Author: King Tom

Weezer Rocks and Surprises with Hurley

Today, Weezer releases their eighth album, Hurley. Past Weezer albums were always associated with a long period of anticipation- news would filter out (usually through the band’s Web site) that the band was recording a new album (along with pictures and song titles, if we were lucky). The band would go back-and-forth with song selection, maybe even take a break during recording. Then, a release date would be announced. Weeks later, the title would be revealed and a few weeks before the album release, the track list would leak out.

Compared to this historical schedule, Weezer’s Hurley is a big surprise.

New Weezer material is always anticipated around the Kingdom, but Hurley just seemed to sneak up on the world. The band first announced the album back in July- not the recording of an album, but the release date. The title and tracklist quickly followed, and now, in what seems like a blink of an eye since the initial announcement, Hurley is here.

And we at the Kingdom are glad.

Hurley is a good album. Actually, it’s better than that. Weezer has released some good albums, and even great ones (Green, Make Believe) in the past decade, but something about Hurley just feels like it fits right in with their two classic 90s-era albums. Hurley is full of surprises.

As I mentioned in my review of Raditude, I’m typically not a fan of musical collaborations. Once again, Rivers Cuomo used a number of co-writers for the album. But thankfully, there are no featured rappers or guest sitarists. The guest musicians are Ryan Adams on Run Away, Michael Cera on Hang On and a few others, musicians who actually fit on a Weezer record.

As for the songs, there are some genuine good, rocking songs on Hurley. The songwriting is good, featuring Rivers at his most poetic.  The band sounds good here.  Pat is rocking the drums and Rivers’ voice is outstanding, the best it’s been for a long time.  As for the songs, standouts include Ruling Me, Unspoken, Hang On and Smart Girls, which was one of the nicest surprises on Hurley. Prior to the album’s release, the Weezer community panned two songs based on their descriptions alone: Smart Girls and Where’s My Sex.

Smart Girls was described as an homage to the Beach Boys (as seen through the lens of The Beatles’ Back in the U.S.S.R.). As for Where’s My Sex, Rivers said in an interview he was inspired to write the song after his three-year old daughter was looking for some missing socks.

Based on those descriptions, it’s easy to see why these songs could potentially be considered clunkers. But the surprising nature of Hurley shows itself once again: these are good songs. Smart Girls is a fun, poppy rocker (but then again, I like Back in the U.S.S.R.) complete with what feels like the only guitar solo on the album. And for all its goofiness, Where’s My Sex is a fun song that’s a decent listen. There are some other decent songs on here too- lead single Memories, Run Away and Brave New World, which is saved by an incredible bridge.

There are two songs, however, that I can’t get behind. Trainwrecks sounds like it lives up to its name-it goes nowhere. And album closer Time Flies is a low-fi pile of meh.

Something else I can’t get behind is the deluxe version of Hurley, which is something of a departure for me. For The Red Album and Raditude, the deluxe editions contain some of those album’s best songs. For Hurley, I have to wonder if deluxe is even worth it. There are four tracks: All My Friends are Insects, Viva La Vida, I Want to Be Something and Represent. All My Friends are Insects and Represent are available elsewhere (and in the case of Represent, the other version is superior). Viva La Vida, aside from being a cover of the most pretentious song ever, is from a live show which has been available for more than a year. The one new tune is I Want to Be Something, a Rivers acoustic demo that should have been on an Alone instead.  (UPDATE 9/14: Went to Borders, the same place I’ve gotten each of the last four Weezer albums on their release day to pick up Hurley.  Standard was $10.  Deluxe was $20.  No way was I going to pay an extra $10 for those four songs).

My minor quibbles with the deluxe edition aside, Hurley is still a solid Weezer album that feels like it’s a Weezer album. Even though it’s been a bit of a surprise, I’d like to take my time and enjoy it, but I don’t think that’s likely.

In seven short weeks (November 2),Weezer’s former label will release not one, but two compilations featuring old and new material. I’ve already said plenty about the first, Pinkerton Deluxe. The second, Death to False Metal (original title: Odds and Ends) features ten unreleased tracks from 1993-2008 including a cover of Unbreak My Heart (originally recorded for Make Believe) and unheard Weezer tunes Auto Pilot (from the Red Album sessions) and Trampoline and Everyone (recorded during the summer of ’98- a time period I’m obsessed with).

With all this material on the way, it’s a great time to be a Weezer fan.

Surprises like Hurley just make it better.

King Tom3 Comments

Having Fun With Hope

It’s almost been a month since Hope’s surgery and things are pretty much back to normal.

I say pretty much because they’re as back to normal as things can get for a little girl who’s learning new things every day.

