It was the Supersuckers, Eugenius, and Mudhoney at the Hollywood Palladium. December 4th, 1992. I had just gotten done interviewing the Supersuckers with some help from Cake after their set for Flipside. Eugenius had just finished their set, and Mudhoney was playing. Me and about 10 other people were sitting on the side of the stage watching them. I was sitting about 3 feet away from someone probably famous (someone in Hole? An actress? Hell, I don’t know, EVERYBODY is somebody in L.A.) and there were about 10 people sitting behind us. Someone had spilled a beer, which is why there was no one sitting in between me and that other girl, as there was a big puddle right in between us.
Courtney comes over starts talking excitedly (everything she did was “excitedly”) to the girl. Courtney was just about to sit in the beer. She was on her feet, knees bent, straddling over the spilt beer, teetering over whether to stay and chat or get back up. I could see it. Everyone behind me could see it. I could just tell that everyone was waiting for her to sit her ass down in the spilt beer so they could laugh at her. I didn’t have the heart to let that happen, so I tapped her on her back. No answer. Tapped again. She slapped my hand away. Tapped again, she slapped it away again, only way harder. I looked to the people behind me and shrugged my shoulders to say “Oh well, I tried.”
So about another minute or so of her rocking back and forth, deciding on whether she’s going to sit or not, she turns to me and screams “WHAT!??!?!” I pointed to the beer puddle that was about 3 inches away from her ass and said “I didn’t want you to sit in that.” She was kind of embarrassed and said “Oh! Thank you!”.
And that is how I saved Courtney’s ass!
Bob Cantu and Carlos “Cake” Nunez from Flipside were also at this show backstage (everyone was, actually). Though I did talk with Kurt and Mark Arm backstage for a very little bit of stupid small talk, I was way “too cool” (or to be even more truthful, too shy) to get a picture with Kurt or even tell him I was writing for Flipside now (the story of how I previously met Kurt, will be told in a future post). Not to mention that film cost money and you only could take so many pictures on a roll and I didn’t want to ask Bob to waste a picture on me. Cake was a lot smarter and got this picture with Kurt and Courtney. I was literally right next to Bob Cantu when took this picture.
photo by Bob Cantu
A little side note here (and maybe this should be a whole other post; heck, Carlos should have his own blog and/or book!), but Carlos “Cake” Nunez doesn’t get enough credit for his part in Nirvana lore. Ok, sure he (with Al Flipside) interviewed Kurt in 1992 when Kurt wasn’t doing interviews at all (which was an incredibly HUGE scoop!) but his part goes a lot deeper than that. At the time in 1993, Pat Smear was working at the SST Superstore on Sunset Blvd. I would sometimes go there and skim through records just to be in the presence of someone from the legendary Germs. Well one day, Courtney Love called up Cake and said that Kurt wanted a second guitarist for the In Utero tour, but he didn’t want Big John from the Exploited because he was quite talkative and loud when they tried him out. Cake just said to her “How about Pat Smear? He’s on welfare and works at the SST Store.” Courtney was on speaker phone and Cake could hear Kurt yell out “Get his number! Get his number!” so he gave them Pat Smear’s work and home number. So right after this, Cake called up Pat at the SST Superstore and told him that Kurt Cobain was going to ask him to be in Nirvana. Pat, thinking this was a joke, said “Fuck you Cake!” and hung up. Kurt Cobain called up seconds later at the SST Superstore and Pat picks up the phone. Kurt asked Pat to join Nirvana right then and there. Pat, thinking it was Cake again yells “Fuck OFF Cake!” and hangs up on Kurt! Kurt called back a second time and Pat picked it up and Kurt says to him “Pat, this is Kurt Cobain and I got your number from Cake from Flipside. Would you like to be in my band?” And that was it. Three days later, Kurt Loder on MTV announced that Pat Smear had joined Nirvana. (Thank you Carlos Nunez for this story!)
You just never know what random associations with people you know can change your life forever!
Ok, back to December 1992. Kurt was talking a lot with Mark Arm backstage at this show. I think he was looking for advice. Maybe on how to deal with stupid drunk people? (like me, as I was trying to show my legitimacy by asking “So what’s up with Chad Chaning? Do you know what he’s up to?” Kurt mumbled “I think he’s in a band call the Fire Ants”, as I grabbed a beer from Mudhoney’s stash) He also spent a lot of time talking with this one black gentleman who was there. Probably about the blues, as Kurt was probably just learning or considering playing “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?”
I remember watching the Supersuckers with Kurt Cobain and Courtney and Eric from Hole. I didn’t know them. I was just next to them on the left side of the lower balcony as we watched them. There wasn’t really that many people there for the Supersuckers. I also was next to Kurt at the bar while I got a beer. Kurt ordered water.
As for Mudhoney. They rocked! Of course. I ran out on stage to clear out a hat that someone had thrown up there. I still have it. Bob Lee from Claw Hammer came out to sing Black Flag’s “Fix Me” with Mudhoney. From Bob Lee’s notes on Mudhoney’s tour book:
Notes: Claw Hammer drummer Bob Lee:
“Claw Hammer opened almost every show on the east coast leg of the fall 1992 Piece of Cake tour with Mudhoney and Eugenius. We didn’t play this show, the Supersuckers were in that slot. But allowed backstage, I chided Mark Arm about a prior gig where they had Keith Morris, Ron Reyes and Dez Cadena [all of Black Flag] all get up to sing that song with them. I told em if they wanted to really bring the house down in front of an LA crowd, they needed to get me to sing with them. To my surprise he took me up on it, and the first time I ever performed to more than 1,000 people must have been this night, as the co lead singer for just under a minute.”
Mudhoney: Tourbook, 1992 (berkeley.edu)
Anyways, here’s the interview with the Supersuckers that Cake and I did. Special appearance by O.
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