Like The Corners Of My Mind

Steph and I recently watched one of those “making of” documentaries about Nirvana’s groundbreaking “Nevermind” album. The end of the documentary had some live footage of the band doing “Breed” and just making a mess of the stage, their instruments and themselves. It immediately brought me back to Halloween night, 1993. Three college friends and I made the 20 minute drive south from Kent State to the James A. Rhodes Arena on the campus of The University of Akron to see Nirvana on their “In Utero” tour.

It was a pretty terrific show, teetering the line between hard rock and PUNK rock. I have a bootleg of a Nirvana show from around this time, recorded in Italy – it is full on, straight up, balls out punk. I don’t remember which particular songs were best on that night in Akron, but I do remember being full of beer. And I clearly remember two particular events of that night.

  • On the ride down I mused out loud that the band HAD to be up to something since it was Halloween night. I was correct. Kurt Cobain came out for the first song dressed in a large Barney the Dinosaur costume. I tell you what, it’s hard to not to really laugh when you see Barney the Dinosaur ripping off a guitar solo! Second guitar player Pat Smear was dressed as Slash (from Guns ‘N’ Roses). At the end of the song, the two wrestled and Barney ended up beating Slash about the head with his guitar (pictured right).
  • During one song, somebody threw a shoe at Cobain and hit him. After the song, he grabbed the show, pissed in it, and threw it back out in the audience.

As I sit here 13-and-a-half years later, I’m somewhat stunned, but not at all surprised that I have the internet to keep those memories alive for me – the set list is here, just scroll down to October 31, 1993 – those two events are even mentioned in the summary. I remembered those two particular events because, well, there’s just some rock moments you don’t forget. But it’s really cool to be able to see that set list and even a bunch of pictures from that very fun night, as I was approaching graduation and a much different life.

I still have the ticket stub, too. I have HUNDREDS of stubs from concerts going back to 1987, in fact. More on those some other time.

It’s Gonna Touch Your Tummy

My wife and I recently bought some Honey Nut Cheerios. Whenever these end up in our house, it is inevitable that the commercial jingle they had years ago ends up stuck in my head for hours……I’m sure you know the jingle if you’re over, say, 25 years old. Now we have a running bet, though, and we’re going to rely on my reader(s) to settle it. I contend that the line in the jingle is “it’s a honey of an OAT,” while my wife thinks it “it’s a honey of an O.” Who do you think is right? Can anyone find proof?

UPDATE
: I lose:

Why Blogging Is Good, Part One Million

I sound like a broken record, but I’m going to say it again. At least once a week, Bob Lefsetz writes something that really hits home for me. Yesterday’s post about the death of Denny Doherty (The Mama’s & The Papa’s) was a heartfelt look back at the Lefsetz’s life in the 1960s, but it was the last paragraph of the post that shows what a good writer Lefsetz is:

Freedom. Choice. These are two of the main tenets of the sixties philosophy. Life is about possibilities. I’m not telling you to drop out of college, or get a divorce. Education and commitment are important. But you mustn’t sacrifice your inner spark. You’ve got to take chances. You’ve got to break the rules. You’ve got to listen to your heart, do more of what you WANT to do than what you SHOULD do. That’s the road to happiness. And, if you ever become confused, unsure if you’ve taken the right direction, fearful of the future, just put on some Mamas & the Papas music, it will inspire you, it will get you through. Hell, it helped birth an entire GENERATION of truth and joy seekers. And truth and joy are a whole hell of a lot more important to the core of man than the uptight bellicose practices of those in power today.

Lefsetz has an uncanny ability to take things that I can’t really identify with (’60s idealism, for instance) and make me understand it and feel it. In addition to that, he can take generational musings and apply them to life today. Now if I could only employ those things……often times I feel like I’m not taking chances and then I think I should. Then I realize I have a good job, a stable life, so what’s the pull? It’s a tug of war and I can only assume we all go through it. These two did.

Other authors have that rare ability to make you really experience life in another time. David McCullough did it with the Truman book. Vincent Bugliosi did it with Helter Skelter (still the scariest book I’ve ever read). It takes a special class of writer to be able to do something like that, and the fact that I can read Lefsetz almost every day is starting to feel like a true privilege.

Housecleaning….

  • I’m such a sucker for signing up and trying new internet sites. In the last month, I signed up for and use Twitter somewhat regularly. You wouldn’t think a website where you simply tell people what you are doing would be so addictive, yet it is. I’m not sure why. The latest one I’ve been using is Geni, a new website where you can map out your family tree in a very Web 2.0, Ajaxy kind of way. It’s painfully easy to use and if widely adopted, will be a fascinating website.
  • I make no bones about the fact that I’m a fairweather football fan. I pretty much watch the Patriots if they make the playoffs. I might catch 1-2 regular season games. Last night’s AFC Championship was a hell of a game, even though the locals lost. There wasn’t one big play that decided the game, really, although Reche Caldwell had a HUGE drop in the 4th quarter that would have given the Patriots 38 points instead of 34 (he had another one in the 3rd quarter, but the Pats scored a TD anyway). Or, as my cousin Jenny just wrote me, “they definitely should have won. That dude with the bug-eyes couldn’t catch crap if it slapped him in the forehead! Our defense sucked too!” Either way, it was just one of those wild, memorable shootouts that are so fun to watch.
  • I opened the newspaper this morning to find out that President Bush will address global warming in his State of the Union address this week and that his initiatives will go slightly further than he has in the past. I’m curious to see where this goes, but my optimism is guarded at best. One thing to consider: when Bush speaks about weaning the U.S. off of foreign oil, alternative energy stocks usually see a nice bump. You may want to think about moving some money into some of those alt.energy companies if you have any to play with. I am NOT a skilled stock picker, so take it with a grain of salt. Just a hunch.
  • It has become painfully obvious to me that there are little-to-no resources out there for fathers-to-be on how pregnancy changes the man psychologically. There are PLENTY of resources out there in regards to things like the physical changes you and your wife might be experiencing, supporting your wife, actual childcare and how to help out around the house and stuf, but there’s nothing at all at any extensive level that explores what the father-to-be is feeling. Interesting.