{"id":1355,"date":"2014-04-06T13:11:07","date_gmt":"2014-04-06T18:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/?p=1355"},"modified":"2014-11-16T23:13:09","modified_gmt":"2014-11-17T05:13:09","slug":"cobains-death-and-the-car-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/?p=1355","title":{"rendered":"Cobain’s death and the car trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0Oddly enough I remember exactly where is was when I heard Kurt Cobain died. \u00a0\u00a0I was working at an oil change center and just got in and asked. \u201cis it Cobain\u2019s birthday or something? It\u2019s nonstop Nirvana on the radio today.\u00a0 If someone comes in here NOT screaming at me in gibberish I might not be able to understand them\u2026enough with the Nirvana already.\u201d\u00a0 I was informed he was dead.\u00a0 No one around at that time can say there was even a glimmer of shock\u2026I think I just asked \u201c o.d. or suicide?\u201d.\u00a0 I got a shrug as a response.\u00a0\u00a0 I guess Nirvana was a big deal\u2026but they were the first ones through the door in a big wave of change. Gen X had the disposable income at the time so all of their kind was breaking through.\u00a0 Something about growing up under the specter of Communist Russia pointing several thousand nuclear missiles at you produces a creatively that is kinda unique.\u00a0 Other generations had that specter but maybe the Regan era was different because movie after movie used the Russian menace as the villain, it all seemed more intertwined with the culture.\u00a0 I dunno. \u00a0Anyway that\u2019s what I was doing when I heard.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

As soon as that work day was over I was off for a long road trip from Milwaukee WI to as far south as we could get to Texas before finding a unicorn.\u00a0 The \u201cunicorn\u201d in this instance was a 70\u2019s GM of some sort with no rust to \u201chot Rod\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 I realize this term went out with the horse and buggy.\u00a0 \u201cHot Rod\u201d meant to take a perfectly good car and modify it so that it\u2019s only real use was going really fast on a drag strip\u2026preferably loudly and using as much gas as possible.\u00a0 It meant rebuilding the engine, or just putting in a larger one, maybe repainting, cutting out any emissions parts and replacing them with pipes that sounded like a crop duster.\u00a0 It was an outdated thing to do even when we were doing it, but there was something about taking a car completely apart and changing it that was really satisfying. \u00a0\u00a0So the Unicorn in this instance just needed to be from a few specific years and rust free..it didn\u2019t even need to be very functional..that would be taken care of later.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

So\u2026that was the plan.\u00a0 That was the entire plan. Drive southwest\u2026find car\u2026return.\u00a0 There was no more planning than that because it was the early 90\u2019s and there was no internet just yet.\u00a0 Not to the extent there is now.\u00a0 We\u2019d find hotels on the way, we\u2019d pick up local papers and look through the classified section or check the \u201cfor sale\u201d peg board at the grocery stores in local towns once we were past the \u201crust belt\u201d.\u00a0 My friend and I were in an AMC concord which had no business making it one leg of the trip much less both ways.\u00a0 Not on it\u2019s own\u2026we filled the back with tools and spare parts.\u00a0 Between that and our combined knowledge of driving and repairing pieces of crap we could have gotten that car to Argentina with half assed repairs and will power.\u00a0 How were we planning on getting the other car back?\u00a0 Shrug.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I can\u2019t remember how many cars we looked at but I do remember a specific one in some scary ass part of the country.\u00a0 We saw the \u201cfor sale\u201d 4×5 card on a cork-board at a grocery store entrance and drove to the address.\u00a0 We knocked on the loose screen door of a house that looked a lot like the house Jessie Pinkman watched a stolen ATM fall on a guy’s head at in Breaking Bad.\u00a0 It was white trash to the nth degree.\u00a0 And what came to the door didn\u2019t disappoint.\u00a0 Tall, white, shaved head, vacant stare, blue jeans and a wife beater shirt.\u00a0 If you are picturing the guy from \u201cthe hills have eyes\u201d \u2026you\u2019re on the same page.\u00a0 One precious little addition to the description\u2026and wet mark about the size and location of where a bib would be.\u00a0\u00a0 It was hot so we told ourselves it was sweat\u2026even though a drool trail going from his chin, down his neck and settling in the wet shirt made \u201csweat\u201d an unlikely scenario.\u00a0 He took us to the back yard and my friend discreetly flipped the safety off of his pistol.\u00a0 There we saw a white 75 Buick in pretty good shape.\u00a0\u00a0 He said it ran great and hopped in.\u00a0 From there he pushed down several times on a chrome gas pedal shaped like a bare foot and turned the key ( a side note here to those of you who never tried to start a carburated vehicle\u2026you have to pump the gas a certain number of times before you start it\u2026that number of times depends on the car\u2026the weather\u2026the gods of old piece of crap Buicks\u2026or luck)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201czuhzuhzuhzuhzuh\u201d went the engine\u2026it spun but did not start<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

