So, I watched the Soaked in Bleach documentary on Netflix the other night. Here are some random thoughts.
1. Synopsis: Famous, semi-interesting crazy lady may have had something to do with the death of her fairly uninteresting rock star husband.
2. Seems pretty clear that the Seattle police botched the crime scene and followup; but hey—what else is new? Cops will be cops.
3. Seems pretty clear that there’s compelling, more-than-circumstantial evidence to support re-opening the case as a homicide, rather than a clear-cut suicide—but, well; referring back to #1, we have to ask ourselves how we define “compelling.” There are quite a few cases that would take priority over this one, if we’re actually going to spend the time and resources.
4. Kind of a shame to see Dylan Carlson implicated fairly heavily as (to be kind) a “person of interest” or (to buy into the doc’s implications) an accomplice. I’m prepared to cut him some slack, though, for the following reasons:
4a. Guilty until presumed innocent, etc. Can’t convict someone on the strength of one documentary.
4b. Guilty or not, with Earth (and on his own), Carlson has made music I’ll be listening to for years to come. The fact that I’m confident that the same isn’t true for Kurt Cobain does not mean it’s okay if Carlson had a role in his murder, but, well—put it this way: I sold Bleach back in the nineties sometime. I’ve had Nevermind since college (OG copy; no bonus track—look for it on ebay soon) and yet it’s never made it onto any ipod I’ve owned. If one of these guys had to go…
4c. Heroin is a hell of a drug, etc.
5. Is Jessica Hopper, the girlfriend of this “Cali” guy, the same Jessica Hopper who now has an impressive career as a music writer? A cursory, superficial Google search is inconclusive, but—
6. yawn
7. Anyhow, RIP and a splash of liquor to the murdered, the gone-too-soon, the died-too-young, the unfairly-taken, the unjustly-deceased and the never-forgotten; among this uncountable crowd: Kurt Cobain. Rock stars’ deaths get more attention than those of ordinary humans, but that doesn’t mean they’re more important. A cursory, superficial Google of the terms, “cops,” “black” and “killed” will readily turn up a grim crateful of cold and still-warm cases that could use a bit of that righteous spotlight.
yeah, i got .com 