Jose James | The Del Monte Speakeasy | 3/13/13

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Earlier this year, a friend of mine posted a video clip on Facebook of a performance by a singer named Jose James. I liked what I heard, and started googling him and his music.  When I stumbled upon his amazing cover of Freestyle Fellowship’s “Park Bench People”, I nearly lost my mind.  I mean, I grew up with “Innercity Griots”, and I have always preached how that that album is in my top 10 list of best and most influential hip-hop albums of all time.  What made that album so groundbreaking was how it pushed the limits of hip-hop (at the time), thematically and musically, especially using live jazz instrumentation, courtesy of members from The Underground Railroad (I even got to meet Onaje Murray– who kills it on Freestyle Fellowship’s version of “Park Bench People” in high school once, but that’s another story).  Needless to say, I was feeling what Jose James was doing with his music and the fact that he picked one of my favorite hip-hop songs to cover earned him some mad respect.

While I was watching some of the video clips on Youtube, I noticed that Youtube had a tiny little caption in the video description that showed where he would be performing in Los Angeles next.  I clicked through the link trying to see how much the tickets were, but apparently the show had sold out. Apparently, it was a KCRW promoted concert, and to my dismay, they had just featured Jose the day before, and tickets for the show sold out immediately. Slightly disheartened, I simply “liked” Jose’s Facebook page for updates on when he’d be in town in the future.

Facebook.  Some people can’t stand it.  I can’t live without it. About a week after trying to get tickets, I get a notice on FB that a second show had been added.  I logged on and purchased tickets.  FYI, the ticket for this second show also sold out. Thank you, Facebook.

It had been a tough couple weeks leading up to the show.  Work had been overwhelming, and it seemed that everybody I was working with was heading to South By Southwest to work on various projects. I’ve never been to SXSW, so I was a bit envious.  But since everyone was in Austin, TX for the music festival,  I got a little reprieve from phone calls and emails to enjoy myself for the evening.

When I got to the venue, I picked up my wristband and got stamped at the door. The performance venue was downstairs in a dark basement with low a ceiling. My guest and I roamed the venue looking for a good place to stand, and we ended up basically where we started off, by the entrance, close to the stage right.  The show was scheduled to start at 10pm, but the bouncer at the top of the stairs told me that he started around 11 the night before.

The later it got, the smaller our little space got.  People kept filing in, and the temperature of the room started rising.  You could feel it. Note to self: bring a small handheld fan for the next show I attend there.  The air-conditioning was on (so says the venue), but you couldn’t tell.

A blurry shot of Jose and Takuya.
A blurry shot of Jose and Takuya.

Close to 11:00pm, the band the took the stage. One by one, the band members took the stage. Kris Bowers (keyboards), Solomon Dorsey (bass), Takuya Kuroda (trumpet) and Richard Spaven (drums).  Each member introduced themselves to the audience through solos, and after a good 10 minutes of jazz instrumentals, Jose joined them on stage to sing “It’s All Over Your Body”, the first track of off his latest album .  That song is about 5 and a half minutes long, but they jammed out for at least 10 minutes. It seemed to me that the audience truly understood the musicality of the gentlemen on stage. Each of them was truly skilled at their respective craft.

The room was getting hotter and hotter, and if you came in wearing a jacket or a sweater, you weren’t wearing it anymore. You could feel the the body heat coming off of the person standing next to you. You would think that the temperature would be unbearable, but no. Girls were shouting out Jose’s name with each line he sang, and bodies were swaying to the rhythm.  If anything, people were sneakily pushing their way towards the stage, immersing themselves in the sweltering heat.  The music was that good.  No one wanted too leave their spot (at least where I was standing).

Another blurry shot of Takuya.
Another blurry shot of Takuya.

Jose has preached his musical root as being set in Jazz.  He’s a tremendous “classic” jazz vocalist, as his duet album with Jef Neve, titled “For All We Know”, clearly showcases, but his talent and stylings are so much more that traditional jazz.  Like Freestyle Fellowship, he takes a genre and stretches its boundaries.

People have compared vocals to D’Angelo and Bill Withers.  People say that he evokes the 70’s soul of Gil Scott Heron. As cliched as it sounds, he’s Jose James.  His performance showed me that he is his own style … meaning, if you heard his voice on the radio, you’d probably be able to tell that it’s him and not some other singer.

