Free Republic

"If I cared what commenters said, I'd kill myself." In the high-octane non-stop flame war that is the political blogosphere, Markos Moulitsas Zuniga knows how to get attention. He's kidding, of course. We're talking about the rhetorical excesses that can spill out of the impassioned debate that takes place on his creation, DailyKos.com, the world's most popular political blog. Compact and wiry, Moulitsas, 34, exudes quivering intensity. He speaks in staccato paragraphs, punctuated by intense stares and a raised eyebrow. His eyes bulge slightly outward, as if reacting to the pressure of all the ideas inside his head. Many of...

Courtney & Nirvana: Smells Like a Sellout Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit"--coming soon to a soap ad near you? So far Courtney Love is ruling that out, but chances are we'll be hearing more of the seminal grunge band's music in unexpected places now that Kurt Cobain's cash-strapped widow has agreed to sell off a 25 percent stake in the Nirvana song catalog in a deal valued at $50 million, per Rolling Stone. On the other end of the deal is Larry Mestel, the former COO of Virgin Records and current head of Primary Wave Music Publishing. To preemptively squelch...

Last Updated: Sunday, 18 April, 2004, 13:51 GMT 14:51 UK Cobain's guitar fetches $117,500 Fans recently marked the 10th anniversary of Cobain's death A guitar belonging to the late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was auctioned for $117,500 (£65,000) on Saturday. The guitar was said to have been one of his favourites, and was the first of his instruments to go on sale since his death 10 years ago. It was expected to be sold for $100,000 by Heritage Galleries in Dallas, Texas. The piano on which Sir Elton John wrote Your Song and Tiny Dancer fetched $164,500 (£91,500) and one...

The boy looked just like Kurt Cobain. He was no more than 19. Same yellow hanging hair, fallow blue eyes, the sad square jaw, innocent and adult. We were in a Brooklyn basement full of artists and sound-poets gathered to watch musicians throw down extreme noise improvisation. One performer played records with two customized tone arms on his turntable; the discs broke and scratched, creating shards of hyperfractured beat play. He was followed by a quartet of young women scraping metal files across amplified coils mixed through junk electronics. I was to perform a spontaneous guitar/amp feedback piece with a...

Everyone thinks Nirvana was the best thing to happen to pop music since Gerry & the Pacemakers. Well, what about the part where they were responsible for Britney Spears and the return of teen-pop because they made everyone so miserable? And who do you think is responsible for the Backstreet Boys, Bush, the Iraq war, gonorrhea, Avril Lavigne and everything else bad? Looking back, Nirvana was just as useless as Adam and the Ants. So here's how Kurt and Co. ruined the world ... ... For Britney Spears: Before Nirvana, the battle lines were clearly drawn. The cool people liked...

Veteran actor Marlon Brando has been revealed as the unexpected grandfather of wild rocker Courtney Love in a new book. The singer's mother, psychologist Linda Carroll, claims she has taken DNA tests to confirm she is the Godfather star's daughter. Love, former wife of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, says, "I am incredibly shocked by this news. I have heard Mr. Brando has more than 30 children so I can't imagine how many cousins I have." The link is Linda's mother, novelist Paula Fox. She met Brando in the 1940's through famed drama teacher Stella Adler, and the two enjoyed a...

Nirvana Song Called Best of Past 25 Years BY CHRISTY LEMIRE, AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK - Here they are now, entertaining us — or at least entertaining VH1, which named Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" the greatest song of the past quarter-century. The Seattle band's groundbreaking grunge anthem is No. 1 on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Songs of the Past 25 Years." The whole countdown will air over five nights, starting at 10 p.m. EDT Monday on the video music channel. The series will feature clips of videos and performances by the artists along with interviews from...