Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

BATTLEGROUND STATE TOUR: Nirvana band mates reunite

Musicians open 10-day bus trip to stump for Kerry

Dave Grohl, left, and Krist Noveselic, Nirvana's two remaining members, hug during a get-out-the-vote rally Tuesday for presidential hopeful John Kerry in the Stardust parking lot. Photo by K.M. Cannon.

The two remaining members of Nirvana, a seminal band in rock history, hadn't stood on stage together since 1993, when singer Kurt Cobain killed himself. But on Tuesday night, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic walked on a stage in the parking lot of the Sahara and hugged.

It was the hug that rocked the vote. That was the intention, at least. The rockers were joined by Tom DeLonge of the punk band Blink-182. They picked Las Vegas to launch a 10-day bus trip through battleground states in the presidential election.

They're stumping for votes for Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.

Grohl performed solo, acoustic versions of songs by his other famous band, Foo Fighters: "Learn To Fly" and "Times Like These." And he lobbied crowd members to board minivans to vote at the polls.

"John Kerry's already kickin' Bush's ass. Let's make it worse" for Bush, he said, a reference to early-voting results that show Kerry leading Bush in Nevada.

The tour is aimed at younger voters in particular. MTV reported the rally. It was covered by journalists working for Rolling Stone, US Weekly and "Entertainment Tonight," a campaign spokesman said.

Of the two former Nirvana mates, Novoselic spoke first. He said Kerry will get rid of Bush-era tuition cuts.

Crowd members held signs reading, "Students For Kerry" and "Unidos con Kerry."

Three teenagers -- Nick Robinson, 16, Chris Alvarado, 18, and Brian Holly, 16 -- said they're in a band together, and they recited Nirvana's music and pro-Kerry talking points with equal ease.

"This," Robinson said, pointing to a Kerry sticker stuck to his forehead, "is to let people know I can't vote, so vote for me."

When Novoselic introduced his old band mate, he asked, "When was the last time I was on the stage with Dave Grohl? I love the man." He looked earnest. They hugged. Grohl smiled, all teeth.

Grohl said the Bush campaign had used his songs without permission. One reason he's voting for Kerry is so people in other nations might like Americans the way they used to, pre-Bush.

"Everyone would want to meet an American. Meeting Americans was like meeting Elvis," he said, getting laughs. But now, people overseas, "they don't see me, they see Bush" and scream at him.

DeLonge promised the first vote of his life to Kerry.

"I want the most powerful man in the world to be able to read and to speak," he said, mocking Bush, "and to inspire people."

The rockers used humor to offset seriousness. DeLonge introduced Kerry's stepson, Chris Heinz, as "almost as handsome as myself." In fact, a woman near the front said she was there to see Heinz.

And Heinz said he watched the first of three Kerry-Bush debates in Las Vegas.

"I wish I had been in the sports book, because I would've made" a bundle, he said, "because John put the beat-down on that guy."

Melissa Fitzgerald of the TV show, "The West Wing," charged that Bush relaxed federal standards on mercury pollution, a few weeks after a study came out tying high mercury levels to problem pregnancies.

"I love the country. And I'm proud to be an American. And I don't know about you guys, but I want my country back," she said.

After the event, Scott Kreger, a Washington, D.C., broker called the event "the cheapest show in Vegas."

"I can't get tickets to `O,' and I can't get tickets to `Blue Man Group.' But I got to see two members of Nirvana. How 'bout that?" Kreger said.