I'm back, & have to note a moment w/a 20-something - re: Kurt Cobain

[likethebeer]

The other day, while I was down the Shore (at the Jersey Shore), a friend of my parents was talking about those cultural moments, and asked mda & I about remembering certain movies. We answered some things, but we didn't compare those big cultural moments (the attempted assassination of Reagan; the Challenger explosion, etc.).

Anyway, the next day (yesterday), my mom & I are at a store where she was renewing rentals on some beach chairs. One of Nirvana's songs from the MTV Unplugged performance was playing. I said to my mom, "You know last night when Mr. Walsh was talking about cultural moments?.... You hear the guy singing this song right now? If you ask a huge number of people where they were when they heard he died, they'd know."

The guy ringing us up at the store said, right away, "I was in a car w/my mom on I-95."

I looked at him & my mom & said, "I was getting into bed."

Yup - wi-c really hit on something w/that question about 12 years ago when he asked if we remembered where we were when Kurt Cobain died (and everyone raised their hands). I wrote about this last April, but I'm just so tickled that a guy who was 5 when the Challenger blew up (in 1986) could connect to me. Hope he had an appreciation of the old lady (that would be me, not my mom).

OH: and I'm sure I will write about other things later; this just tickled me.

Comments

[lynedd.livejournal.com]

I was listening to my clock radio alarm, waking up before school, when I heard Lennon had been shot.

I was in the Royal Ontario Museum the day the Challanger blew, and saw the footage on the gift-store TV.

I was at home with the baby when my hub called to get me to turn on the TV and confirm that a plane had actually crashed into the towers in New York.

...but I have no idea where I was when Kurt Cobain died.

Kurt Cobain

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

I thought of you when this "quiz" came up, since you wrote about it in April - damn, you had a kid! No wonder!

Lennon: I was downstairs at our house, before school, and it was on T.V.

Challenger: I was in Physics class in my Senior year. Our teacher came in & said, "The space shuttle blew up." I thought he said, "The space shuttle went up." And I was like, "Yeah. So. The space shuttle goes up all the time. No biggie." Then he said it again, and he pulled out the classroom t.v. and we saw the footage.

Our teacher had applied to the "Teacher in Space" program, too, so we were really happy he hadn't been chosen.

9-11: I was at work and someone came in to tell us a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. "What - like a Cesna?" "No - a 727." Lots of blinking & trying to absorb that information on my side.

I was in school for both the assassination attempt on Reagan & on Pope John Paul II, so those blend together. We were told over the loud speaker, and then we prayed.

And, damn! I remember where I was when I heard that Elvis Presley was dead: coming back from the Jersey Shore w/my friend, Vanessa. In the station wagon. My mom was driving.

I don't remember where I was when I heard that Jim Henson was dead, but that still makes me sad. Who knew?

Re: Kurt Cobain

[lynedd.livejournal.com]

Oh, gods, I was such a horrible little snotty punk anarchist brat when Regan was shot - I remember being sorry the guy had done such a crappy job of it. ...but I was at my bf's house eating dinner in front of the TV at the time.

Don't remember where I was for the JP II attempt...

Re: Kurt Cobain

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

You knew more about politics then I did - I was scared and sad. And, good little Catholic girl that I was, I prayed. Hard. Guess it worked! ;>

Re: Kurt Cobain

[maxchaos.livejournal.com]

I remember hearing that Kurt Cobain was dead, we were all sure Courtney had him killed.. maybe we were right after all... and in the days following I remember all the stupid death certificate tee shirts that were being sold and I thought about poor Frances bean; I wouldn't want anyone wearing my dad's death certificate.

I also remember when I heard Jerry Garcia was dead, because I called my best friend who had planned on following the Dead after high school to ask her what the fuck she was gonna do instead... she got into Phish.

I remember Challenger and I sure as hell remember 9/11.

Re: Kurt Cobain

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

Oh, damn, I forgot that I remembered hearing about Garcia, too! I was w/my then-boyfriend and we were driving to my friend's wedding - although the exact moment is a blur. I was bummed b/c I always said that I wanted to see the Dead again "before Jerry dies" (I saw the Dead 8 or 9 times). For some reason, that always seemed to be something that was going to happen, & in the near future.

I don't remember Cobain death certificate t-shirts. Maybe b/c I was in grad school at the time & didn't register what people were wearing.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I remember Cobain's death, and I had been a fan, but I don't remember anything so momentous about the moment I heard the news.

Cobain

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I appreciated the band, but wasn't a huge fan of Nirvana (I think I just had a tape of Nevermind at the time of his death). Still, for some reason I remember that moment. I didn't realize that until I was asked by wi_c if I knew where I was when I heard the news (and me & 4 other people immediately knew).

Well, I remember where I was when I heard that Elvis was dead, too, and I wasn't a fan (which had to have pleased my mother).

Re: Cobain

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I don't remember the specifics about where I was when I heard about Elvis, except that I was spending some time at my grandparents' house in the summer. So I remember that, but there is no memory of a specific moment. My memory about Elvis's death is that Groucho Marx died about the same time, and that it made a bigger impression with me than Elvis's death.

[sirreal13.livejournal.com]

I think I was at an Urban Outfitters store in Uptown Minneapolis, or was it Ragstock... It didn't hit me like when I was walking up State Street in the c-c-cold when I heard people talking about someone assassinating John Lennon. I was so shocked, as if the election of Reagan the month before weren't bad enough. That was about the same time I was sneaking a smoke once in a while. Occasionally they were Gitane cigarettes, like John smoked.

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

I still can't believe sometimes that John Lennon died so senselessly.