Have you ever had a weird run in with someone you admire? Someone famous? Since I shared my Chris Cornell painting yesterday I thought it might be fun to share with you the time I could have met Chris Cornell.
I was just a senior in high school when Louder than Love came out. The first time I saw Hands all Over on Headbanger’s Ball I thought the message in the lyrics was daring for that time and “genre” and just how different their sound was from anything else I had heard. I bought the cassette (I am that old) and listened to it frequently. I got chills everytime that moment came in Loud Love when Chris Cornell’s voice melted perfectly into Kim Thayll’s guitar, when you couldn’t quite tell where one started and the other ended. Badmotorfinger came out when I was in college and I thought it was just brilliant. I wore that stupid cassette out.
I was only lucky enough to see Soundgarden play once. I was It seems so long time ago so I can’t remember the specifics anymore of how and why I decided to go decided to go. I was a Junior in college in a Minnesota college town, too small to host concerts. If you wanted to see anything good it generally involved a road trip to the Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul). I guess I had been talking with some of my old high school friends and they told me about a Skid Row concert that had Soundgarden opening. I thought Skid Row was alright for the kind of band they were but I was really hyped to see Soundgarden. (Louder than Love was highest on my “What I listen to when I paint” playlist. Yeah, I had one before they were even a thing). I convinced two college friends to go. Shelly was my best college bud and Audrey, well, she had the car.
I remember it being an obnoxiously cold and gray day in February, even for Minnesota. I left my leather coat in the car because I didn’t want to take it in the arena and have it smell like “concert”. Admittingly not a very smart move on my part but I was young and had questionable judgment sometimes. Crystal and Linda, my friends from High School, had arranged to meet us near a parking garage that just happened to be at the rear of the arena. The girls had a tall, blond “rock star” looking guy tagging along with them. I guess he was from a local band that they knew and they had run into each other on the way to meet us. He was a talker, quite animated and very pleasant to look at. The girls gathered around him, like bees to honey. I having foolishly left my coat behind and was rapidly turning into an icicle, could have cared less. I was daydreaming of fire and hot chocolate and anything else to keep my mind off the fact I might be dying of frostbite that very moment.
Lost in my thoughts I don’t remember if the bus pulled up or if it was already there. The door opens and I recognized Kim Thayll, lead guitarist of Soundgarden. He briefly looked over at our group and continued walking. Mr. Rock Star and my friends kept chattering away, ignoring each one of the Soundgarden band members as they got off the bus. Chris Cornell, the lead singer, was the last off.
Chris stepped down off the bus and he gave my friends, who were salivating all over the big blond guy, a glance. I was standing off to the side slightly, obviously part of the group, but not involved. (I may or may not have been turning blue at this point) Chris then made eye contact with me. We maintained eye contact long past what was considered normal for a person walking away, as he was. Even as he and the rest of the band walked towards the arena we continued staring at each other like we were gunslingers on opposite sides of the OK Corral shootout. It was oddly tense. Finally he turned and and entered the building. My friend Shelly shoved my shoulder afterwards and whispered “What was the fuck was that?”
To this day I can’t explain exactly what that was. In retrospect I wish I had said something to them, or to Chris. I have heard that Chris Cornell was always very gracious and kind to his fans, perhaps reserved, but never a dick.
Audrey, Shelly and I had seats in the very back of the arena, like the very last row. Roy Wilkins Auditorium is a pretty small arena compared to the newer Xcel Energy Center that is just down the street now. Soundgarden’s set was incredible, but way too short. The set list was a good mixture of older stuff with the majority of the songs from Badmotorfinger. The crowd was very receptive and to be expected, the roar was deafening when Chris sang one of his greatest lyrics, you know the one “I’m looking California but feeling Minnesota”. It really was one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen. I was hoarse before the end of their set. Afterwards, we loaded ourselves up back into the car and drove home. We got back to Winona at some ungodly hour.
I wish I could have seen them again but I never really kept track of tour dates very well, so unless a band had a show within a short drive from where I was living, I didn’t know about it. Plus, arena shows started getting too expensive and I hated spending that kind of money. I enjoyed clubs where it was smaller and I could enjoy the show more. Unfortunately I never heard of of Soundgarden, Audioslave or any of Chris’ solo shows coming around where I lived until last year. Soundgarden was playing in Somerset, WI. I really wanted to go, but things just weren’t going to work out. Being a grown up sometimes stinks. So I didn’t go. They played there 3 days before Chris died. I can’t even tell you how much I regret not figuring something out and just going.
Yesterday's Tomorrow Today 