Charles R. Cross

24 years with Ashland: It’s my son’s birthday today — the full story of the serendipity of his birth, coming on the day before Kurt Cobain’s, at the moment I was writing “Heavier Than Heaven,” ends up in something I’m presently writing. But today, in real time, I took him out for his first-ever Portage Bay breakfast (he was brought up right, knowing the Sunlight Café is the only acceptable NE Seattle breakfast, except on Mondays when they are closed). Of all the things I’ve been involved in with my life, I’m most proud to be his dad because of who he is: his integrity, intelligence, humility, generosity, humor, and passion for the arts (though I know I had only a little to do with any of that). The phone somehow was in portrait mode, which is probably for the best to make me blurry, as it was Ashland’s day to shine (tho we got soaked walking Greenlake).

Heart most certainly are Seattle rock royalty, but if I was writing this press release — on their big reunion tour — I would have gone with the "straight flush" metaphor, since "Straight On" is one of their best. See you on the road (tour dates before, nothing announced in Washington yet). Yeah Cheap Trick

Goodbye dear friend. Susie Tennant was something to behold. She was infectiously alive with joy for music, life, and her family. Full remembrance coming soon from me in the The Seattle Times. Friends of Susie Tennant Page, Marco, Kurt Cobain, Krist. (10/31/91 Paramount, and likely taken by Darrell Westmoreland).

Nice piece on KUOW today about the project of digitizing The Rocket. I particularly appreciated that Libby Denkmann allowed me to address the importance of narrative voice in writing about arts outside mainstream culture. If you want to hear 20 minutes of me (and Gillian Gaar) prattling on about life in analog Seattle 25 years ago, here’s the link:

20 years of Seattle music history is now online For over 20 years, The Rocket documented Seattle's music scene. Now, every issue is available to view online.

I've been hinting at this news for a while, but the entire 21-year span of The Rocket is now online through a massive effort by former staff, the University of Washington, and the Washington Digital Newspapers project. Here's an article in the Seattle Times that talks about the process. The site still needs some small work, but you can search every issue, and the metadata will even allow you to search the classifieds ads (for all those famous musicians' wanted ads). It took several years to even gather usable copies of every issue, and the OCR needs some adjusting, but can be corrected by crowdsourcing. And like The Rocket always was, this site is free to read (thanks the UW and the State of Washington, especially John Vallier, Jessica Albano, Shawn Schollmeyer, Ashland Cross, John Keister, Robert Newman, Art Chantry, Jesse Jesse Marinoff Reyes Design, Kurt Ahrensfeld, and many more). The Rocket was always the contribution of thousands of writers, photographers, illustrators, designers, advertisers, and bands, but especially thanks to all who helped with this preservation effort, to all who read the paper over the years, and to all the bands who made music worth writing about. .

Archives of The Rocket, influential Seattle music magazine, go digital The Rocket magazine, which was published from 1979 to 2000, was a cultural hub for Seattle's exploding music scene. Its archives are being published online.

Just a reminder that tomorrow night (Thurs. March 3rd 7:00 p.m. PST), I’ll be interviewing author Jennifer Haupt about her wonderful new book “Come As You Are,” and her career as a journalist/author, but she'll also be interviewing me about The Rocket, Seattle music, Kurt, Mark, and beyond. This Hugo House sponsored conversation will be online and free, with a Q&A with the audience. Hope to see you. https://hugohouse.org/events/come-as-you-are-book-launch/?fbclid=IwAR0M9QIWhtT_-XMRh1bHbqKDCjTM1NwOzWJ3l9CrFdFyoeH9O2wf9iz7kwo

Book Launch: Come As You Are, Jennifer Haupt in Conversation with Charles R. Cross - Hugo House Join Jennifer Haupt for a lively conversation with music journalist Charles R. Cross, to discuss the explosion of grunge music, all things Nirvana, the