Of Grunge and Voting


By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Published April 22nd 2008 in The Washington Post
Krist Novoselic is best known as the bassist in the groundbreaking rock band Nirvana. But he recently added another title: chairman.

Novoselic has replaced former congressman John B. Anderson (R-Ill.) as chairman of FairVote, a group that advocates ways to encourage voting. Anderson comes from a different realm entirely; he was an independent candidate for president in 1980.

The transition is not as strange as it seems. In 2004, Novoselic did a national tour with FairVote to promote his book "Of Grunge & Government: Let's Fix This Broken Democracy!" In the book, Novoselic discusses how Nirvana emerged as the biggest band of the early 1990s and how he became involved in politics.

On second thought, it does seem pretty strange. In addition to chairing FairVote, Novoselic now plays with a punk band called Flipper.

Photo Caption: Krist Novoselic, former bassist for Seattle-based band Nirvana and the new chairman of advocacy group FairVote, uses a camera to record a news conference on elections at the Washington state capitol last year. (File Photos -- Associated Press)