I usually try to take video clips of a handful of songs of the concert I go to, but after the show I realized that I had only taken clips of three songs.  It was the kind of show where you didn’t want to watch it from the tiny screen of a cell phone.  I was no more than 15 feet from the stage.  I was going to soak it all in with my own eyes.  Luckily, the three videos that I did take were of some of the highlight I took away from the show.

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I had seen Robert Glasper earlier this year, and it just so happened that the music of “Vanguard”, one of my favorite songs off the album, was written by him. Jose wrote the lyrics.  Great song. 

Jose covered Bill Wither’s “Ain’t No Sunshine”.  A great song.  A great voice. 

It was 1am when Jose closed his set with “Do You Feel”, and people started to leave. It’s almost understandable. Almost. After all, it was a Wednesday, and people have 9-5 jobs.  The show was already over 2 hours. I, technically, have a 9-5 job. BUT he hadn’t played “Park Bench People” yet.

After a bit of cajoling from the faithful who moved forward to take up the space from those who couldn’t hang, Jose came on stage and started to sing a cappella a Marvin Gaye medley of “What’s Going On” and “Mercy Mercy Me”.  What he did with the medley blew my mind.  The voice is an instrument, but what he did with his instrument left me amazed. He became the human record player, scatting lines making it sound like a DJ was spinning records.

“What’s Going On” and “Mercy Mercy Me”, with their strong social commentary, segued brilliantly into “Park Bench People”, a song about the ravages of homelessness. He continued the scat passages of “Park Bench People” like he did with the medley and made those songs … for lack of more poetic words … his bitch.  He took a song that I already loved, and left me amazed with his performance.  Close to 1:30am, Jose and the band wrapped it up. 

IMG_0339I was able to tell  Jose before I left that I was amazed by his set, and that there was nothing I appreciated more in the world than good music, but upon retrospect the concert itself was a one of a kind experience.  To experience that kind of musicianship, in that venue, with the heat, and skin, and vibe, excitement, and movement … Before I left him and his band alone, I was able to get Jose and Takuya autograph my 12” single of “Park Bench People”. IMG_0337

They say that listening to good music is like having sex. On March 13, 2013, in the crowded, sweltering basement of the Del Monte Speakeasy in Venice Beach, I left a concert drenched in my own sweat (and probably the sweat of others), my feet and legs aching from the physical exertion of standing for over two hours. I was physically and emotionally spent, but absolutely in awe of the performance that I was lucky enough to catch. When I got to my car, I sat there smoking a cigarette just to relax for a moment.

Yeah … I needed it.

Autographed 12" single of "Park Bench People". #Treasure
Autographed 12″ single of “Park Bench People”. If you want to see some other music treasure I’ve collected, click through this link.
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Album Review: The Airplane Boys “Brave New World” (Mixtape)

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Back in 2011 I had the pleasure of being introduced to a hip-hop group based out of Toronto, Ontario. A company I was working for was interested in bringing them in as clients, and my friend forwarded me a few tracks to check out. I’m very picky about the hip-hop I listen to. Continue reading →

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The Time I Kicked It With John Stephens

I sang in an a capella group at Cornell University. I have very fond memories of my time singing with the group. We traveled and performed around the world and got to experience a lot of things that other college students could only dream of. Throughout my four years in the group (95-99), I always kept an ear out for new recordings and cool arrangements from other campuses.

As it turned out, one of my best friends growing up went to the University of Pennsylvania. He knew that I was interested in a cappella music, and gave me a copy of a CD when I came by one year to visit. He told me of a friend who had an amazing voice, who was in the University of Pennsylvania a cappella group called The Counterparts.  The album was called “Housekeeping” the singer’s name was John Stephens, and the song he sang on was “One Of Us“.

A few years later, while I was attending law school, and working part-time, I happened to be living in a “guest room” in the back yard of the home my friend and his brother were living in. My friend let me know that  John Stephens was heading into town and would be crashing on the couch for a few nights. He told me that John was in town for meetings with some labels, and that maybe I should see if the firm I was working for at the time would be interested in trying to set up a meeting.  My buddy made a copy of John’s demo (which I thought was dope by the way) and I tried to pitch him to the firm, but they were too busy or too skeptical to really pay any attention to me.  Maybe I should I have tried to persuade them a little harder, but hell … I was attending a cut-throat law school, and working part time, so I figured that if they weren’t interested, it wasn’t any skin off my back.  I had enough on my mind.