We had the first post-surgery checkup last week and everyone is happy with how she’s recovering.  While the arm restraints are gone, the doctor does want her to keep in the nasal stents for another few weeks to strengthen her new nose. Hope is happy to be able to put her fingers (and other things) in her mouth again, and has learned not to hit herself in the nose.  However, she still doesn’t like it when The Civee or I have to clean her nose.

As time passes, we notice Hope becoming more of her own person.  Earlier today, we tried feeding her some regular food for the first time.  She’s been curious about what The Civee and I have been eating, so we figured it was time for her to chow down on her own.  We gave her some rice cereal (no, not Rice Krispies).  And even though more of it ended up on her bib than in her stomach, it was a very pleasant experience.

Yesterday was also a big day for me.  It was the first time I took Hope out on my own.  We had an oil change scheduled for our car, so I wanted to give The Civee some alone time.  Hope and I dropped off the car and walked over to a nearby farmer’s market.  Well, I walked.  Hope was in her stroller.  The only mishap happened before we even left- after dressing Hope, I discovered her shirt was backwards.  But we survived.

Hope seems to be having a lot of fun, and The Civee and I are having fun with her.  We even have a new video, this one is of Hope sharing a laugh with her mom:

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Getting Lost All Over Again

I got an early birthday present: the complete Lost series on Blu-Ray.

I have to admit, while the packaging and extras are nice, the best part is having every episode of Lost in glorious high definition. Last week, I started watching the series from the beginning. I’m about halfway through the first season (finished “Hearts and Minds” last night) and it’s like watching a whole new series for a few reasons:

-The TV I watched the first few seasons on wasn’t a particularly good one. It feels like I’m seeing whole new levels of visual detail.

-I don’t have the burden of trying to solve the mysteries. I know how things turn out and I know many of the answers. Instead, I get to focus on putting the pieces together and watching characters grow. I’m not saying that my feelings for Kate’s character have changed, but now knowing about her past and her history with the marshal, her early flashbacks were interesting if only because I knew how it turned out. Similarly, knowing that Locke was in a wheelchair throughout “Walkabout” and everything else he encountered in his story gave me a new level of appreciation for what he went through throughout the episode.

The characters are a lot different early on- they have a lot of growing to do (something that we learn later on in the series).  I actually feel bad for Michael- that he wasn’t brought back as part of Season Six (outside of answering the “what are the voices?” question).  He was a big part of the series early on, and sure, he got annoying during Season Two, but the main reason he wasn’t brought back for the show’s final sideways storyline (even in a Shannon- or Boone-style cameo) was because of the growth of Malcom David Kelley, who played Walt.

Another thing I’ve noticed is early on, the show sure took its time. There are a lot of scenery shots. And for a show that is recorded in Hawaii, it’s natural that the makers would want to capitalize in their surroundings. But in the last few seasons, scenery took a backseat to storytelling (and for good reason). But it’s fun watching this show have some room to breathe. And it’s enjoyable to watch it without worrying about the mysteries. Who knows, I may even enjoy the episode about Jack’s tatoos. Ummm…now that I think about it, that’s not gonna happen.

So there won’t be any more episodes of Lost on TV anymore. But thanks to the set, that doesn’t mean I won’t be watching Lost.

King Tom

Hope’s New Smile

It’s been a few days since Hope’s surgery and The Civee and I already can tell one thing about her new smile–it’s just as cute as her old smile.

Monday night going into Tuesday wasn’t as rough as we had feared.  The hospital let us feed her a little later than usual, which meant that Tuesday morning, pre-surgery wasn’t miserable for Hope or us.  In fact, in the pre-surgery room, she was very happy, not knowing what awaited her.  It was tough to give her to the nurse to take into surgery.  But as the nurse wheeled Hope into the surgery room, Hope rolled over onto her stomach and got up on her hands and knees, showing off her latest trick, and a round of laughter erupted from inside the surgery room- meaning either the doctors were sampling the laughing gas, or they found our daughter’s antics amusing.

The next few hours were anything but amusing.  Although the surgical waiting room at Childrens’ is pretty nice, Let’s Make a Deal and free Internet access (on IE 6, no less) wasn’t enough to make the few hours of Hope’s surgery go by any more quickly.  After what seemed like a day, but was more like two and a half hours, we met with the doctor, who told us he was pleased with how Hope’s surgery turned out.  Not only did he have to bring both sides of her lip together, he also had to separate her upper lip from her gum on both sides and attempt to straighten out her nose. All the taping that The Civee and I had done over the past few months helped, bringing the skin closer on its own.  Additionally, Hope had some excess tissue which made the surgery a lot easier for him (we were later told they might use her case at some sort of medical conference).  He also did a lot of extra work on her nose, helped by two nasal stents which he was able to use because he trusted The Civee and I with keeping them clean over the next few weeks.

