George Bowe Blitch has been a Wildlife Manager, 5th generation Texas Rancher, Professional Writer, Videographer, Photographer, Editor, Speaker, Brand Developer & Designer, Cartographer, Touring Musician, Teacher, Coach, Serial Entrepreneur, Finance Manager, and the owner of numerous businesses.
George has met some wildly interesting people in his lifetime, and this "Son of a Blitch” is sure to share some impactful stories, interviews, and messages that will be informative, educational, and highly entertaining!
Guests often include: #1 New York Times Best Selling Authors, Television Show Hosts, International Touring Musicians, Actors, James Beard Award-Winning Chefs, Leaders in the Outdoor Industry, Photographers, Filmmakers, Navy SEALS, Green Berets, Veterans and related Veteran Organizations, a Master BladeSmith, a Federal Judge, Professional Athletes, Business Leaders, Inventors, Survival & Wilderness Experts, Instructors, Publishers, Inventors, Cartel Fighting Game Wardens, other podcasters, and more!
"I've met some incredible people in my life, and I want to share their stories!" ~GB
What happens when a 14-year-old Nirvana fan gets elbowed in the head trying to grab a guitar pick, only to have Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl turn an unforgettable concert into an even more extraordinary experience?
In the debut episode of his Son of a Blitch StoryTellers series, George Blitch takes listeners back to December 6, 1993, at Houston's Astro Arena, where he and his longtime friend Colin Williams* found themselves pressed against the front barricade for a performance by one of the most influential bands in rock history: Nirvana.
With Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl, and Krist Novoselic delivering an unforgettable live performance, the night was already one for the books. But what happened after the final song would become a story George would carry with him for the rest of his life.
As the band began clearing the stage, a guitar pick was tossed from Kurt Cobain's microphone stand, landing just within George's reach. When he bent down to retrieve it, an adult concertgoer attempted to take it by force, driving an elbow into George's temple and leaving him dazed and nearly unconscious.
Houston Police and security intervened, separating the individuals and checking on the injured teenager. Watching from nearby were none other than Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl.
What happened next was extraordinary.
Seeing what had unfolded, Kurt reached into his pocket and personally handed George the guitar pick he'd actually played with that night. Dave followed with additional memorabilia, including photocopied backstage pass reference sheets.
What began as an ugly confrontation became an unforgettable act of kindness from two musicians at the height of Nirvana's fame.
George also reflects on how that experience influenced his own years as a touring musician, reinforcing the importance of looking out for concertgoers, and caring for the safety and security of the fans.
Side Note: Legendary concert poster artist Frank Kozik created the artwork for Nirvana's December 6, 1993, Houston concert. Years later, George connected with Kozik while purchasing some of his digital artwork. During their correspondence, George shared the story of his unforgettable night seeing Nirvana, which Frank deeply appreciated, creating another personal connection to a concert that had already left a lasting impression.
*Colin Williams is the co-founder of Map My Ranch, a company he and George created that creates printed and digital maps for outdoor adventurers.
George Blitch is the host of the Son of a Blitch Podcast, featuring authentic conversations with musicians, actors, authors, chefs, outdoor industry leaders, and other fascinating personalities. His StoryTellers series explores remarkable experiences, unexpected encounters, and the stories behind the stories.
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Son of a Blitch podcast. I'm your host, George Blitz, and this is Storytellers. What storytellers? It's where I'm gonna go ahead and tell you some fun stories about some things I've been a part of, things I've seen. Maybe I'll have some other people come on and record specifically about some amazing stories they have.
The first one I want to start with, which isn't the first chronologically in my life, but it was one that just kind of comes to mind, is the time I went to go see Nirvana. That's right, in 1993, December 9th to be exact, at the Astro Arena in Houston, Texas. Uh Shonen Knife and the Breeders were the openers. And I had an amazing time at this concert. It was one of my favorite bands at the time. I'm in the front row. I'm holding on to the gate. No one's pulling me off. I am sitting there right front and center watching the guys put on the show of a lifetime. Uh and Shonen Knife and the Breeders were awesome too. I'll I'll add that in
there. But I'm sitting there watching, and my buddy Colin and I were at the front. And one of the things I love to do, especially in this age, now I'm 14 years old. I like to get little mementos from the shows, right? Like guitar picks, drumsticks, whatever it is, maybe a signed set list. Uh, you know, there's it wasn't selfies back in the day then, but but you know, something to like, you know, maybe an autograph, maybe something to mark my time and uh that interaction with uh, you know, one of those musical heroes of mine. So
basically I'm at the very front of the stage, and then the show comes to an end, Kurt throws his guitar down, there's all this massive feedback going on, and the guys kind of slowly trickle off stage. Well, at this point in time, we're all like, Kurt, throw your guitar pick out, Chris. And Novaselic, throw your guitar pick out, everyone. Dave Grohl, throw your drumsticks, man. We're all like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it doesn't happen. Kurt Cobain grabs the guitar pick and he puts it in his pocket and he starts to walk off the stage. I think maybe Dave threw some way off in the crowd or whatever, and I can't remember if Kurt did or not. I mean, uh, Chris Novaselic or not with his, you know, bass uh pick there. But all I do recall is that I didn't get Kurt Cobain's pick. But the sound guy who's like going over there and he's turning off the amps from all the feedback, he's over there right by the mic stand, and there's a bunch of picks that are taped up to the mic stand. So you're playing guitar and you're singing, and all of a sudden, you know, you drop a pick, you want to be able to grab one, not pick it off from the floor. So they always have them kind of taped up on a mic stand or you know, any anything right there where they can grab them, right? Sometimes on