One night while we were all kicking it at a bar, I mentioned to John that I had the one CD of his college a cappella group, and we talked to each other about our backgrounds in music.  I found out that, like me, he was the business manager of his a cappella group.  His knowledge of music, though, was definitely far superior to mine, and he obviously seemed to have much more passion than I did in pursuing a career as a singer.  My career as singer was limited to a few auditions for the revamped “Star Search” and vocals for original music used in a short-lived animated series called “Phatheadz” (sp? … I can’t even remember it anymore) that was available to watch on the no-longer available site urbanentertainment.com…. but I digress… We drank the night away, and did what what young men in their early 20s do at bars.  From what I can remember, it was a good time.

John’s meetings must have went pretty well…. he ended up getting deal with a label, and has had a pretty decent career. I still have his a cappella group’s CD, but I wish I could find that CD of demos I was given before he was signed. D’oh!

Click here to find out who John Stephens is.

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Morrissey | Staples Center | 3/1/13

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“England is Mine and It Owes Me a Living”. Poster that I bought at the concert.

I remember when I was first introduced to the music of The Smiths.  It was the summer after 8th grade, and I was shipped off to a summer, boarding program called C.T.Y. [Insert nerd jokes here]. I always enjoyed spending the summers away from home (I went to my first summer boarding school after 6th grade). Studying asides, I saw boarding school as an opportunity to meet new people and to learn to be somewhat autonomous.

At the time, I was listening to a lot of KDAY, so my music inclinations leaned more towards hip-hop. I had some alternative rock in my music collection, mostly Depeche Mode … in fact, at the time, my alternative music collection was all Depeche Mode… so every time I was introduced to new music I, tended to soak it all in.

There was a guy in my dormitory who was all about alternative music.  He listened to Jane’s Addiction, Pixies… and the Smiths.  We did a music swap, and made mix-tapes on cassette tapes (remember those?) for each other.  I wish I still had that cassette tape, but I remember some of the tracks were “The Boy With The Thorn In His Side“, “Girlfriend in a Coma” and “How Soon Is Now“

I remember being taken aback by The Smiths music. It was a “new” type of rock music for me.  It had hints of pop and rockabilly, but what really got me, was Morrissey’s vocal style.  Morrissey’s croon captured my attention, and his lyrics, though very forlorn, was just so soothing to listen too.

After that summer, I kept up with Morrissey’s solo career, and over the years, I’ve amassed a nice little collection of The Smiths and Morrissey. Perhaps my favorite purchase is my most recent one, a live album titled “Panic!” of The Smith, which was recorded in Germany in 1986, that I bought November 24th, 2013. I even posted a picture of the album when I first played it on Instagram.

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Ironically enough, the day I purchased the album, was the day Morrissey was originally supposed to perform at the Staples Center. That show was cancelled due to his mother being hospitalized. I didn’t know it then, it wasn’t until a few weeks later when I visited another record store about the cancelled show. I saw the poster, and convinced the owner of Touch Vinyl to let me have it (after I bought a couple other albums). I figured it was a sign that I needed to get tickets to the rescheduled show, so I stopped by the box office when I was at the Staples Center for a Clippers game.  Morrissey had been cancelling some concerts in recent days due to health concerns (bleeding ulcer) … thankfully he didn’t cancel the March 1, 2013 show.

While Morrissey’s health may not be 100%, his voice sounded amazing.  It was a solid 19 song set, that mixed in old hits, new music and several The Smiths songs.  I was sitting in the nose-bleed section, and there was no video monitor projecting the performance on stage, but a ticket is a ticket, and it’s Morrissey.

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I could care less about Morrissey’s politics. I could care less about the news about meat being sold at the Staples Center. If you cared about that shit, you should have given your ticket to someone else who cared more about the music.

Morrissey and the band took their bows before they started playing. It’s the first time I have ever noticed a band or artist do so.  The crowd went nuts, and Morrissey kicked off his concert with The Smiths song “Shoplifters of the World Unite”, one of the songs that was on heavy rotation on KROQ back in the day, and it seemed like all of Los Angeles who grew up during that time, were at the show.

