You know how I learned that Kurt Cobain died? When I overheard a woman in my cab sobbing and talking quietly into her cell phone saying she couldn't believe he did it and then talking all this like promoter, agent stuff that made me think she worked for either a Record label or some kind of Music agent business. Cell phones were still fairly uncommon in 1994 so it made it seem more legit. So after I dropped her off I found a payphone and called my gf who was a huge Nirvana fan. I asked her if she knew anything about Kurt killing himself. She said I was crazy and no she hadn't heard. Later that day when the news did get out she freaked.
So it's February 1996 and I'm in San Francisco, living in a Hostels and run down hotels, reading Kerouac, eating at divy Vietnamese joints, playing chess with the homeless on Market St and banging teen age hookers. Wonderwall was super popular at the time, so I buy a cassette copy!! of that Oasis album and pop into my walkman. I remember sitting on Pacific Beach sipping a 40 oz and watching the waves crash on the beach while listening to it over and over and over. The tape and the walkman were stolen when I got rolled at the Embarcadero Station of the BART as I was passed out stone drunk. (They lifted my Ray Ban Wayfarers also). Funny thing is one day I'm walking around the Haight Ashbury getting wasted and I end up in Palisades Park, passed out stone drunk but nobody stole a thing.