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Speaker 1: Justin Burford is joining us.

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Speaker 2: Now you are doing Come as you Are, Unplugged and

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Speaker 2: Beyond at the Asta Theater this Thursday. Tickets are available

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Speaker 2: through tick a tech justin thank you for joining.

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Speaker 3: Us, Good morning, welcome.

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Speaker 1: So you are doing this on Thursday night.

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Speaker 2: Ironically, Friday, it will be thirty years since Kirk Cobain died.

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Speaker 1: Was this planned or is this just the coincidence that

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Speaker 1: has happened?

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Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, the show being on the anniversary practically.

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Speaker 3: Of yeah, very much. Yeah.

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Speaker 4: Actually, we were talking about so we did it the

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Speaker 4: first time in September of twenty twenty two. Yeah, and

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Speaker 4: we're talking about doing it in October of last year,

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Speaker 4: and I suddenly had this like you know, light bulb moment.

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Speaker 3: Hang on, I say, why don't we just put it

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Speaker 3: back like six months first month? And we can? Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 3: make it a little bit more of a milestone.

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Speaker 5: Absolutely. Look for a lot of people, who was the

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Speaker 5: Seattle sound and all of a sudden a lot of

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Speaker 5: people jumped on the band wagon? Mind was the album

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Speaker 5: that kicked a lot of the off for a lot

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Speaker 5: of people. But when did you become a fan?

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Speaker 3: Was it Bleach?

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Speaker 5: Was it earlier? Was it whereabouts?

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Speaker 3: Were you a fan of the partner? Actually?

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Speaker 4: So, I went to primary school with a kid from

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Speaker 4: the States, and I remember he gave me a copy

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Speaker 4: of Bleach. It was just like a dubbed coffee and

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Speaker 4: I remember taking home and listening to it maybe once

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Speaker 4: or twice.

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Speaker 3: I wish I could say like, oh.

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Speaker 4: And I heard it and it changed my life, But yeah,

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Speaker 4: I think for a lot of people it was it

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Speaker 4: was never mind. In fact, I remember the moment. I

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Speaker 4: was staying at a friend's house member sleepovers. Yeah, absolutely,

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Speaker 4: and we were in the kitchen eating cereal and watching

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Speaker 4: video hits and the smells like teen Spirit video came

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Speaker 4: on video and I was just like, I think it

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Speaker 4: was just like, you know, the spoon made it halfway

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Speaker 4: up to my mouth and I was.

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Speaker 3: And I was absolutely transfixed.

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Speaker 4: It was almost like, you know, kind of like yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 4: this flash of just this this is for.

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Speaker 5: Me, yes, my people, Yeah, yeah, from the moment you

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Speaker 5: see the old bloke mop on the floor and then.

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Speaker 4: Ruffy, scruffy blonde hair hair and what is this And

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Speaker 4: it was so melodic but so heavy and so powerful,

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Speaker 4: and you know, I've grown up in a very musical household.

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Speaker 4: No musicians, but my mum and dad both sang a

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Speaker 4: lot around the house Beatles Fans, Die Straight's, Fleetwood Mac

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Speaker 4: and then five years younger than my older sister, so

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Speaker 4: through the eighties she was all.

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Speaker 3: You know, like she was pretty cool.

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Speaker 4: So she was into like, you know, depeche Mode years

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Speaker 4: and stuff like that. So I loved all of that music. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 4: which you know, I've still grown up to love. But this,

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Speaker 4: I think for a lot of people my age and

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Speaker 4: above was just like, oh wow, everything's changed, first of all,

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Speaker 4: and secondly it was like, oh wow, now now we

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Speaker 4: have something.

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Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, yes, And then yeah it was our music,

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Speaker 3: it was our scene. My parents didn't.

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Speaker 2: Get it perfect, that's the way it's meant to be.

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Speaker 2: So there was this album which was huge, and then

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Speaker 2: this unplugged show on November eighteen, nineteen ninety three. Was

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Speaker 2: that before or after Eric Clapton did his unplugged Clersy

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Speaker 2: Mister Musical.

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Speaker 3: Was first okay arly anyway.

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Speaker 2: But he already was a bit you know, unplugged anyway.

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Speaker 2: But to see this album unplugged, everyone was like what

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Speaker 2: But it was just such a moment.

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Speaker 1: So what did you make of that? I mean that

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Speaker 1: was happening.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I remember when they broadcast it. Finally they broadcast

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Speaker 4: in Australia a few months after they originally broadcast in

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Speaker 4: the States, which was a few months after passed, so

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Speaker 4: you know, there's this extra gravitas. I think they must

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Speaker 4: have broadcast on RAGE or something because I had to

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Speaker 4: set up the VCRTA reported because I was still, you know,

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Speaker 4: at high school and I came home from school that day,

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Speaker 4: you know, so excited, yeah, pumped, and I watched it

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Speaker 4: and remember Helen Raiser and Mike absolutely they they introduced

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Speaker 4: the Australian Broadcasters broadcast on ABC and Helen Raiser was

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Speaker 4: apparently set to interview Kurt just a couple of weeks

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Speaker 4: after he you know, tragically went away, and she's talking

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Speaker 4: about that. She was like, oh, yeah, I was meant

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Speaker 4: to interview Kurt, you know, not longer than Mikey Robins

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Speaker 4: chimes in with some people would do anything to get

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Speaker 4: out of talking to you, Hellenship.