After another hour or so, we finally got to see Hope, and despite the doctor’s good report, it was a little upsetting.  Hope was still under anesthesia, her eyes were closed, her face bloated and the sounds coming from her mouth told us that she was in pain.  She slowly woke up and by the end of the night, flashed a slight smile or two.  Until her post-surgery appointment sometime in September, she’ll be in arm restraints, which could be frustrating to a baby who wants to put everything she can grasp into her mouth.  The sensitivity of the nose and mouth also means that laying on her stomach is out, as we don’t want her rubbing her mouth or nose into the ground.

But since coming home Wednesday morning, Hope has been slowly getting back to normal.  Her face is still very sensitive, but each day, she has been smiling and talking more.  And she’s finally big enough to try something my mother’s been wanting to get for her grandchild for the last 32 years: a Johnny-Jump-Up.  Thanks the The Civee’s father, we were able to get the device mounted from one of our abnormally-wide doorways.  Even though Hope is still learning how to use it, we think she likes it:

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Getting Ready for Hope’s Big Day

After four months, the medically inevitable is days away for Hope: her first surgery is Tuesday morning.

This surgery (the first of three, we’ve been told) will repair her lip and nose, bringing the two sides of her lip together and straightening out her nose.  It’s mostly cosmetic, while the second surgery, to repair the palate (hopefully sometime this fall) is more functional.

The Civee and I are looking forward to getting this out of the way.  It’s a routine surgery and the doctor who will be performing it has done good work in the past.  But we’re not looking forward to the night before or the few days after the surgery.

We’ve been told we won’t be able to feed her after midnight the day before the surgery, which is scheduled for around 8:00.  I have asked the hospital if we could drop her off at 1 that morning.  They said no, probably because they don’t want to deal with a crying, hungry baby any more than The Civee and I do.  To put it mildly, Monday night will be rough.

After the surgery is also looking to be challenging.  We have no idea how she’ll react to all the work she’s had done.  We hope it doesn’t mess with her feeding.  She’s usually a very happy baby and we don’t want her temperament to change for a long time.

Our other concern is something that’s surprised both of us.  Obviously, we love our daughter and want her to be healthy.  But we also love her appearance.  How are we going to react to seeing our baby looking very different?  Of course we’ll still love and accept her (and this surgery, even though it’s cosmetic, will have a great impact on her quality of life), but she’s just going to be a little different.  We’re sad about the prospect of saying goodbye to how she looks now.  But she’ll still be our Hope.

Over the past few weeks, she’s grown a lot.  At her last hospital visit (three weeks ago), she was 13.5 pounds.  She’s getting better at grabbing objects and moving them to her mouth (her success rate is 50 percent…the rest of the times, she usually hits the object against her forehead or cheek). She’s making different kinds of noises when you talk with her.  And, in a move that’s going to have us childproofing the house pretty soon, she’s able to get on her hands and knees and inchworm her way around.  She doesn’t make it that far, but here’s a short clip of her in action:

King Tom5 Comments

Weezer’s Hurley: Not A Concept Album, But It Could Be

So it’s official- Weezer’s upcoming eighth album, Hurley (due September 14) is named after the character from Lost and will have actor Jorge Garcia on the cover.

The cover news came out today, courtesy of Spinner, and lends credence to an item posted on the alt.music.weezer newsgroup back on July 30.  That item, posted by someone who claimed to have seen the cover, noted that Garcia would be on the cover (proven to be true as of today), also reported the album would be released on Epitaph records (confirmed last week) and had a tracklist, with several of the song titles being confirmed (also last week) by a Rolling Stone article.  The newsgroup post claims Hurley‘s tracklist is:

    1. Memories
    2. Ruling Me
    3. Trainwrecks
    4. Unspoken
    5. Where’s My Sex?
    6. Run Away
    7. Hang On
    8. Smart Girls
    9. Brave New World
    10. Time Flies

Nevermind the fact that these days, leaking news on a newsgroup is like the nations of the world coordinating the attack against the alien invaders by using Morse Code in Independence Day.  But enough of the other information in the post has ended up being correct, I’m willing to say this may be the tracklist too.

Over the weekend, Weezer released the first single off the album, Memories, a fast-paced, quasi-punk tune about what the band’s life was like when they were just starting out.  It’s a decent catchy tune, not their best single, but far from their worst.  The chorus, which goes “Memories make me want to go back there (back there)/(All the) memories make me want to go back there (back there)/(All the) memories, how can we make it back there (back there)/I want to be there again” got me thinking about a possible link to Lost.  The chorus sounds kind of like (Rivers, if you’re reading this, skip this next bit) Jack at the end of Season 3.

