nevermind' Kurt Cobain lending vocals on 'Divine and Bright.' For more info on that, email noquarterrec@hotmail.com." Thanks to Sub Pop. Also thanks to Tom and others.

In MTV Europe's recent 'Top 100 Rock Songs' chart, Nirvana landed twice in the Top 10; on spot #4 with 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and spot #5 with 'Come as you are'. Surprisingly, 'About a Girl' from the Unplugged performance made it to spot #16. #1 on the chart, featuring quite a lot of great songs, was Metallica's 'Enter Sandman'.

Krist Novoselic is, as you may know, very active in politics and he recently created a website on the topic of 'inclusive democrazy'. Currently, the site contains a transcript of Krist's speech on the subject (from the current Spitfire tour), and links to related websites. Inclusive democrazy is briefly described as follows; "The inclusion I'm talking about is using a Proportional Representation electoral system. Proportional Representation can also be referred to as PR. PR makes it so a party or candidate need not come in first to win seats. A voter constituency that shows even ten percent at the polls could merit representation. Where our current system has small, winner take all districts, PR systems have larger multi-member districts where the votes are distributed proportionally. Where our current system makes losers out of millions of hard working Americans, PR can make most voters winners." The latest presidential election in the US proved the massive problems that the electoral system has, and how ridiculous the situation in Florida turned out to be. To read more about how the system can be improved, visit the inclusive democracy website here. Link courtesy of Krist Novoselic. The spitfire tour is still going and Novoselic will do speeches at the following places:

November 19: University of Washington in Seattle, WA at 8 PM.

Jello Biafra, with whom Krist did a show in Seattle in 1999, will also be speaking at the above three dates. This info was courtesy of spitfire.com.

Tragedy once again struck the US today when a commercial airplane crashed in Queens, New York. Fortunately, it seems that this was not an act of terrorism. Read more about the tragedy here.

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- - - November 8, 2001 - - -

After the Nirvana boxed set was halted due to legal complications (initiated by Courtney Love), there hasn't been much Nirvana-related news to report. Here is something interesting though; I recently got in contact with Rob Kader - a person who became a Nirvana fan at the very beginning, and caught a bunch of their earliest shows. His story is described in the new Kurt Cobain biography, 'Heavier Than Heaven', but here Rob provides some more background information. This is a story about one of the shows he attended; "It was the best Nirvana experience I was ever a part of. The actual show took place on June 10, 1989 in Portland, Oregon at a small club called the Blue Gallery. The night before, Nirvana had played at the first 'Lamefest' in Seattle at the Moore Theater - probably their first ever public appearance where it was clearly evident that we were seeing a transformation in the popularity of the band. The white vinyl Bleach went on sale to the public for the first time at this show, and fans were gobbling every available copy up. I bought three copies myself so that I could share the album with friends. The next day, I got a call from Jason Everman [Nirvana's 2nd guitarist at the time] who told me about the show at the Blue Gallery. It seems that Catt Butt (another Sub Pop band) had to cancel a show in Portland, and the Sub Pop execs talked Nirvana into filling the bill at the last minute. Chad and Jason had the white dingey tour van in Seattle and were going to pick up Kurt and Chris on the way to Portland. I jumped at the chance to go and see the show. We stopped by Tacoma and picked up Chris, and headed to Olympia and got Kurt, along with Tracy.

On the way there Chris bought me a six pack (I was just 19) and the party began. We arrived at the club early and the owners took us out for pizza ... they gave me a copy of the last minute flyer made for the show, and we went back to the club to set things up. We hung out in the van for a while, and the guys started typing up the setlist. While figuring out the order of the setlist, Kurt said - 'screw it, let's have Rob tell us what he wants to hear'. So, an arrangement was made for Kurt to come to the edge of the stage after every song and ask me for my next request. I was deeply honored to be a part of the show in this capacity. Kurt was always a charming and thoughtful person to me, and I will always remember this small act on his part in trying to involve me in some small way in the show. The funny thing is -- like I said Bleach was just released the day before, and all I had before then was a copy of the demo tape without any song titles. I knew most of the songs by heart but not all the names. So the band started and I requested my favorites, like School, Floyd the Barber, Big Cheese, and Blew. Near the end of the set I asked for Sifting -- reading it off the setlist Kurt gave me. The guys paused, and then laughed saying 'we already played that one'. Jason egged me on to ask for Big Long Now. I did so, but Chris (Krist) informed me that they no longer played that one. That is when they went into a rendition of 'Do You Love Me', which they had just recorded for a Kiss Tribute album.

There couldn't have been more than a dozen people in the stage area at a given time (the bar was down a hallway separate from the stage). As you can see in the picture, that didn't stop the band from putting on an amazing show (Kurt playing in the audience). I think they were still riding the wave of excitement from playing Lamefest." Click here for Rob's scan of the flyer that he mentioned above, advertising the show. The Experience Music Project musem in Seattle recently published a magazine entitled 'Feedback' that is sent out to their members. The mag included a few pictures from the Portland show. You can view scans of them here; #1, #2 and #3. On the first picture, Rob Kader is the guy standing next to Kurt - in the left side of the picture - wearing a Nirvana shirt. Special thanks to Rob for sharing his memories. We're hoping to get some more stories soon. Also a big thanks to Earnie Bailey for his help.

The 2001 MTV Europe Music Awards show in Germany just finished off. The show had a few highlights, such as live performances by R.E.M., Limp Bizkit (feat. Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin) and Depeche Mode. This year's 'Free Your Mind' award went to a South-African organization fightning AIDS, by trying to keep the price of medicine as low as possible. Another interesting event was the a new award, granted to the best official band website. The winner was limpbizkit.com. Some of the worst parts of the show were the host, Ali G, as well as the fact that "artists" like Gorillaz and Eminem actually won awards. Some oddities included Crazy Town getting nominated for 'Best Rock' (!) and the host inviting all the girls in the audience to join him for a gang-bang at his hotel room later in the evening :)

"I was reading the American November 2001 Vogue and on pages 156 and 157 there is a picture of the model Carolyn Murphy with her husband and child made up to look like Courtney, Kurt and Frances Bean. There are also a couple of paragraphs talking about Kurt and Courtney and their fashion influence." Thanks to Elizabeth.

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- - - November 3, 2001 - - -

Francis sent in this one; "Here in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, we are going to do a 'TRIBUTE TO NIRVANA'. This will be on November 10, 2001. For the people who don't know where Santo Domingo is, it is in The Caribbean. For more information about the Tribute to NIRVANA - where 3 bands will do at least 40 songs - you can visit this website. Use the option 'FORO' and then 'CONCIERTOS'. The website for the ROCK in the Dominican Republic." Thanks to Francis Bojos.