THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, September 29, 1994           TAG: 9409290076
SECTION: DAILY BREAK              PAGE: E3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY RICKEY WRIGHT, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   44 lines

AFTER SERIES OF TRAGEDIES HOLE IS BACK ON TRACK

INTERVIEWS haven't been her top priority these past few months, but Courtney Love has remained in the public eye.

The suicide of husband Kurt Cobain came just days before the April 12 release of her band Hole's second (and first major label) album, ``Live Through This.'' Promotional activity on the record's behalf - which had already yielded several magazine covers for the singer - halted. One of the most striking releases of the year, it received some modern-rock airplay and sold just shy of 200,000 copies, says a recent story in Billboard.

Disaster struck again a couple of months later with the overdose death of Hole bassist Kristen Pfaff. Love vowed to carry on.

Until recently, Love's highest visibility came in unexpected forums, ranging from the Internet (where she has reportedly sent a number of messages on topics including exploitation of Cobain and her own current drug use, or lack of it) to a stormy visit to a shop selling T-shirts emblazoned with Cobain's suicide note.

Love, however, began performing again in midsummer, appearing briefly at a couple of Lollapalooza stops. After reports of various replacements for Pfaff surfaced, including old Love cohort Kat Bjelland of Babes in Toyland, Hole settled on Melissa Auf Der Maur, a Montreal native formerly of the indie band Tinker. Auf Der Maur first played with Hole at England's Reading Festival in August.

Billboard also reports that the David Geffen Company geared up for a second run for ``Live Through This.'' A new single, ``Doll Parts,'' has gone to radio and a video was completed.

Hole's postponed tour plans are also out of limbo; the group appears Friday at the Abyss in Virginia Beach. Early reviews portray a vulnerable but impassioned Love who roars through the set list and leaps into the assembled moshers at show's end. The Abyss show will no doubt be a charged event, but that will have as much to do with the music's undeniable intelligence and frenzy as any personality cult. Love, and Hole, have earned respect. In Virginia Beach, they should live up to it. by CNB