Morrissey’s performance was all that you could have expected.  His style hasn’t changed since I first heard him, and the themes that he’s known for … loneliness, heartaches, letdown, isolation … all came out through the music, though it did seem slightly ironic considering he sells out arenas.  And the crowd loved it. Morrissey’s set list is below, with some video clips I took.

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Immediately below is a clip of Patti Smith performing her classic “Because The Night”. She dedicated it to her deceased husband Fred “Sonic” Smith, and it was the highlight of her set. Maybe she was the perfect opening for Morrissey because the night really did belong to lovers … of Morrissey.

Morrissey Set List

  1. Shoplifters Of The World Unite 
(The Smiths song)
  2. Irish Blood, English Heart
  3. Alma Matters
  4. You Have Killed Me
  5. You’re The One For Me, Fatty
  6. Action Is My Middle Name
  7. That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore 
(The Smiths song)
  8. I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris
  9. Speedway
  10. Meat Is Murder 
(The Smiths song)
  11. Ouija Board, Ouija Board
  12. November Spawned A Monster
  13. To Give (The Reason I Live) 
(Frankie Valli cover)
  14. How Soon Is Now? 
(The Smiths song)
  15. Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want 
(The Smiths song) 
  16. Everyday Is Like Sunday 
  17. Let Me Kiss You
  18. First Of The Gang To Die 

Encore

  1. The Boy With The Thorn In His Side 
(The Smiths song) 
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Orange Tulip Conspiracy | El Cid | 2/22/13

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Had I been born in a different era, I would have probably spent my evenings sitting in the corner of a small jazz club, dressed in black, lighting up cigarettes and sipping on some scotch while letting the sounds of Duke, Miles or Coltrane take me away.  These days it’s hard enough to find a good jazz club, let alone smoke in a venue.

Jazz music is America’s indigenous art form.  It was born in America.  It’s even an American National Treasure.  But it doesn’t get the type of hype or attention from the kids today unless a loop is sampled into some hip-hop beat and made famous by some rapper who can’t pull up his own pants.  There are some “new” artists these days who are trying to infuse jazz back into music like Robert Glasper and Jose James, whose music I love, but jazz in modern pop seems to be limited to the R&B and Rap genres.

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A buddy of mine, Jason Schimmel, plays in the band Orange Tulip Conspiracy.  I saw the band first play September 21, 2012 at Mr T’s Bowl and I was excited to hear them play again at El Cid.  The band consists of 6 talented musicians, and each has learned to play complex arrangements as a cohesive unit.  It’s particularly satisfying, at least for me, when bandmates (especially the horns) play in tune with each other at break-neck rhythms.  As a personal opinion, I felt that their playing this time around was much tighter than the first time I saw them… which is saying something since I thought they kicked ass the first time too. lol.

Their Facebook page describes them as a “band that bends the genres of balkan, jazz, surf rock, and progressive rock with a cinematic twist and an experimental edge.”  I think that that’s a good description.  Not your R&B and Hip-Hop kind of jazz.  Jazz more suited for Ska and Rock.

As I stood there amongst the crowd at El Cid, with the sounds of the horns bouncing off  the red brick walls, I let myself get lost in the music.  I imagined for a moment what it must have been like when jazz was the highest musical art form, when jazz was truly America’s treasure.  I let the Jason’s guitars riffs speak to me, as the horns continued to dance around the composition.  As the set continued, the audience became more involved with the music, swaying back and forth and dancing to the rhythm.  You could feel the temperature of the room elevate throughout the set.  It was intense and complex, like the glass scotch of scotch in my hand.  Now if only I were allowed to smoke a cigarette …

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In Memoriam | Johnny Cash | 1932-2003

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Better known as the “Man in Black”, John R. Cash was born February 26, 1932 and passed on September 12, 2003.  His music has stood the test of time, and he is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.

As stupid as it sounds, I learned about the Man In Black through the movie “Swingers” when we learn that a character in the movie is named after a the Johnny Cash Song “A Boy Named Sue.”  If you haven’t seen the movie (which is a personal favorite of mine) you can catch the scene at around the 35 second mark in the video at the link here.

