See what happens when people read other people's private journals? People get their feelings hurt. Pete Townshend became sore enough over the line "I hope I die before I become Pete Townshend" to write a long book review in the Guardian, reprinted in the Observer, after reading the controversial just-published journals of Kurt Cobain. "Why," asked Townshend, "because I had become a bore? Because I had failed to die young? Because I had become conventional? Or, simply because I had become old? In fact, in the early '90s, when Kurt was struggling with himself over whether or not to do an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, I was not boring, neither old nor young, and I was not dead." Townshend goes on to admit that he read the book in an attempt to look behind the creative process of Cobain, and how an album like Nevermind changed the musically stale early '90s. Townshend complains that there are no dates in the journal, which to me raises a red flag. Since last week's It's My Party, I've received several e-mails from superfans chastising me for speaking out against the journals, and each and every one of these hotheads spewed the mistaken opinion that I wasn't a true fan of Nirvana. Last weekend I asked some musician friends if, should they become huge stars and then die, they would ever want their journals made public. Each and every one of them was horrified at the idea, saying that personal things could be taken out of context, feelings change from day to day, and notes written to the self are meant for the self. I agree. Weblogs are public, and I'll admit to reading several. But I usually stop once I realize the author knows I'm reading them. Read the tender Cobain journals if you want, I don't care. The Widow has already received her purported $4 million up-front. But don't accuse me of not being a fan of Nirvana just because I choose not to read the journals myself. I don't want to help the Widow show the world that her deceased husband was angry with everyone. Townshend's review of the journal makes sense to me because he's seen two of his bandmates kill themselves with excess. However, much of Townshend's rant sounds like that of a once revolutionary, now residual 57-year-old man, and what's he done lately to change the state of music?

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For familial reasons, I'm no fan of Halloween. But I did go out to Ye Olde Towne, Ballard, and witnessed the Freddie Mercury Mustache Contest. Who won? None other than former Scared of Chaka frontman Dave Hernandez. It was in the bag the second he walked in the door, actually, because he even wore a set of fake Freddie teeth.

Speaking of Mr. Hernandez, he and former Murder City Devil/Dead Low Tide drummer Coady Willis are collaborating on a project called the Flesh.

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Though residents of the Tri-Cities mostly populated the crowd, Loudermilk brought down the house on Saturday, November 2, at the Graceland. Reading in The Stranger that Sage had been an early influence on the band, Sage frontman Marc Olsen showed up and introduced himself to the visibly awed members. And I was hootin' and wooooing like mad when the band finished the show with a perfectly executed, guitar-solo-mad cover of Grand Funk Railroad's "Inside Looking Out."

kathleen@thestranger.com