the amps or whatever. So there's one right there on Kurt Cobain's uh mic stand. So he grabs that and he throws it out into the audience, and lo and behold, it comes right towards me and kind of lands down right in front of me. I drop down and I put my hand over and I'm trying to pick it up. Now, this floor is grimy. There are people that have been sweating, there's blood, tears, everything all on the floor. And I'm trying to pick up this guitar pick and get it into my pocket as quick as I can. And I kind of have it in my hand and I'm kind of picking it up, and all of a sudden, wham, I feel this huge force on the side of my head, and I kind of like get all dizzy, everything's looking a little bit dark. I don't quite pass out, but I kind of feel like I'm about to, and somehow I have the wherewithal to kind of keep on this guitar pick, and and I don't even know how I did it, but I got it and I ended up getting it into my pocket. And right about that time, I'm kind of trying to stand up and I'm feeling a little woozy. And next thing you know, there's Houston Police Department officers that were like grabbing me and grabbing the adult who has just elbowed me in my temple, trying to go ahead and knock me off of this guitar pick
so he can get it. Real cool, classy move, right? The officers grab us, pull us backstage, and they're like, hey, who are you here with? Do you have an adult with you? I'm like, Yeah, my dad's here. He's probably reading a science fiction book, smoking a cigar out there outside. You can probably go find him. Uh, and you know, I start to kind of like tell him a little bit of what he looks like. Like, okay, well, do you think that, you know, they'll want to press charges and you want to press charges against this guy? And I was like, I don't know, man. You know, you hit a kid and he's an adult, and they're like, Yep, you're right. And they tell the guy, no matter what, you're going to jail tonight, guy. They put on handcuffs, they start escorting him out to wherever the holding pin is there at the astral arena. I don't know. But as all this is happening, they're still trying to check on me, need some ice, he need this. And I look up and I see Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl, who are kind of like a little bit closer now from the stage. They've
been kind of watching and seeing how I'm doing. They're like, Are you okay? They're kind of waving and signaling, like, you know, putting their hands up. And I'm like, Yeah, yeah. And they say, Hold on. And they kind of walk a little bit closer. There's like a gate between us, and Kurt Cobain reaches into his pocket, grabs that pick he's played the entire show with, and he ends up handing it over to the security guy, and he's like, Here, have this, man. And the security guy hands it over to me. I'm like, Oh my gosh, I put it in my pocket, right? And then Dave Grohl's like, Hold on, man, hold on. And he goes back in a little backstage area. And, you know, for any of those who've ever seen, there's all these backstage passes you see, right? Some are for the crew and some are for the musicians and some are for press. Well, there's all these different backstage types of stickers or passes. So they have a photocopy of each one and where it allows each person to go. So they didn't necessarily give me a backstage pass, but it's like a photocopy of all of them, telling you where each person is allowed to go. So it's a couple pages of that. Um, you know, for those who are listening to this right now, you won't see the visual. For those who are watching this on uh YouTube short or whatever it is, you'll see that I uh the visual of this. But uh, you know, you can check out the links below and kind of see some pictures that I've uploaded. And they ended up giving me these and they check on me and they make sure I'm doing okay, and then they kind of go back and do their thing and you know and leave for the show uh wherever they're heading to the next city,
right? But for me, it's something that like it sticks with me. I still got these pics, I still got these photocopies, uh, I still got my little stub from that night, getting to see one of my favorite bands and having an interaction with them that meant a lot to me in a lot of different ways. You know, I was a touring musician for a lot of years, and the way that those guys looked after their audience was something that I always took to heart too whenever I was playing in these types of places. And I didn't have the same situations that they probably faced night and night after each other. Like if there was a pit that got a little bit a mosh pit, a little bit too rowdy, they would tell people to, you know, calm down. And in case there was a girl or a younger kid who got you know knocked around or someone, if someone got injured, they'd stop the show. People are pushing up to the people in the front row and they're getting you know squished, like, hey, stop, everyone take a step back. And I've known a lot of bands who have done that, but those guys very specifically, they also cared a lot about people who were going ahead and and you know doing crowd surfing, and especially girls when they were crowd surfing, and they looked after them. If things weren't going appropriate, they would make sure they'd stop the show and they would threaten to leave the stage. And it sometimes the way that the behavior was in the audience, they left the stage, they didn't come back, they didn't put up with that kind of stuff, and they were very much uh caring for their audience, and they cared for me when I got knocked down and almost knocked out. So there you have it. There's the story of meeting Kirk Cobain and Dave Grohl from Nirvana. All it took was getting almost knocked out by an adult when I was 14 years old, got to meet some of my musical heroes, get a little memento, and be able to have this story that I could then pass on to you guys. So
this is Storytellers Volume One. There's more to come. I got a really cool story about meeting Taylor Hawkins, the drummer of Foo Fighters. Um, you know, rest in peace as well as Kurt there. But I have a really cool story uh that I will be sharing on another future volume of Storytellers. Hope you guys like this. If you do, let me know. Put it in the comments below. You want to hear more stories like this? I got a lot of them. And uh, if you like this, hey, share it with a friend. Make sure you smash that subscribe button, as my buddy Colin always tells me to do, right? That's why he says I don't have as many followers as as everyone else. It's because I haven't said smash that like button. Smash that subscribe button. So there you go. All right, do it, pass it on to a friend. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. Have a good one. Take care.
