How much would you pay for a pair of old moldy-rusty benches covered by graffiti? No less than 10 bucks right? The bid on two like the one above has already reached $220 and, at the time when I am writing this, there are many hours left. Of course, there are not your usual falling-apart public benches, these two antiquities come from Viretta Park in Seattle, near Kurt Cobain’s home where he died 20 years ago.
On each anniversary of his death, Nirvana fans have been gathering around these in order to pay tribute to the musician, covering the benches with graffiti, as the place became an unofficial memorial to Kurt.
A few years ago, it was about time for the park to get a facelift and the slats of the benches were replaced with new wood, whereas the old ones were saved from the landfill,… someone in the operation must have been a fan or have understood he could make a few bucks! So the old Cobain memorial benches are for sale at a Tacoma auction house, Hamilton’s Antique & Estate Auctions.
Do we have any proof that Cobain even sat on them? I couldn’t find any picture… But now you can sell anything that has been at close proximity of any dead rock star? Wait a minute, I know they were selling Ian Curtis’ table not a long time ago but are they also going to sell the plant pots of the Samarkand Hotel where Jimi Hendrix died? The water pumps in Beautreillis street where Jim Morrison died? The possibilities are literally endless, as long as some random thing was in the vicinity of some dead rock star, and you know that there is minefield in Central Park, John Lennon’s neighborhood, when they changed all these benches.
It’s exploitative and at the time pointless and ridiculous, what do you do with these? You put them in your backyard and build a little shrine? Man, when I think about the number of people who touched them, sat on them, cried on them (and who knows what else) I don’t know if I’d feel comfortable sitting on them,… but oh well, as long as Courtney Love doesn’t get any penny off the sale.
