Rough Guides, the UK company that launched in 1982 with travel books, releases two new music volumes Stateside in June devoted to Seattle icons Nirvana and Jimi Hendrix.

The Nirvana compendium is the exhaustive work of Gillian G. Gaar, a longtime local rock writer who recently contributed Seattle Met’s special December issue naming the 50 most influential Seattle musicians.

I’m a big fan of the Rough Guides—their excellent book on Muhammad Ali is a lesson in compact authority—because they always manage to tell you what you need to know about their chosen subjects without acting like you’re an idiot for not already knowing it.

And the details are delicious for expert and novices alike. Gaar’s book provides a copy of the original invite to the Nevermind release party that took place at Re-bar: "Edible food, drinks, prizes you might want to take home, a few surprises, people to meet, the band to greet…But Nevermind all that, the important part is the music. Hear Nevermind in its entirety and loud."

There are so many reasons to get misty reading something like that—beginning with the reminder of Re-bar in its heyday—that I’ll just choose mine and leave you to your own thoughts.