But I Was There

Last month's Spin magazine -- billed as "the ultimate list issue," with Morrissey on the cover -- has a list titled "The Ten Greatest Shows You Never Saw," which includes such legendary shows as The Beatles opening for Little Richard. The tenth concert, however, is Nirvana opening for Sonic Youth.

While I obviously wasn't there for the English leg of the extended Goo tour that Spin has in mind, Kim and I were at the Warfield in August, 1990. It was our first concert-going experience as a couple. We sat in the front row of the balcony, stage left. During the Nirvana set, in which the floor was filled with a surging pit that alarmed Kim -- who had missed out on the period when punk turned to moshing -- I had a hard time restraining my desire to hop around. To compensate, I slammed parts of my sitting body into the metal handrails to the front and side of me. I think I bruised myself.

It's worth noting that Kurt, who mostly stood stock still in the other two post-Nevermind concerts we attended, moved all over the place during the performance, at one point surrendering himself, guitar in hand, to the pit, which passed him around for quite a while as he hacked at the strings. If my memory can be trusted -- and it usually can -- he ended up many feet from the stage and then had to be passed back -- not hard, since he was super-light -- for the next song.

Looking Good While Not Looking Good

This is the article in our Arizona Daily Wildcat that proved influential in redefining my scholarly career. And I look like total shit in the photo!

Nevertheless, I thank hey_tiger for setting the whole thing up and look forward to a day when I can wear that Sleater-Kinney t-shirt without looking like a member of the Screaming Trees recovering from a rough night in Spokane. Wait, didn't I once aspire to that look? Mission accomplished. Thank you tpratt as well for leading me onto that rocky woodland path.