Has It Really Been 14 Years?

"And now you are dead.

I was in San Francisco, driving up the 101 past Candlestick Park, when the news came over the radio, LIVE 105--the news that you had shot yourself.

A few minutes later I was in the city and I pulled the car over and tried to figure out what I felt.

I had never asked you to make me care about you, but it happened--against the hype, against the odds--and now you are in my imagination forever."--Author Douglas Coupland, in his essay, "Letter to Kurt Cobain" (written after the singer/songwriter's body was found in his Bellevue, Washington home.)

"For example, when we’re backstage and the lights go out and the manic roar of the crowds begin, it doesn’t affect me the way in which it did for Freddie Mercury, who seemed to love, relish in the love and adoration from the crowd which is something I totally admire and envy. The fact is, I can’t fool you, any one of you. It simply isn’t fair to you or me. The worst crime I can think of would be to rip people off by faking it and pretending as if I’m having 100% fun."--excerpted from Kurt Cobain's suicide note.

"No, Kurt, the worst crime I can think of is for you to just continue being a rock star when you hated it. Why didn't you (expletive) stop?"--Courtney Love, Cobain's widow, editorializing when reading his note to an assembled crowd of mourners.