an obligatory blog post for kurt cobain's birthday

kurt cobain would've been 45 today... if he were still alive.

i've pretty much blogged and written extensively about kurt cobain in the past.. he's probably the one historical figure i've written more about than anyone else. so i don't wanna get too deep into his life, legacy, or the subject of suicide. i just have a small collection of random thoughts.

i was listening to nirvana's unplugged album the other day. i've been playing it a lot lately actually. it's become a nice, mellow listen for me when i just wanna lay around and do nothing. it's such a raw and oddly beautiful collection of songs. it's like i'm almost as surprised as i was when i first heard it... there was a part of me that didn't expect it to be that good (although if you would've asked 15 year old me, i would've never confessed to that. nirvana was like a sports team to me that could do no wrong and would win all their games). and here i am at age 32 in 2012 still thoroughly enjoying the hell out of that album.

i think one of the more amazing moments of this amazing album is how it ended. it was a cover of leadbelly's, "where did you sleep last night." and kurt might've covered that song better than any song's ever been covered anywhere. his vocals practically rip the flesh from my bones... it feels so haunting and chilling and oddly intense. i can only imagine the vibe in the room right after the song ended.

according to legend, there was some banter about an encore but supposedly they just couldn't do it... there was nothing left to give, they gave all they had already. there was nothing that was gonna top that... there was no way to not end it on that note. if ever you were looking for a perfect ending, nirvana just delivered it.

and there's the banter in between songs. kurt seems so vulnerable yet funny. but not stand up comic, set up/punchline funny... it's a more organic type of humor. to me, it doesn't sound like the voice of a man almost at the end of his rope. it sounds more like a dude who i'd get a kick out of hanging out with... not anything crazy...seemed like the kinda dude you could kick back with and listen to records and chitchat.

but that's just my own odd interpretation of things. to each their own form of deciphering.

anyways... as 15 year old josh would say, "NIRVANA FOREVER!"