Courtney Michelle Love is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and actress. A figure in the alternative and grunge scenes of the 1990s, her career has spanned four decades. She rose to prominence as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band Hole, which she formed in 1989. Love has drawn public attention for her uninhibited live performances and confrontational lyrics, as well as her highly publicized personal life following her marriage to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. In 2020, NME named her one of the most influential singers in alternative culture of the last 30 years.
Kurt Donald Cobain was an American musician who was the founder, lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter of the rock band Nirvana. Through his angst-fueled songwriting and anti-establishment persona, Cobain's compositions widened the thematic conventions of mainstream rock. He was heralded as a spokesman of Generation X and is highly recognized as one of the most influential alternative rock musicians.
Grunge is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of punk rock and heavy metal, but without punk's structure and speed. The genre featured the distorted electric guitar sound used in both genres, although some bands performed with more emphasis on one or the other. Like these genres, grunge typically uses electric guitar, bass guitar, drums and vocals. Grunge also incorporates influences from indie rock bands such as Sonic Youth. Lyrics are typically angst-filled and introspective, often addressing themes such as social alienation, self-doubt, abuse, neglect, betrayal, social and emotional isolation, addiction, psychological trauma and a desire for freedom.
Hole was an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1989. It was founded by singer Courtney Love and guitarist Eric Erlandson. It had several different bassists and drummers, the most prolific being drummer Patty Schemel, and bassists Kristen Pfaff and Melissa Auf der Maur. Hole released a total of four studio albums between two incarnations spanning the 1990s and early-2010s and became one of the most commercially successful rock bands in history fronted by a woman.
The music of Oregon reflects the diverse array of styles present in the music of the United States, from Native American music to the contemporary genres of rock and roll, country, rhythm and blues, jazz, pop, electronic music, and hip hop. However, throughout most of its history, the state has been relatively isolated from the cultural forces shaping American music. Much of modern popular music traces its roots to the emergence in the late 19th century of African American blues and the growth of gospel music in the 1920s. African American musicians borrowed elements of European and Indigenous musics to create new American forms. As Oregon's population was more homogeneous and more white than the United States as a whole, the state did not play a significant role in this history.
Andrew Patrick Wood was an American musician. He was the lead singer and lyricist for the alternative rock bands Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone. Wood formed Malfunkshun in 1980 with his older brother Kevin Wood on guitar and Regan Hagar on drums. The band used alter ego personas onstage, with Wood using the name Landrew the Love Child. Though the band only had two songs released, "With Yo' Heart " and "Stars-n-You", on the Deep Six compilation album, they are often cited as being among the "founding fathers" of the Seattle grunge movement. During his time in Malfunkshun, Wood started relying heavily on drugs, entering rehab in 1985.
Bongwater is a 1998 American black comedy film directed by Richard Sears and starring Luke Wilson, Alicia Witt, Amy Locane, Brittany Murphy, Jack Black and Andy Dick. Based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Michael Hornburg, the film is set in Portland, Oregon, and follows an aspiring artist and marijuana dealer and his relationship with a tempestuous woman he meets through a client.
Patricia Theresa Schemel is an American drummer and musician who rose to prominence as the drummer of alternative rock band Hole from 1992 until 1998. Born in Los Angeles, Schemel was raised in rural Marysville, Washington, where she developed an interest in punk rock music as a teenager. She began drumming at age eleven, and while in high school, formed several bands with her brother, Larry.
Never Die Alone is a 2004 American crime thriller film directed by Ernest R. Dickerson and written by James Gibson, based on the 1974 novel of the same name by Donald Goines. The film stars DMX, David Arquette, and Michael Ealy.
"About a Girl" is a song by American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain. It is the third song on their debut album, Bleach, released in June 1989.
Satyricon was a nightclub in the Old Town neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, United States that operated from 1984 to 2010. It was the longest-running punk venue in the western United States, and has been referred to by some journalists and historians as the "CBGB of the West Coast." It is also the place where musicians Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love are said to have first met.
Twisted is a 1996 film written and directed by Seth Michael Donsky in his debut. The film, a Don Quixote and Miravista Films production, is a retelling of Charles Dickens' classic 1838 novel Oliver Twist, set in a New York City contemporary underground populated by drag queens, drug abusers and hustlers. The film was an official selection and debuted in 1997 at the 47th Berlin International Film Festival, and was also screened as an official selection at the Seattle International Film Festival. Donsky's film was made prior to Jacob Tierney's similar film Twist, starring American actor Nick Stahl.
Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues is a novel written by Michael Crichton, his ninth published novel. Authorship credit is shared with his brother Douglas Crichton, resulting in the only time the pseudonym Michael Douglas was used. It was originally published in 1970. It was serialized in the December 1970, January 1971 and February 1971 issues of Playboy magazine.
Cannabis in Oregon is legal for both medical and recreational use. In recent decades, the U.S. state of Oregon has had a number of legislative, legal, and cultural events surrounding use of cannabis. Oregon was the first state to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of cannabis, and among the first to authorize its use for medical purposes. An attempt to recriminalize possession of small amounts of cannabis was turned down by Oregon voters in 1997.
Hit So Hard is a 2011 American documentary film directed by P. David Ebersole. The film details the life and near death story of Patty Schemel, drummer of the seminal '90s alternative rock band Hole, and charts her early life, music career, and spiral into crack cocaine addiction. The film weaves together Hi8 video footage Schemel recorded while on Hole's 1994-95 world tour with contemporary interviews with her, bandmates Courtney Love, Eric Erlandson, and Melissa Auf der Maur, as well as her family members. The film also features interviews with other female drummers and musicians, including Nina Gordon, Kate Schellenbach, Gina Schock, Debbi Peterson, and Phranc.
Mary's Club is the oldest strip club in Portland, Oregon, and among the oldest in the United States. In 1954, Roy Keller bought the business from Mary Duerst Hemming, who owned and operated Mary's as a piano bar beginning in the 1930s. Keller initially hired go-go dancers as entertainment during the piano player's breaks, later hiring them full-time because of their popularity. Topless dancers wearing pasties were introduced in 1955. The club also featured comics, musicians, singers and other acts. All-nude dancing began in 1985, after a judicial ruling against City of Portland ordinances banning it in venues which served alcohol.
Peter Zuckerman is an American journalist and author who has focused his career in court reporting, investigative journalism, and adventure stories. He is also a leader of several prominent progressive political campaigns.
Cannabis in Washington relates to a number of legislative, legal, and cultural events surrounding the use of cannabis. On December 6, 2012, Washington became the first U.S. state to legalize recreational use of marijuana and the first to allow recreational marijuana sales. The state had previously legalized medical marijuana in 1998. Under state law, cannabis is legal for medical purposes and for any purpose by adults over 21.
Michael Hornburg is an American writer and literary agent. He has published two novels: Bongwater (1995) and Downers Grove (1999), both of which have been adapted into feature films. He has also written for the Portland, Oregon publication The Portland Mercury.
Sinsemilla Tips was an American magazine founded in 1980 providing advice for indoor growers of cannabis. The founder was Tom Alexander who based publication of this and another magazine, The Growing Edge, in Corvallis, Oregon. Alexander distributed the first run of 1,000 copies out of his car from the Emerald Triangle to Seattle.
