Lee Bacon and his wife, Dani, turned the lights off just to turn them on much brighter in a spectacle that led to cheers from at least a couple hundred people on Monday night in downtown Aberdeen.
On Wednesday, Feb. 8, the city of Aberdeen approved a resolution to make Feb. 20, "Kurt Cobain Day." Monday night was also Cobain's birthday. Cobain was born Feb. 20, 1967.
As Lee counted down for the crowd, his production consisted of a loud whirring that got louder and higher-pitched. The whirring was reminiscent of something heard in a blockbuster action movie right before the action starts.
When Lee's team hit the lights, bright, equidistant, white lights illuminated the night's sky, and more importantly the Side One Building — the Urban Moss green building that sits at the intersection of South K and West Wishkah streets. Nirvana's grammy-nominated track, "Smells Like Teen Spirit," played on booming speakers, which only added to the crowd's collected excitement and enthusiasm. The late-Kurt Cobain, an Aberdeen son, wrote the track. It's the first song on the band's critically acclaimed album "Nevermind."
As Dani tells it, Lee chose the song.
"What we liked about it is when (Cobain) says 'With the lights out," and that's when all the lights went out in the building," Dani said about the song's lyrics. "And then the explosion came and the lights came on. He wanted that 'With the lights out,' line."
The "explosion" was from the recording of Cobain's electric guitar riff, Krist Novoselic's powerful bass lines and Dave Grohl's pounding drums that played on the massive speaker nearby.
Despite the wind and the rain that poured onto downtown Aberdeen, people from as far as Seattle and Portland showed up to see the Bacons' latest progress on their push to celebrate Cobain and Nirvana. The Bacons, having anticipated the large crowd, set up a tent from the Downtown Aberdeen Association on South K Street. They even got permission to close the South K block between West Wishkah and West Heron streets.
The fact that so many people showed up during the pouring rain and the cold — it was about 45 degrees outside — delighted numerous people such as Michael Dickerson, the vice president of Our Aberdeen. The 501c4 Corporation, according to ouraberdeen.com, supports projects in the community.
"The number of people who showed up in the miserable, rainy weather was remarkable," Dickerson said.
Dickerson's wife, Sylvia, said she loved seeing people out. Sylvia has helped her husband commission the murals that adorn the buildings throughout downtown Aberdeen.
"It's really heartwarming, in this weather, to see how many people came out," Sylvia said.
Another man who attended the event, Wes Russoul, said the weather was "appropriate" for such a night.
"The sky was crying for Kurt," Russoul said.
As for the interior of the building, it's quite a sight. The narrow hallway, which features archival concert photos of a crowdsurfing Cobain, a clean and shiny wooden floor and clear overhead lighting, provides a concert-like feel. Combine all that with Nirvana playing in the background and people from all ages — including a few children and a few elderly folks — it's a welcoming spot. Renderings of what it will look like when completed show a much more refined version compared to what people saw Monday night.
But, as Lee pointed out, this was just a preview of what's to come out of this project, which includes The Green Room, The Tribute Gallery and tours of Cobain's childhood home in East Aberdeen.
Max Benoit was glad to have driven out of state to attend the light show and to support his father-in-law, Erik Sandgren, a local mural artist.
"As a kid, I was a huge Nirvana fan," Benoit said. "At 15, I remember getting a copy of 'Nevermind.'"
Benoit said it was "real interesting," to be a fan of Nirvana at 15, and then have such a deep connection in his mid-40s. When he started listening to Nirvana, he didn't think the band would get a museum. He remembers discussing the band a year and a half before it got big.
The fact Nirvana would have this big of a cultural impact never crossed his mind, until now.
"Nirvana is kind of like the Led Zeppelin of their generation," Benoit said as he explained the way Led Zeppelin is the classic sound for their era, Nirvana is that way for Grunge music.
Sandgren, the lead artist who painted the "Nirvana and Aberdeen" mural that adorns the top of the north facing wall of the Side One Building, discussed his thoughts on the Bacons attempt to inject Nirvana life back into downtown Aberdeen. Even for people who look for reminders of Cobain and Nirvana, it has been difficult to find much fanfare throughout the city.
"I like the way they did it," Sandgren said about the light show. "It was exciting. It made it a little event. We were here for (the album) 'Bleach,' and for the rocket acceleration after 'Bleach,' since the Sub Pop days."
In 1989, Nirvana released "Bleach," through Sub Pop Records, which signed Nirvana and other Grunge bands.
As far as to how the mural looks lit up, Sandgren is satisfied. It once was on the top of the wall of the former Moore's Interiors' building.
"The mural looks great," Sandgren said. "I'm really happy it's here. You can see it at night now. Thanks to Our Aberdeen for giving it a new life."
Cameron Ross, the former owner of the skateboard on which Cobain once drew Iron Maiden's "Killers" album artwork in the 1980s, talked about Cobain. Ross and Cobain went to Robert Gray Elementary School together.
"He was quiet until you got to know him," Ross said about Cobain.
According to Ross, there were limited entertainment options throughout the 1970s and 1980s in Aberdeen.
"You either played sports or you played music, and I hung around with the guys who played music" Ross said.
Ross said later on in life he saw a flyer that Cobain had up in town. It led to a brief, yet interesting story that involved the former shop, Rosevear's Music Center, which closed in 2015 after 80 years of operation.
"Kurt had a flyer up at Rosevear's Music for doing freelance art, drawing on T-shirts and stuff," Ross said. "I gave him 20 bucks and a chunk of weed to paint my skateboard."
Ross said Cobain painted Iron Maiden's "Killers" album artwork on the bottom of the skateboard.
"And now, Tony Hawk has it," said Ross about Hawk, who is the most famous professional skateboarder to ever live. Hawk bought the skateboard at an auction in 2022.
The Bacons were quite happy with the way the event turned out.
"I was really happy with all the people who came out to support us," Dani said. "To get a couple hundred people in the pouring rain, I feel like it was really special."
Dani pointed out how the ages spanned from toddlers to 80-year-olds. Lee was also jazzed by the people he saw.
"I think it's a real positive sign that, not just the quantity of people, but the people who came out were a mix of people from the community, people from up north in Seattle and Tacoma, who were all connected to the story, connected to our project in some way, and very supportive. We really appreciate that."
As Lee stated earlier in the night, the show and the public's invitation to check out the progress inside the Side One Building is just a preview.
"I would say it's 10 percent of the type of experience that hopefully we can convey for people to come see The Green Room, and then hopefully the gallery next year," Lee said. "The goal was to get people to come and get a little bit excited, and build some anticipation through some of the big imagery and just the whole atmosphere. I think based on who we talked to, everybody said we hit that on the mark. They felt like they were backstage. This is what we really wanted, to capture that element."
Lee said at one point he looked up at the concert photos and he felt "transported" back to the scenes of Cobain crowdsurfing, which was kind of "cool and kind of scary."
"But the people were out having fun, the people were enjoying the music," Lee said. "It was a really intimate one-hour event, but hopefully we can build on this and make it better next time. We're gonna make it better next time. It's gonna be more immersive and that's really what we're trying to do with the lighting, the sound, the pictures, and the graphics."