He tried again<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Zuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuzhzuzh<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Pause\u2026again<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Zuhzuzhzuzhzuzhzuzhzuzhzuzhzuzh<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cit\u2019s fussy sometimes\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 we didn\u2019t notice him drooling anymore because we were looking at the car but the \u00a0wet mark had grown.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Zuzuuuuuuuuzuzhzuzhuhzuhzuhzuhzuzzzz<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cit might be over heated\u201d he speculated \u201c I\u2019ll give it a few minutes\u201d. He then stared blankly for ten seconds and tried again<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Zuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuzhzuzhzuh<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cyep it\u2019s too hot..we gotta let it cool off\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(instantly after saying this) \u201czuhzuzhzuhzuhzuhzuh.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Pause<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Zuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuzhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuh<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t getting angry, or frustrated, he just sat in the car drooling and turning the key every 3 seconds.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Zuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuh<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This went on for about 10 minutes in real time…and it seemed like the gentleman was willing to forgo any other plans he had for the weekend to simply sit in the car with a blank stare turning the key.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Zuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuhzuh<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cit almost fired up that time!\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 his shirt was now glistening in the sun.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Rather than be locked in a white trash time loop I said \u201cwell, there was another car for sale just up the road, we\u2019ll take a look at that and by the time we get back this should have cooled off enough to start\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cyeah, good idea\u2026it\u2019s just gotta cool down\u201d <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Zuhzuhzuhzuzhuzhzuhzuh.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c that\u2019s probably bob\u2019s car..I\u2019ll call him and tell him you\u2019re coming, so he can have his running\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSounds good!\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We went back to our car with the sounds of him spinning his engine over again and again.\u00a0 I said to my friend \u00a0\u201clet\u2019s not go by Bob\u201d.\u00a0 He turned and put his pistol back in the glove box \u201cI like where your heads at\u2026let get out of here, in case Bob\u2019s car actually runs and he comes looking for us\u201d.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Eventually in Oklahoma we found a 78 Cutlass in nice shape except that is smelled like cat piss.\u00a0 Seeing as how the first car was owned by a person who smelled like cat piss, we considered it a step up and I bought the car.\u00a0 I drove home with the windows open and wondered if the cat piss smell was going away or I was just now\u2026and for the rest of my life, so used to the smell of cat piss that I would never notice it.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

What does this have to do with Cobain? Nothing really except that the Cutlass had a tape player and I was able to listen to a man ramble on behind crappy guitar playing about killing himself, who eventually killed himself.\u00a0 Seeing as how he was rich and famous and not driving 13 hours in a car that smelled like cat piss, I didn\u2019t have much sympathy for him.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think the internet has done much to actually improve our lives.\u00a0 LIVING is about doing things, experiencing things, interacting with people.\u00a0 It\u2019s possible I would have interacted with the drooler if there was internet at the time\u2026in fact there are often exchanges in FB threads that I have where I am all but convinced I am interacting with the drooler.\u00a0 But it\u2019s not the same is it?\u00a0 The bulk of our lives now can be broken down to zero\u2019s and one\u2019s in some binary program and destroyed by a virus.\u00a0 It\u2019s a safe bet that if the internet was around at the time Cobain would have just typed his gibberish into a blog ( yes I see the irony) or spent his day arguing with spellcheck.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We have more outlets now for our rage and creativity but it isn\u2019t making us better.\u00a0 It\u2019s making us lazy and complacent.\u00a0 When Cobain started you couldn\u2019t just be crazy for a hobby, you had to do appear like you were doing something productive with it or be locked up.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0www.arseniclullabies.com<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Oddly enough I remember exactly where is was when I heard Kurt Cobain died. \u00a0\u00a0I was working at an oil change center and just got in and asked. \u201cis it Cobain\u2019s birthday or something? It\u2019s nonstop Nirvana on the radio today.\u00a0 If someone comes in here NOT screaming at me\u2026 Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1356,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}