Anyone who has known me for any period of time long enough to consider themselves my friend, knows that I am a huge Courtney Love fan. I have been since the very first day I heard the band Hole at summer camp about 14 years ago. I am way too young to be an original fan (pre- Live Through This), but I think I am as genuine as they come.
I recently was able to achieve a life-long (well at least 14 year) dream of mine, which was to meet Ms. Love-Cobain. I had tickets 10 years ago to see Hole play in D.C., but two weeks before the tour stop Hole dropped the tour. Yes, I was heart-broken, but nonetheless, there was nothing I could do about it…. On June 24th of this year, Hole played in Nashville. I had VIP passes, great tickets…yadda yadda…. I couldn’t believe that after ALL these years I was finally going to see Hole…. The show was moved from the Ryman Auditorium to the Cannery Ballroom. Anyone who lives in Nashville, knows that it would have been absolutely amazing to see Courtney play the Ryman…. Word on the street has it, that the Ryman found out who was actually playing and decided that the show had to be moved to a different venue. I refuse to believe that unless I hear it from Ms. Love herself. See people, we had a great flood in Nashville about 2 months ago (or more, I have no concept of time…) and the ‘New’ Grand Ole Opry got flooded and probably won’t reopen until December. So I’m sure all of the shows that were scheduled to play there were moved to the Ryman, therefore bumping the Hole show out and to the Cannery….
Regardless, they set up a little area in front of the stage for those of us who had VIP passes and/or really great seats at the Ryman. It was a really great show! The opening band Foxy Shazam was so very good and entertaining…. From where I was standing I had a direct shot to Courtney’s dressing room (it was dark backstage and the door was closed, so I couldn’t see her on the phone the whole time). She took the stage I think about 30-40 min later than planned. But once she did, it was amazing. I am currently waiting for whatcourtneyworetoday.com to back track and tell me who she was wearing on stage, yes I know the Anne boots, but the red dress?, the bodysuit? Regardless, the show was great. Someone had thrown a plastic tiara on stage at some point during the show, Courtney picked it up, thanked the person who brought it and then politely reminded her that it wasn’t the 90′s anymore, and to grow up. Thankfully I made friends with one of the security guards who got me a set list and a guitar pick (souvenir whore). And he also helped me out a little when I decided that “I am at a Hole show, I want to get to the center of this crowd so I can be right in front of her, F*** it, I’m going”…. One person was very unhappy about that…. Thanks Security Guard Jeremy!
So after the show, Tim and I went and had a drink at the ‘after-party’ at Mercy Lounge. As we were leaving we saw a few people hanging out by her tour bus… So we decided to hang out for a bit too and make some more new friends. Hole fans are some of the friendliest people in the world (except for that one, that wanted to kick my ass). CLove came out around 1:00am and on her way into the tour bus decided to come over and grace us with her presence. I walked up to her as she was walking toward the crowd and wrapped both arms around her and kissed her on the cheek…. What the heck was I thinking, right? Who walks up to Courtney Love and just plants one on her cheek?!? Really? BettyAnn, you have some balls! So that was my experience… I couldn’t believe that it actually happened. Thankfully, Tim had my iPhone and snapped a few shots of her and I, so I do have evidence that it did really happen. I asked a friend of mine on the phone a few days later, “What are you supposed to do when you start achieving your dreams…? Get new ones?”
Which prompted me to bring out my old journal. Painted silver, covered in weird stickers, and bowing outward because of all the crap in it. I read a few passages from it to Tim indicating my dream/desire/goal to one day meet Courtney. And I also shared with him some of the other Courtney Love fan memorabilia I had in that book…. He called me boarder line obsessed. I said “No, the girl who made this book 10 years ago was not boarder line obsessed, but truly obsessed, the lady who is showing you all of this, is that girl all grown up.” While I was showing him my journal, we were also watching the VH1 behind the music of Ms. Love. It was amazing to finally hear her tell her story. I have read all the biographies on her, but it was just so nice to hear her side and her words. One of my favorite parts was when she was talking about breeding for noses… “And there was no way I was breeding with Axl Rose!”
I followed Courtney on twitter when she was posting under @courtneylover79. But have to confess, I had to stop following her for a bit… Grrl, just a little too much for me… Her tweets are much easier on the brain now as @CourtneyLoveUK. And I do have to say, if you haven’t checked out whatcourtneyworetoday.com yet, YOU NEED TO, RIGHT NOW!
The new Hole album is AMAZING! If you are a Hole fan or not, you need this album, especially if you are a fan of music. I have to listen to any new album a few times before I decide what I think about it, and I listen to this one everyday. Nobody’s Daughter has proven so many things about Courtney. Not only is she a completely AMAZING writer, but this album shows that Courtney can keep it real. The grunge princess is a rock queen! She always was to me! Two of my favorite songs from the new album are “Letter to God” and “Honey”. But the whole album is so great. Such and amazing amazing writer. Not that a lot of other amazing people with their amazing talents didn’t do a lot of amazing things on this album too. This album is great! Go get, listen to it, love it, and then tell me that I was right.
xo
BA
