Story by Cat Badra

Eric Erlandson’s ‘Letters to Kurt’ features 52 letters dedicated to late Nirvana frontman

Last weekend marked the 18th anniversary of the fateful day the world lost Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, a man known for his groundbreaking grunge music and creative genius. To commemorate the anniversary, Eric Erlandson, former guitarist and co-founder of Hole, released a new book, “Letters to Kurt.” The book, which is a tribute of sorts to Cobain, consists of 52 letters dedicated to the singer and songwriter.

“I’m writing these letters to him,” Erlandson told Rolling Stone regarding the read. “Tapping something deep inside myself, but am I really talking to him? No. At the same time, I think he would really like this book. He had a really dark sense of humor and he loved wordplay. Look at his lyrics. He would know what I am talking about.”

It’s no secret that Cobain struggled with drug addiction, and that craving led to his eventual suicide. Erlandson says that he’s learned to avoid drugs at any cost, largely because he saw the destruction it caused in the life of Cobain and his late ex-girlfriend, Hole bass player Kristen Pfaff.

“You know someone’s suicidal, you know someone’s playing with death, but you don’t know how to deal with it,” he said. “I admit, I made some stupid mistakes with some people, and people are dead because of my stupid mistakes. And I want to use that, so that other people don’t make the same mistakes that I made, and other people start understanding. We’ve all lost people.” Read the rest of the interview via Rolling Stone.

Story by Charles Ken

Courtney Love on Eric Erlandson’s new book: ‘I wish him well’

Courtney Love is giving former Hole guitarist Eric Erlandson her blessing to go ahead with his upcoming book about Kurt Cobain’s suicide and the aftermath that followed. In an interview with the New York Daily News, the grunge singer stated that she’s okay with him releasing the book, so long as he doesn’t mention any juicy details about their romance together.

“I wish him well,” she said in the interview. “Even more than Dave [Grohl] and [Krist] Novoselic, Eric was family… I just hope he didn’t write that we dated. We had sex, yes, but I don’t date.”

Erlandson’s upcoming book, titled “Letters To Kurt,” will arrive April 8, just a few days after the 18th anniversary of the day the world lost tragically lost Cobain at the age of 27. The 52-chapter, 120-page hardcover release will be consist of “poetry, prose and free association” and will embrace “reflections on rock ‘n’ roll, drug abuse and the loss of Cobain.”

“This will make a beautiful book for anyone who loved Nirvana and Hole and the time and place when their music changed everything,” promises an official statement on the release. “Ultimately, it’s an elegy for Kurt and the ‘suicide idols’ who tragically fail to find salvation in their amazing music…. [It’s] a poetic elegy for Kurt Cobain from the man who created the band Hole with Cobain’s wife Courtney Love.” Are you stoked to get your hands on this Cobain tribute? Let us know in the comments area, below.

Story by Anne Erickson

Three original Hole members to unite for Easter gig

In support of his much-ballyhooed new book about Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain called “Letters to Kurt,” former Hole guitarist and co-founder Eric Erlandson has announced that three of the four original members of Hole will reunite for a special show at the Basilica Hudson in Hudson, N.Y., on Easter Sunday, which falls on April 8.

Erlandson will be joined by Melissa auf der Maur and Patty Schemel at the event, according to the Albany Times Union, making it a reunion of 75% of Hole’s members. Courtney Love will reportedly not be at the show, according to a statement at press time.

Auf der Mar actually owns Basilica, so it’s appropriate that the reunion of sorts will happen at that venue. The event will start at 6 p.m. with a reading by Erlandson. His upcoming book, “Letters to Kurt,” is a deeply personal “poetic elegy for Kurt Cobain from the man who created the band Hole with Cobain’s wife Courtney Love,” told through 52 letters, according to an official statement on the book. “This will make a beautiful book for anyone who loved Nirvana and Hole and the time and place when their music changed everything. Ultimately, it’s an elegy for Kurt and the ‘suicide idols’ who tragically fail to find salvation in their amazing music.”

The Hudson event is $8 at the door. There will also be a screening of the film “Hit so Hard: Life and Near Death Story of Drummer Patty Schemel” at the show.

Story by Anne Erickson

‘Letters to Kurt’ promises to be ‘a poetic elegy’ for late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain

Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain carries one of the most tragic stories in popular music– a musical genius who fell prey to his own demons at the young age of 27.

Eric Erlandson knew Cobain well. After all, Erlandson was the co-founder, songwriter and lead guitarist in alternative grunge rock band Hole, the ‘90s group featuring Cobain’s wife at the time, Courtney Love.

In honor of Cobain and his legacy, Erlandson is releasing a book called “Letters to Kurt” which promises to be “a poetic elegy for Kurt Cobain from the man who created the band Hole with Cobain’s wife Courtney Love,” according to a release. “This will make a beautiful book for anyone who loved Nirvana and Hole and the time and place when their music changed everything. Ultimately, it’s an elegy for Kurt and the ‘suicide idols’ who tragically fail to find salvation in their amazing music.”

As for support, “Letters to Kurt” has garnered kudos from fellow grunge icon Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore. “Eric was the spirit-boy in the Nirvana / Hole dynamic,” Moore stated. “Quiet, bemused, intelligent, and curiously intuitive to the power of hugging the devil, to say we will all be okay. The early 1990s were an explosive and defining period of creativity and excitement for the underground punk/post-punk scene, particularly with the manifest poetry of Kurt, who we were so proud to have as a light in our shared time and space. Eric expresses how enchanting Kurt was, how the whole scene was, with his thoughtful, radical adult/prose love. Bring on the future, darling.”

The 120 page, hardcover book is scheduled to arrive April 10, 2012, via Akashic Books.

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Story by Cat Badra

Courtney Love’s Hole won’t be appearing at Soundwave

Courtney Love has put a nix to her alternative rock band Hole’s gig at Australia’s upcoming Soundwave Festival. Her reasoning, according to a Tweet, revolves around finding out that Hole would be below Limp Bizkit on the schedule and, in essence, opening for Fred Durst and company. The current lineup for Soundwave includes Machine Head, Trivium, System of a Down, Alter Bridge, Black Label Society, The Used (yes, apparently, they are still a band), Angels & Airwaves, A Day to Remember and more.

Love Tweeted her irritation about Hole’s slot on the festival, messaging the festival’s promoter, AJ Maddah. The Tweet stated, “What bloody flight of crazed fancy made you think we’d open for Limp Bizkit dude? No offence, that’s nuts.”

Love is a big fan of Twitter, as she’s used the social networking platform to comment on everything from the 20th anniversary of Nirvana’s Nevermind to the passing of Steve Jobs. Regarding Jobs, she recently Tweeted, “Sincerely rest in peace Steve Jobs. [I'll] bet he can text us what its like over there. If anyone can do it, its Steve. God how we’ll miss you.”

Courtney Love has also announced she “will set the record straight” about her relationship with Cobain and the 1990s alternative grunge scene in an upcoming, yet-to-be-titled tell-all book, sets to arrive on William Morrow, an imprint of publisher Harper Collins. She’s billing it a “tell-all” memoir, and the autobiography is expected to come out as early as the end of this year.