The key players in the Nirvana controversy

It has been more than 10 years since Nirvana changed the face of rock in the '90s with its second album, "Nevermind," and more than five years since the release of its last disc, the posthumous live set, "From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah." Here is an update on the the most prominent players in the band's story:

Krist Novoselic

After his first post-Nirvana band, Sweet 75, barely caused a ripple in the music world, the group's former bassist devoted himself full-time to political activism, focusing on the issues of voters' rights and free speech. He remains active in that arena today, speaking frequently, and maintaining his own Web site at www.inclusivedemocracy.com. But he is also returning to music: Eyes Adrift, a trio completed by former Meat Puppets guitarist (and guest with Nirvana on "MTV Unplugged") Curt Kirkwood and ex-Sublime drummer Bud Gaugh, will make its Chicago debut at the Double Door, 1572 N. Milwaukee, on April 27.

Dave Grohl

Nirvana's most celebrated drummer has had considerable success as the guitarist and vocalist of the Foo Fighters, though he tends to burn through bandmates with alarming frequency. The newest version of the group is recording its fourth album in Los Angeles, and guests include Brian May of Queen. Last month, the band made a surprise appearance in Salt Lake City opening for local heroes Cheap Trick. The Foos billed themselves as "Stacked Actor," the name of a song from their last album, which was written as a dig at Courtney Love.

Courtney Love

Love has been talking for some time about forming a new band (as yet officially unnamed) whose one other permanent member is former Hole drummer Patti Schemel. Veruca Salt's Louise Post departed after a short stint on guitar, and Love may or may not recruit her old friend, former Babes In Toyland guitarist Kat Bjelland. "I'm a Mick, I'm not a Keith," Love says. "What does Mick do? He interprets brilliantly and shakes around, but he's got a machine behind him. I've never been that lucky."

Love readily admits that she needs a partner to write songs. Billy Corgan filled that role on Hole's last album, "Malibu," and Love is currently writing with Steve MacDonald, formerly of Redd Kross, and Linda Perry, the former leader of 4 Non-Blondes, who has also written for Pink and Christina Aguilera. "I need another person who is a song- crafter," Love says. "A Jimmy Webb, old-school, Van Dyke Parks, Randy Newman kind of guy. I'm not Polly Harvey. I want to sell millions of records!"

Still, Love insists that her late husband did not write any of the material on Hole's second and most successful album, "Live Through This." She is angry at Grohl and Novoselic for never denying those charges (or speaking out against the "Courtney killed Kurt" conspiracy theories), and she rails at the album's producers, Paul Kolderie and Sean Slade, for failing to set the record straight. (No one has ever submitted any solid evidence that "Live Through This" was written by anyone other than Love, Hole guitarist Eric Erlandson, and the band's real musical powerhouse, its late bassist, Kristen Pffaf.)

As for her film career, Love costars with Kevin Bacon and Charlize Theron in "24 Hours," a thriller about a kidnapping gone wrong that's set to open in August. She's hoping to star as the late singer Janis Joplin in a new biopic, and while she's not really a fan of the music ("I hate boogie-woogie!"), it's easy to see why she's attracted to the story. "Here's the first female rock star, an ugly girl from [freaking] [butt-]hole, military industrial complex Port Arthur who comes to town and flames out. She's smart, people tell her to shut up all the time because she talks too [freaking] much, she's annoying, she's kinda crazy, she's got no role models, there's no chicks who came before her, she's [freaking] ALONE, man! But she's writing these letters home that are incredibly descriptive about what she's gonna wear, and she's very professional."

Kurt Cobain

Eight years ago on April 5, Nirvana's leader exited this world with such finality that, unlike Elvis Presley, no one ever sees him shopping at the 7-11 or hitching a ride with a passing UFO. Nevertheless, Cobain's influence lives on in heralded new bands like the Strokes; his life was the subject of one of 2001's bestselling biographies, Heavier Than Heaven by Charles R. Cross, and two weeks ago, Penguin-Putnam's Riverhead Books purchased 23 of his notebooks and journals for nearly $4 million. An anthology reproducing these pages is expected before the end of the year.

A week before the sale, Love and her manager/boyfriend, Jim Barber, allowed me to look through several of these journals, which had earlier been catalogued and quoted extensively by Cross. Holding the books, you feel like you're peering into Cobain's soul. Odd doodles and haunting cartoons crowd the pages alongside his loopy, childish scrawl as he drafts lyrics; makes lists of his favorite bands (the Pixies, the Vaselines, Young Marble Giants ...); designs his ideal guitar (a cross between a Fender Jaguar and a Mustang that he called "a Jagstang"), and writes a letter to a hero, the late rock critic Lester Bangs.

Cobain also pens an angry missive to his estranged father. "Seven months ago I chose to put myself in a position which requires the highest form of responsibility a person can have," he writes. "A responsibility that should not be dictated. Every time I see a television show that has dying children or some testimonial by a parent who recently lost their child, I can't help but cry. The thought of losing my baby haunts me every day. I'm even a bit unnerved to take her in the car in fear of getting into an accident. I swear that if I ever find myself in a similar situation than you've been in, i.e. the divorce, I will fight to my death to keep the right to provide for my child. I'll go out of the way to remind her that I love her more than I love myself."

While some people may see the publications of the journals as exploitative, Cobain might have disagreed. In June 1993, I asked him if he'd ever considered doing a book of his poetry, a la Lou Reed's book of collected lyrics. "I usually end up using most of my poems in songs," he said. "But I would like to do a book some day."

Frances Bean Cobain

Born on Aug. 18, 1992, Franny (as she's known at home) is a pretty, lanky nine-year-old with long, chestnut-brown hair and piercing eyes just like her father's. She emerges several times during my lengthy interview with her mother, wearing a T-shirt that says, "Avoid the Bourbon Street Hangover: Stay Drunk!" ("One of mom's funny shirts," Love says). And she chides her mother about her frequent swearing.

"She charges me $5 every time I say the F-word," Love says. "And that's fine, I agreed to that, but she has to write it down in Mommy's little curse book-she can't just be random about it. She tried to do a dollar a smoke, but that's not fair!"

Love says her daughter can't listen to her father's music-"It makes her sad"-and while she professes to have no interest in rock, mom has actually caught her secretly listening to alt-rock powerhouse KROQ-FM.

"Frances should never ever, ever, ever, ever have to worry [about money], and I mean that in the Lisa Marie Presley way," Love says. "She should never have to have anything bad happen except having a tennis ball hit her once in a while. That's her life, OK? I am not raising a worker. But in her trust agreement, she has to work three months a year after the age of 18, period. I don't care if it's volunteer work, but it's a pretty strict trust. And then I'm just gonna stand outside her door with a shotgun and make sure nobody comes near her!"