As part of the looping trip he describes in Travels With Charlie, John Steinbeck returned to his old Monterey homeland and found "a bucket of ghosts." Many others have found that Steinbeck was right, and, of course, there's Thomas Wolfe, who wrote You Can't Go Home Again.

Then there's Krist Novoselic, who revels in going against the obvious. Raised in Aberdeen, Wash., Novoselic moved to Seattle in 1992, "as soon as I could afford it." Though he left Seattle in 2000, it was to move closer to home - he now lives southwest of Olympia; he prefers not to be more specific as, "I don't want any nuts tracking me down," but it's close enough to Aberdeen that he runs into people from his old hometown.

It isn't like he can't afford to live elsewhere; the money he earned as the bass player for Nirvana, and continues to earn through royalties, has given him the financial freedom to put his roots down anywhere. "If I wanted to, I guess I could live in Cabo San Lucas or Maui or someplace like that - but I'd miss Washington. I'd miss the conifers," says Novoselic, who was born in Croatia and lived as a child in the San Pedro area of Los Angeles. At 14, he moved to Aberdeen, where he met Kurt Cobain and formed Nirvana.

The 37-year-old sounds almost boyishly happy these days, and for good reason. Good things are happening: The riveting Nirvana song "You Know You're Right" is being played on the radio, marking the end of a nasty legal battle between Novoselic and Dave Grohl on one side and Cobain widow Courtney Love on the other.

And the lanky, goofy - remember when he almost knocked himself out when he ended a Nirvana performance by throwing his bass in the air? - dude finally has a new band.

Novoselic is plunging back into the music scene with Eyes Adrift, a project that joins him with Meat Puppets singer-songwriter Curt Kirkwood and former Sublime drummer Bud Gaugh. The self-titled Eyes Adrift debut album just came out on SpinArt Records.

The Oct. 31 edition of Rolling Stone magazine carried a dismissive review: "As with most supergroups, Eyes Adrift ... is poorer than its piecemeal pedigree suggests. The unexceptional country-flecked rock indicates careers adrift here."

Novoselic responded at www.eyesadrift.com, the band's Web site: "Fair is fair if Rolling Stone didn't care for the Eyes Adrift record, but what was the 'careers adrift' quip about?

"Careers adrift? Not at all, we know what we're doing. We have crafted together a nice little vessel to negotiate the treacherous waters through our 'push-the-hype' pop culture. "

Indeed, Eyes Adrift is quite a musical departure for Novoselic - and a far cry from the type of rock that is popular nowadays; Eyes Adrift is almost a AAA-radio sound, more Big Head Todd & the Monsters groove-oriented pop than Puddle of Mudd, Linkin Park, Incubus and all the other Nirvana-influenced bands currently popular.

And after slamming his bass for nearly 20 years, Novoselic is finally stepping to the microphone. He sings three of the new album's songs, including "Inquiring Minds," which deals with the media's fascination with murdered child Jon Benet Ramsey. "It's a power pop song, but the subject matter - it came out of being disgusted," Novoselic said.

He admits he was a bit nervous about singing in public, but not enough to stop him: "For better or worse, I tend to jump into things with both feet."

Over the last year, Novoselic and Grohl have been trading legal maneuvers and insults with Love, but a few weeks ago, the sides reached an agreement. "I'm happy and relieved - I'd be in court right now," Novoselic said after the agreement, which cleared the way for the greatest-hits album.

The compilation includes the previously unreleased "You Know You're Right," recorded a few months before Cobain's death. "I know we played that song a lot that day. It's a great performance, the whole band is top-notch there, and we just bombed it out. It's the total Nirvana formula, starts out kinda quiet, then bursts into a big chorus."

Intriguingly, Novoselic did not discount the notion of playing again with Grohl: "Maybe some year," he said.

Then another rock trio is suggested: Novoselic on bass, Grohl on drums and singing and playing guitar ... Courtney Love.

"That'd be amazing! Oh my God," Novoselic laughed. "It's been done before - in Argentina after way too many bourbons in some bar, I was playing bass, Courtney was playing guitar and some Argentinean guy was drumming. So, there's precedent!"