Mukilteo Musings

Kurt Cobain

Kurt Cobain of Nirvana died 10 years ago today in Seattle. It is interesting to me how we remember events because they are tagged in some way to our own lives. 1994 was a dismal winter for me. I believe I suffer from SADS--seasonal affective disorder syndrome--and I heard somewhere that perhaps Kurt Cobain suffered from it as well. Actually, I believe many people in the Pacific Northwest deal with this because of our clouds, rain and northern darkness. (A fabulous two part series about Kurt Cobain by Charles Cross was included in the Seattle Times yesterday and today (seattletimes.com).)

Ten years ago my children were sick all winter. They had never ending colds with asthma and then Lucas came down with chicken pox. Shortly thereafter, Kaley's spots appeared. With chicken pox, the children were housebound for three weeks each and of course, I was housebound with them. After they recovered, I was knocked down with bacterial pneumonia and a follow up asthma that lasted for months. I was never as desperate as Kurt Cobain but it was a dreadful winter and I remember the news when they found his body.

The summer of 1994 was gorgeous. If the immensely talented, artistic Kurt Cobain could have held on until that summer....well, we'll never know. My Mom and I decided to take a cruise to Alaska that summer; I wanted to be pampered after the horrible winter. One day while I was whale watching out on deck, I started to chat with a nice family also watching for whales. It turned out they were the only other people I met on that cruise who were also from Seattle. Somehow, the topic came around to why we took a cruise. Evidently, they needed a break from their neighborhood. You see Kurt and Courtney were their neighbors and after Kurt took his life in the greenhouse on his property, the pilgrimages began--along with the news trucks.

Kurt Cobain grew up in Aberdeen, Washington. Interestingly, even after his death, Nirvana is still wildly popular with teen age boys in our community. My son is a big fan even though he was only 8 when Kurt Cobain died. I mention Aberdeen because one has to drive through Aberdeen on the way to the Washington Coast from Seattle. Aberdeen is a dreary little town with houses badly in need of paint. Every time we head out to Moclips or Copalis Beach on the Washington coast as we pass through Aberdeen, we always say, "No wonder Kurt Cobain was depressed!"

Tragic--just completely tragic that Kurt Cobain could not defeat his demons. According to Patrick McDonald in today's Seattle Times, "And no one has come along since Cobain who is as great an artist....Sad to say, Kurt Cobain was the last great rock star."