It's better to burn out than to fade away...

This by far, to me, is the best Kurt Cobain performance ever. Ironic that it's not even a Nirvana song. It's from the MTV Unplugged Sessions. Any die hard Nirvana fan would agree with me that the MTV Unplugged performance is the closest connection one can have with the band. There was a time, it was hard to get a copy of it. I remember around 1994 a little after his death that I finally manage to grab a bootleg of that performance.

As for the title of this post? Well, any decent Nirvana fan would know what that means. Ask one.

So, where was I? Oh yeah, Kurt Cobain. I'm a real heavy Nirvana dude. I mean, I knew where I was the first time I heard of the band. I still remember the moment, I saw my first Nirvana video (Smells Like Teen Spirit). I even remember when I first learned of his death (I was in a tour bus). I even have the Time Magazine issue about it. And living in the Philippines, Nirvana news and bits were hard to come by.

It may come as a bit of a surprise though that no one really knows how much a die hard Nirvana fan I am. I never really talk about it since Nirvana is as close to personal as I can get.

For years, I have tried to get a hold of the book Perfume by Patrick Suskind because it was one of Kurt's favorites. He kept a copy of the book about him, and identified himself with the main character there, Grenouille. He even wrote a song about it, "Scentless Apprentice" in their album In Utero. Funny that it was a hard book to find in a Philippine bookstore. It's always sold out. I finally got one as a Christmas gift. I keep that book close to heart.

I got to like the jap pop band Shonen Knife because I read somewhere that it was one of Kurt's favorites. I remember the first Shonen Knife song I heard was Top of The World in The Carpenter's Tribute Album, If I Were A Carpenter.

My tribute to the memory of Kurt Cobain may probably be milkshakes. When he came out of a coma, that's the first thing he asked for, a strawberry milkshake. So as a rule, whenever possible, I order a milkshake in memory of the guy.

It's not that I'm obsessed with the person. Believe me, this probably will be the first time anyone who knows me will know about Kurt's influence on my life. It may even come as a surprise because to them I come off more as a Pearl Jam person than a Nirvana dude.