Meeting Nirvana
Posted on March 17, 2008 - Filed Under General, Life, Tacoma
I graduated high school in 1987 and that summer started taking courses at the Art Institute of Seattle.
Driving from Tacoma to Seattle everyday sucked, so I gradually started staying in Seattle as much as possible. I would stay with friends in dorm rooms or crash somewhere “safe” so I could fall into class the next day.
Spending all of this time in Seattle meant enjoying the perks of the scene at that time. Lots of great local bands and usually you could see them for free or a minimal cover charge somewhere.
I started hanging out with/dating a girl who was pretty well connected. She always knew where the good parties where and we’d always end up somewhere fun on a Friday or Saturday night. She dragged me to a party one night that was standing room only in someone’s apartment near Broadway.
Listening to local music was always fun, and most of it was pretty good during that time. Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone and many more bands were on the scene so you had your pick of the litter when you wanted to listen to something good.
We are at this crowded party talking to people about local music and just hanging out when a guy strikes up a conversation about how he is in a band, and he asks us if we would like to hear some tapes. Kind of creepy but hey, the party was crowded and the guy was offering some uh.. smoke.. if we went up to his apartment to listen to the music. I wasn’t gonna turn down some freebies just to hear what was probably going to be some lame ass demo tape so up to his apartment we went.
The guy explains that his band is called “Nirvana” and was trying to tell us what they were about. I honestly don’t remember much of that conversation, I just remember him letting us hang out for a bit to smoke and listen to demo tapes.
The demo tapes were nothing special at the time. I thought it sounded like a lot of the other music in the area but told him it was pretty cool and thanked him for the listen. He wanted to give us a bunch of promo stuff for the band, things like banners and small posters or something. I remember a black banner with the name “Nirvana” on it with ying yang symbols and stuff on each side.
Turns out that this was Krist (Chris) Novoselic, the bass player for Nirvana. You know, that band from Seattle that made it big a few years later. Very surreal time of my life and one of the odd experiences from that era.
I wish I’d held on to the stuff he gave me because Nirvana turned out to be a favorite band of mine, but like an idiot I tossed it all in the trash a few days later.
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That is awesome. I can’t believe you threw the stuff away.
Yeah what a bonehead move on my part. Hey when is Broken Legacy coming out?!? I keep checking your site almost daily and look forward to it.