Such a classic scene. Johnny Cash’s music is classic as well.  “I Walk the Line“, “Folsom Prison Blues“, “Ring of Fire“, “Man in Black“… all Johnny Cash classics.  If you’re not familiar with those songs, maybe you should google them. I’m not going to embed them here.  Rather, I’d like to list 9 interesting facts that I found at this link.  Stuff I didn’t know, that you may find interesting or amusing:

1. Johnny Cash started smoking when he was 12 years old.

2. His first gig with the Tennessee Two was playing for a group of elderly ladies in a church basement.

3. During his act in the 1950s, Cash flaunted a killer Elvis impersonation.

4. Roy Orbison was Cash’s next-door neighbor in Tennessee for over 20 years.

5. An ostrich attack left Cash with five broken ribs and internal bleeding.

6. Muhammad Ali wrote a poem for Cash called “Truth” which Cash kept locked in a vault.

7. According to his autobiography Cash, if he were stuck on a desert island, Cash would bring Bob Dylan’s The Freeweelin’ Bob Dylan, Merle Travis’ Down Home, Jimmie Davis’s Greatest Gospel Hits, Emmylou Harris’ Roses in the Snow, Rosanne Cash’s The Wheel, a gospel album by Rosetta Tharpe, “something by Beethoven,” and You Are There by Edward R. Murrow.

8. Cash suffered from aviataphobia (fear of flying) and ophidophobia (fear of snakes).

9. In the Air Force, Cash wrote short stories under the pen name Johnny Dollar.

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In Memoriam | Ernie K-Doe | 1936-2001 | How I Was Introduced to “The Emperor of the Universe”

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There’s so much music out there these days that unless by some divine intervention, you may never hear some of the best music that’s ever been recorded.  If it weren’t for a bachelor party down in New Orleans, I probably would have never heard of Ernest Kador, Jr. (February 22, 1936 – July 5, 2001), professionally known as Ernie K-Doe.

It’s been a few years so I may fail to remember all of the details, but a close friend of mine decided to have his bachelor party in New Orleans. It was after Hurricane Katrina hit, so the groom-to-be decided to mix in some community service with the bar hopping. We woke up early one morning and took a shuttle down to the Lower Ninth Ward and spent the day painting walls, hammering in floors, throwing  out debris, etc. in a temporarily abandoned theater of a local high school. Drenched in our sweat (and a little blood) by day’s end, we really felt like we had done some good for the local community.

Me painting some doors at school in the Lower Ninth Ward.
Me painting some doors at school in the Lower Ninth Ward.

Afterwards, the person who facilitated the community service for the day suggested we head to a local spot, in the heart of Treme, called Mother-In-Law Lounge for some traditional New Orleans’ eats.  We picked up some crawfish and other local cuisine, and drove up to this small, unassuming “lounge”.  We walked into the side yard, and was immediately approached by spritely, enthusiastic, elderly woman with maroon dyed hair.  Our guide introduced her as Miss Antoinette.

Miss Antoinette ushered us into her establishment and started to gush about her late husband, Ernie K-Doe.  She explained to us that the lounge had been completely destroyed by Katrina, but that the community came together to rebuild the lounge and the city.  She explained that the bar was opened by her late husband and was named after his only number one hit song, “Mother-in-Law”, which was written and produced by Allen Toussaint and which is possibly THE biggest hit in the history of New Orleans R&B.

Some of the fellas with Miss Antoinette and Ernie K-Doe's statute.
Some of the fellas with Miss Antoinette and Ernie K-Doe’s statute.

I was so taken by Miss Antoinette’s personality, and probably a little taken by the life-size statue of Ernie in standing near the entrance, that music unheard, I went ahead and bought  compilation album of Ernie’s greatest hits. After all, Antoinette said that her late husband was the self-proclaimed “Emperor of the Universe”, so how could I not buy the Emperor of the Universe’s greatest hits? LOL. We ate, and drank, then head back to our hotel rooms to get ready for the evening.

I popped in the CD, and the first song was “Here Come the Girls”, a song that was also written by Allen Toussaint.  It was the first time I had ever heard the song, and I was immediately blown away.  Why had I never heard this song before?  I love a good horn section, and this song has it.  Ernie’s vocals were soaked with attitude.  And the hook does what it’s supposed to do … and it hooked me in for the rest of the album. This was New Orleans R&B, and I’m glad I found it. The rest of the album is solid, and I’ve posted a few of my favorite songs below:

1.  “Here Come The Girls” 

2. “Back Street Lover” 

3. “Whoever is Thrilling You (Is Killing Me)”  [which was also covered by Rufus] 

4. “Fly Away With Me” 

Miss Antoinette died the following year of a heart attack on Mardi Gras Day at the lounge.  The lounge is still open, and hopefully it stays open for years to come.  I’ll always have fond memories of the evening we spent with her, and learning about some essential New Orleans music.  Thankfully, we still have The Emporer of the Universe’s music.

