A Few Words On 'In Utero'

Nirvana.
Yeah, I may or may not have heard of them. I may or not have been alive for the last 22 years.
Anyway, in a week or so, the folks at Universal are re-releasing Nirvana's 1993 album In Utero.
I was like, 2 years old when this album was released. And it isn't even Nevermind, the Nirvana album that changed rock 'n' roll forever and all that shtuff. So why do I give a crap?
I freaking love In Utero.
I haven't always been a Nirvana fan. For most of my life, I just thought they were over-rated. And maybe they are... I just love them for different reasons than most folks.
I often wonder if as many people would think Kurt Cobain a legend if he didn't commit suicide. He was a very personal songwriter with pop instincts he fought hard not to use. Some people think him to be a poetic God. To me, he's like the dude I wish I had living in my garage my whole life. (We'd probably get along. I'd probably also help him avoid cocaine abuse.)
Nirvana didn't invent "grunge" music. But they were arguably the best at it. Kurt Cobain isn't worth worshiping. But he's worth your time. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" isn't my pick for the best song of the 90s (ooh, I should list that some day!). But it's pretty darn close.
In Buddhism, the term "Nirvana" is used to define a state of "external reality to pain or care." (Thank you, LDS's Preach My Gospel.) Nirvana was a band true to their name. Total numbness in lyric and music I would like to go into a music history lesson, but I'd rather talk about my personal connections with the album.
I bought In Utero for 99 cents at a Hasting's.
My favorite Nirvana song through-and-through is "All Apologies."
I think the riffs are better on this album than on Nevermind.
Kurt Cobain's mumbling is super legit, to me.
Some of Cobain's influences: Dinosaur Jr, The Pixies, Neil Young, Daniel freaking Johnston.
Steve Albini is a boss on production.
Kris Novoselic is a boss on bass.
Dave Grohl is a boss at life.
"I tried hard to have a father, but instead I had a dad." No personal relation to this. In all honesty, I don't know what it means. But it's sounds nonsensical and I like it.

Consider yourselves cultured. 

ONE DAY

I just wanted to remind everyone that today is September 11. On this day in 2001, I was in the 5th grade & was very unemotional about the event. I was a dumb kid and didn't take it seriously. I guess I don't have much to say about 9/11/01 that nobody else can say. But I do know that this ONE DAY has impacted the nation ever since. There have been wars, conspiracy theories, economic issues, unjust angst & justified angst alike... But in ONE DAY, over 2750 people died on US soil. That's about 25% of my hometown, Jerome. No matter what happened, we KNOW that THAT happened.
(Side note: For the last 2 weeks, my Facebook cover photo was a picture of the Marina City towers in Chicago. It may have looked like the World Trade Center buildings, but it wasn't...)
Is the United States of America the greatest country in the world? If you're from the US, the answer is yes. Is it a perfect country? It never has been. So I'd just like to see ONE DAY on internet where we don't have to see any stupid posts about how "OBAMA IS PURPOSELY MESSING UP OUR COUNTRY," or about how "GEORGE BUSH WAS A TYRANT," and especially nothing like "THOSE RAG-HEADS IN THE MIDDLE-EAST ARE TRYING TO BLOW US UP." At the end of the day, our political biases amount to crap, especially on a day like today. You can definitely give it a rest for ONE DAY.
Please at least remember the fact that September 11, 2001, was a somber, transformative moment in the history of a country that has done everything in it's power for the last 250 years to keep people alive and well. If you care to disagree with that statement, unfriend me.
God Bless America.

Complaint Box, Vol. 1

After a 3 day weekend of basically zero worries, I'm back in school and have come to a cold realization:
Oh. Wait. I'm a journalism major.
This means I have to do something on a daily basis that I often avoid:
Actually follow the news.
Anyways, I have not been following the news and I have an assignment or 2 due this week that tells me I should have been doing that for the last week. I also realize that I kinda suck at writing news, but I guess I'll get better at that. As for staying up to date with current events, it will be quite hard for me to give a crap. So I just consider this a humbling experience. A humbling experience that I really really really don't like.
Not like I don't find the news interesting, but I'm just too self-conscious to dedicate time to it.
And my feisty comment of the day: Most people reading this don't follow the news, either. Some people out there think they do, and they act like smart-@$$es about it.
Shout outs go to my brother Keith, Hyrum Hemingway, Patrick Harberd, Mr Brown, Ross Irwin + many others I can't think of right now. You guys follow the news and don't focus on 1 story all week.
It took me about 10 minutes to write this. I will now be pulling news stories from the past week from my butt and spilling them onto the class's discussion board.
"Fight the powers that be." -Public Enemy