A Seattle man who will soon undergo kidney surgery said that in a way, he has the late Kurt Cobain to thank for making that possible.

Richard Newland recently auctioned off part of a broken guitar that Cobain smashed on stage at a concert in Seattle in 1990. He was working security at that event and he said a big part of that guitar landed at his feet.

He ended up keeping it for nearly 20 years inside his closet. He even contemplated throwing it away when Cobain committed suicide in 1994.

“I was mad at him for doing that,” Newland said. “I threw it in the garbage but three or four hours later, I dug it out.”

Years later, Newland ended up donating the instrument to MoPop and it remained there until the museum’s senior curator, Jacob McMurray, offered it back, so Newland could sell it and use the money for medical expenses due to kidney failure.

“If I can repay a lender for letting us display a precious artifact, I am more than happy to do that,” McMurray said.

“I will always tell people joking around that Kurt Cobain is paying for my kidney,” Newland said.

The broken guitar was recently auctioned off by Julien’s auction in New York for $65,000. Newland will get just over $40,000, which will go towards his treatment and medications for years to come.

Story by: Patranya Bhoolsuwan, KIRO 7