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Speaker 3: And I was like, you can say that anymore, but

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Speaker 3: he did. He did.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, but yes, absolutely, yeah, life changing moment. I mean

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Speaker 4: I've as part of the promo for this show. One

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Speaker 4: of the lines that that's in like that. The presser

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Speaker 4: I suppose is that, you know, Nirvana changed the musical landscape,

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Speaker 4: but everybody knows that, But it was this album. It

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Speaker 4: was Unplugged that put them into that you know, that

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Speaker 4: stratosferic strange jump. And we've had a lot of like

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Speaker 4: pushback from that, like in the comments on such. No,

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Speaker 4: it was never Mind that made them spiren. It's like, yeah,

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Speaker 4: you're right, but I don't think people remember how pivotal

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Speaker 4: this was because suddenly, like your soft rock radio station,

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Speaker 4: it such reach.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, it just went further than anyone.

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Speaker 5: Was expecting you could do, you right, because your ABC's

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Speaker 5: and that around the world, those broadcast national broadtests.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think it stands as their highest selling

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Speaker 4: album because I'm outsold never Mind.

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Speaker 5: It's amazing, isn't it. When you're performing and doing these songs, Man,

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Speaker 5: how conscious of you because there were so many cover

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Speaker 5: acts around now doing tribute shows? How are you conscious

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Speaker 5: of doing the songs and being true to the songs

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Speaker 5: but being justin as well? Something in your mind or

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Speaker 5: you don't want to just sound.

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Speaker 4: Like Yeah, that's a really interesting question, and I probably

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Speaker 4: we probably don't have enough no, because I say, okay,

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Speaker 4: I've done Kurt for quite a while, over ten years.

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Speaker 4: I was in a music hall called Rock of Ages

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Speaker 4: in twenty eleven and as we were finishing in Brisbane

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Speaker 4: at q Pac, John Waters was set to come in

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Speaker 4: after us to do his Glassiz show and we were

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Speaker 4: literally at the wrap party for Rock of Ages and

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Speaker 4: I said something that it was a throwaway line at

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Speaker 4: the time, but I said to the producers that looks

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Speaker 4: like a good show. Somebody should do that for Kurt Cobain.

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Speaker 3: And that was it.

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Speaker 4: And then a few months later and a couple of

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Speaker 4: the junior producers got in touch with me and said, hey,

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Speaker 4: remember you were talking about doing a Kirk Cobain show

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Speaker 4: And I was like yeah, and I said, we've booked

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Speaker 4: you for the Adelaide Fringe.

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Speaker 3: Oh Adelai Cabaret. Yeah, yeah, you brought it up.

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Speaker 4: So that was the first time that I kind of

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Speaker 4: re acquainted myself with this person and this music since

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Speaker 4: I was in my teens myself, and it was really interesting,

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Speaker 4: sort of deep diving, you know. I wrote the show,

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Speaker 4: not this show. This is a different show. Was just

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Speaker 4: called Kurt, and I did the whole thing with his words.

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Speaker 4: So I took journal exerts, interview excerpts, and created this

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Speaker 4: show that sort of told his story. And it was

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Speaker 4: interesting going back and seeing who this person was now

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Speaker 4: as an adult. In fact, I was older at that

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Speaker 4: time than he was when he passed away, and I

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Speaker 4: just had a completely different perspective on this guy as

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Speaker 4: much more human, much more flawed.

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Speaker 1: So young, yeah, so young.

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Speaker 4: And over the years, like I look back on video

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Speaker 4: of that now and I was doing a very very

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Speaker 4: rough estimation of Kurt. But I think I've honed it

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Speaker 4: more as the years have gone now and now I

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Speaker 4: just I don't I don't think I have to reach

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Speaker 4: quite as as much for it.

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Speaker 2: I'm going to push our time restraint and ask you

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Speaker 2: one more question. You were talking about setting the VCR before,

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Speaker 2: because you were still at school when Kurt died four

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Speaker 2: months after this show Clearsy and I were already working

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Speaker 2: people child labor, And but what was it like going

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Speaker 2: to school on the day of because I only.

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Speaker 1: Been going to work.

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Speaker 2: He didn't know the day that Kurt Cobain, the day

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Speaker 2: we got the news that he had died.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I woke up to the news like we all did. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: I was obviously you know the top story, and they, yeah,

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Speaker 4: said that Kurt's been founding his home in Seattle.

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Speaker 3: And I think I.

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Speaker 4: Took two or three days off school. Really, yeah, I

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Speaker 4: was crushed. He was a family member. And when back

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Speaker 4: to school, like, yeah, there was things had shifted morning.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, there was definitely a weight over everybody.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, and sometimes they really hit you. When Hutchins died,

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Speaker 5: that affected so many people.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely.

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Speaker 5: List When I heard about Taylor Hawkins three years ago, yeah,

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Speaker 5: two years ago, I was in the parking first started,

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Speaker 5: I started crying as a fifty year old man.

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Speaker 4: Absolutely, like you know, what's kind of it changed my

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Speaker 4: dad's perspective on him. My dad was the Beatles fan.

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Speaker 4: John Lennon loved idol and I so I grew up

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Speaker 4: idolizing John Lennon. Yeah, and he, I think really empathized.

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Speaker 4: And we sort of bonded over Kurt's passing because it

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Speaker 4: was sort of our our It was absolutely yeah, absolutely,

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Speaker 4: thank you.

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Speaker 1: John Lennon.

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Speaker 2: Come as you are unplugged and be honest at the

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Speaker 2: ASTA Theater on Thursday. Tickets are available through tic Tech.

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Speaker 2: Justin so nice to chat to you.

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Speaker 3: Thank you for having me all the best, real pleasure