Stay in the shade
I’m reading Everett True’s fascinating insight into the muddled world of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana at the moment and what rings the loudest (apart from, no doubt, the ears of anyone who caught them play) is that the whole grunge thing exploded at just the right time – for the musicians, for the punters, and for the record labels. Heck, before Cobain and his cohorts came along we were being force-fed MC Hammer in balloon pants. In just the same way that Manchester and Liverpool and New York and Sheffield have spurned great eras in music – only for those eras to run their course and shift direction – so too did Seattle. Only with more volume. And more hair. For all his flaws (and like all of us, there were many), Cobain was a truly complicated character, a hybrid of ideas and ideals, tortured by success yet craving it nonetheless. Sure he’s been mythologized to a large extent but, then again, so have all of the ‘27′ club. Nirvana defined a movement. They gave the slacker generation a voice. And while Cobain’s lyrics apparently meant little to him at the time they were written. I’m sure Tori Amos, and countless others, would disagree with him now about their potency.
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Following on from Michael Lavine’s seminal portrait of Kurt and Courtney for the cover of Sassy! [pssst, he also took the photo for the Nevermind album cover], we got the inside word from British music journalist, and infamous Nirvana bedfellow (in the least literal sense of the word), Everett True on Kurt, Courtney, and those damn persistent rumors: ‘No, I don’t believe he was murdered. I don’t particularly go into this in my most recent Nirvana book — partly through lack of time, partly through lack of interest — but let’s view it this way. Examine any event that has happened in the past, however trivial, and discrepancies will appear. 9/11. John F Kennedy. The death of Princess Diana. The fact my cat had to be put down at the age of sixteen. Why I forgot to take my iPod to London this morning. All of these could be contested, violently and with real — and valid — opinion. That’s because history does not exist except in books. Suicide is particularly ripe for innuendo: after all, the only person who can tell you what really happened is — er — dead. Still. I have nothing against conspiracy theories, especially if they’re fun’. Read more
Thanks to our friends at Madman, we have eight copies of the Kurt Cobain documentary, About A Son, to give away to randomly selected Lost At E Minor subscribers. Read more
UK music journalist Everett True comes from the Nick Kent school of writing: live the life and hope to come out the other end with one hell of a story. And he has. In this case, the story of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. In this exclusive piece, he talks about his association with Seattle’s finest and his friendship with the perennially troublesome Courtney Love. Read more
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Designed by artist Lise Lefebvre, this reformed vintage wool Persian style carpet gives you a once in a lifetime opportunity to walk all over a grizzly. Just don’t practice on the real deal.
Hmmm, hmmm. Cake Pops are creative little vignettes of sweet, sweet goodness, and they’re springing up faster than all good mouths can eat them. Read more
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‘Unfinished and Unpublished‘ is a beautiful collection of notebooks created as part of a collaboration between StudioMatador and other artists and illustrators. Read more
What a wonderfully grown up ethos of punk is to be found in the latest effort by New Zealand’s Stolen Girlfriends Club. I saw sequin, lace, leather, denim, tulle, rhinestone and what appeared to be heshen, breaking all the rules of taste but nevertheless making me very, very happy. Read more
This beautiful black and white art periodical Color Ink Book has been designed so that you can add splashes of color to any of the pages that catch your eye. This second issue features the work of more twenty five international artists, including Andy Smith, Formfieber, Marco Rached, Nathan Spoor, and Trystan Bates.
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Entre Chien et Loup by Amira Fritz
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Wheeeeee! This game is so freaking fun! You move your cursor over each dot to make them split into four smaller dots ad infinitum.
Good thing Kris Kuksi channelled the trauma of growing up with an alcoholic stepfather, his disdain for ‘the typical American life and pop culture’, and his fascination with the macabre into obsessive, baroque assemblages, paintings, and drawings. Read more
Busy P is the man. This design pays homage to one of the world’s most enigmatic pop-culture mavericks. The French maestro is almost single-handedly responsible for the success of both Daft Punk and Justice. The Midas Touch design references this with the golden robot (representing Daft Punk) and the golden cross (representing Justice) — the idea being that everything Busy P touches turns to gold. Read more
The new Runaways movie looks at the formation of the seminal girls’ group which spawned Joan Jett’s career. We have a Runaways prize pack to give away, including Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway, the Joan Jett and the Blackhearts Greatest Hits CD, the film’s soundtrack, and Joan Jett’s photobook with Todd Oldham. To enter, just leave the name of the city you live in! Read more
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