R.I.P. Ernie K-Doe and Miss Antoinette. You’ve helped write a chapter in my life, and it comes with a soundtrack.

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In Memoriam | Nina Simone | 1933-2003

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On this day, February 21, 1933, Eunice Kathleen Waymon, better known as Nina Simone, was born.  Below are videos of her performing live some of my favorite songs from her catalog.

1.  “Black is the Colour (Of My True Love’s Hair)” 

2. “I Loves You, Porgy” 

3. “Backlash Blues” (Written by Langston Hughes) 

4. “I Put A Spell On You” 

I was able to find a recording of Nina’s entire set at the 1976 Montreaux Jazz Festival.  The clip of “Backlash Blues” is from that show.  The entire set is amazing and is: “Little Girl Blue”, “Backlash Blues”, “Be My Husband”, “Wish I Knew how It Is To Feel Free”, “Stars”, “Feelings” and “Africa”.  If you have some spare time, it’s a classic performance of music legend. Very highly recommended. 

R.I.P., Nina.  Your spell will always be over us.

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In Memoriam | Kurt Cobain | 1967-1994

Kurt-kurt-cobain-1285543-1024-768February 20, 1967, one of the most iconic figures in rock music was born. Kurt Donald Cobain, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of Nirvana.  Nirvana’s legacy is well documented.  They made “alternative music” cool, bringing that which was part of the “underground”  into the foreground, and popularized a new genre of music that we call “grunge”.

Whether he wanted it to or not, Kurt Cobain became the voice of a generation.  For all of the Gen X kids, his voice spoke to our frustrations and Nirvana’s music was the outlet. His early death immortalized his legacy, and it is a shame that there isn’t more music with him featured out there.

Below are three video clips of my favorite Kurt Cobain moments:

1.  For Nirvana’s MTV unplugged TV performance, Nirvana closed with “Where did you Sleep Last night’.  The song itself is heavy and brooding, and quite repetitive. Kurt’s vocals starts off muted, and suspicious, but slowly  rises to intense accusation.  As he escalates the tension throughout the song, it culminates (at around the 4:40 mark) in the deepest and most intense breath in taped music performance history.  A breath, which to me, signifies a final realization that he in fact knew where his lover was.  So intense.  The exact way I want to remember Kurt Cobain.

2. If you  google “Kurt Cobain, interview” and watch whatever is pulled up from the search engines, you will see that Kurt Cobain was real person.  Very human.  The following interview is quite long (20 minutes), but it’s the kind of interview that made his fans adore him.  No pretentiousness.  Honest talk. 

3. When Nirvana was asked to play for England’s “Tops of the Pops”, and play to a pre-recorded, instrumental track, the band decided to have some fun at the show’s expense.  With the band faking to play their instruments, and Kurt doing his best (or worst) Johnny Cash impression, this is pure comedy awesomeness. 

4.  I’ve only read about this, but damn … I wish I was there.

“Amidst rumors that Nirvana was breaking up, not to mention Kurt Cobain’s questionable mental and physical state at the time, the band makes a scheduled appearance at the annual Reading Festival. Many fans, doubting that Cobain will even show, is rolled out on stage in a wheel chair. Krist Novoselic addresses the sea of the people, “With the support of his friends and family, he’s gonna make it.” Cobain stands up, sings a Bette Midler tune, and collapses on the stage. He then rises to his feet and leads Nirvana in a performance that Novoselic calls his highlight of the year. If Cobain dressed in a hospital gown wasn’t funny enough, the band later performs Boston’s “More Than A Feeling” (Boston had said “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was a rip-off of their hit song). Cobain also delivers a classic line of stage banter during the set: This is our last show–until the next one.”  – From IFC’s list of “Top 10 Nirvana Moments”. http://www.ifc.com/fix/2009/04/lists-top-10-nirvana-moments

As an added bonus, here a list of Kurt Cobain’s 50 favorite albums (written in his own hand).  I’m proud to say I have a lot of them:

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I hope you’re resting in peace, Kurt.

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