Pitchfork

[Posted Monday, December 8th, 2003 04:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, for the most part, left the public eye after his band's career was cut short in April, 1994. He is easily the least recognizable face of Nirvana, being that few people have their face on more posters and T-shirts than Kurt Cobain does, and Dave Grohl's amazing second career via the Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age is hard to top.

Being strongly politically minded, Novoselic has instead spent much of the last decade organizing fundraisers and protests. Some of his agendas took shape during Nirvana's heyday-- organizing a benefit show at the San Francisco Cow Palace, whose proceeds went to Bosnian rape victims-- but his biggest contribution was/is J.A.M.P.A.C. (Joint Artists and Music Promotions Political Actions Committee), which, throughout the 1990s, fought against Tipper Gore's then-impending censorship of music. Suffering no success in his duo Sweet 75 (which released one self-titled album before folding) and limited success in his most recent endeavor, Eyes Adrift, Novoselic's most recent stance at the political mic was in 1999 when he teamed up with Jello Biafra for a Seattle protest show against the World Trade Organization.

And now, after Krist publicly announced his end as a rock musician (which was more of a personal, therapeutic announcement, it seems, than a public one) he's spoken out about potentially running for Lt. Governor in Washington State, 2004. With a foot in the Democratic Party door, Novoselic is well-known as a mouthpiece for liberal causes in the Seattle area. But his idea to run for office is somewhat squelched by the arduous task of challenging to two-term Lt. Governor, Brad Owen (who is also known for his blue moon dabbling with rock 'n' roll, although it's safe to say that he never chucked his guitar into the air on national television and had it crash into his fat forehead and knock him senseless, which may cause him to reside in greater favor with the more politically moderate Washingtonians). Krist speaks on the upcoming political year: "I've been really contemplating how I want to get involved next year and make a contribution. It's going to be a big year and I'm trying to find a way to fit into it."

href="http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/e/eyes-adrift/eyes-adrift.shtml">Eyes Adrift: Eyes Adrift