For a while, I was hoping that Hurley was a Lost-related concept album.  If Memories was about Jack, the other songs could be about other Lost characters and events.  Ruling Me could be about Juliet’s relationship with Ben.  Unspoken could be about all the questions the characters had that were never asked.  Time Flies could be about Faraday.  Smart Girls could be about….um…nevermind.

But unfortunately, Hurley‘s ties to Weezer end with the album title and cover.  Rivers told Spinner that he met Garcia recently and has only watched Lost through season two.  The band went with Hurley because, as Rivers told Spinner,

“Ultimately, we just went with some random word that doesn’t really have anything to do with anything. I just loved this photo of Jorge Garcia — it just had this amazing vibe. We didn’t want to do a fourth self-titled record and we knew people would refer to it as ‘the Hurley record’ even if left it without that title, so we just called it ‘Hurley.’ No words are on the cover because all we wanted was his amazing face.”

Even if it’s not about Lost, it’s a great album cover.

King Tom4 Comments

The New Man in Charge Will Only Answer One of Your Questions

For the past five years, after each new episode of Lost, I’ve written a little something about what went down on the Island.

Well, the series is over, but today, an official epilogue, The New Man in Charge, set for release on the official DVD set later this month, leaked.  You can find it online (and may want to start looking at Dark UFO’s spoilers section) and skip a few more weeks of waiting.

While not really taking place on the Island, you get an idea of what happens during Hurley’s time in charge: shutting down the DHARMA stations and bringing an old friend back to the Island.  Despite the fact that Hurley is the one in charge, the star is Ben.  And Lost never goes wrong when Ben is the center of attention.

While shutting down a DHARMA facility, Ben offers to answer one question each for the confused workers.  He shares a previously unseen orientation film (converted to video).  Ben and the film answer some of the lingering questions (but not all of them) about the Island and DHARMA.

Ben is surprisingly honest with his answers, even addressing more than one question from each worker.  From the facility, he visits an old friend at Hurley’s former mental institution.  This contains more character wrap-up (and also addresses one of the things I asked in “I Want Some Freakin’ Answers“) and gives a hint at who Hurley’s successor would be.

While The New Man in Charge is a nice little wrap up to the series, it would have been totally out of place in The End.  The series was about the Island and what happened once the survivors of Oceanic 815 arrived.  While I wouldn’t blame Disney/ABC for trying to milk the series for more cash and release expanded universe-type material in the future, the Lost story ended with the death of Jack Shepard.   The New Man in Charge is an official post script.

And for what it is, it’s pretty good.

King Tom2 Comments

Weezer Pays Homage To The New Dude In Charge

It’s looking like it will be a good fall for Weezer fans. Even with the Pinkerton Deluxe (no tracklist yet) retrospective, unreleased tunes compilation Odds and Ends (same here) and possibly another installment in the Alone Series (your guess is as good as mine) coming this fall, Weezer is releasing their eighth studio album on September 14.

Rolling Stone had some details about the upcoming album, entitled Hurley, hinting that its title may be inspired by one our favorite characters here at the Kingdom:

After parting ways with their longtime label Geffen/Interscope, Weezer will release Hurley — which may be named after the portly Lost character — through California-based punk label Epitaph.

Seems that like Raditude, this album will feature a few collaborations, but unlike Raditude, these collaborations will be with more rock-influenced artists, like Mac Davis, who wrote In The Ghetto for Elvis Presley (the other King).

As revealed on the Alone II album, much of Rivers’ early material was influenced by the pop sounds of the Beach Boys.  In a way, Hurley could represent a return to Rivers’ roots.  From RS:

Instead, Hurley will focus on the melodies and major chords of traditional ’60s pop. In addition to the planned first single “Memories,” other new tracks include “Ruling Me” and “Hang On,” another pop-rock track that “sounds like Frankie Valli but mixed with Metallica guitars.” There’s also “Smart Girls,” Cuomo’s ode to all the girls that proposition on him on Twitter. … “Smart Girls,” which Cuomo compares to the Beatles’ “Back in the U.S.S.R.” in the sense that it sounds like someone else writing a “cheesy Beach Boys type of song.”

In case you have to ask, yes, I’m looking forward to this.  Speaking of things I’m looking forward to, the Lost DVD set coming out later this month will have a look at what Island life is like under the Hugo Reyes regime.

King Tom

Who Needs The Butter Cow When Weezer’s At The State Fair?

Ten years ago (technically, nine years and 11 months), I went to my first Weezer concert.  Today, I went to my tenth.

I’ve seen them in all sorts of places – small clubs (like at the first show), an outdoor amphitheater, arenas and now, at a state fair.  I’ve gone to different cities, but this show was held about two miles from my house.

During my first show, held in the reunion summer of 2000, the band played a variety of songs from their first two albums along with a handful of songs that were in contention for their third album, then a year away (interestingly, none of these songs made the third album, though one would make their fourth).  During tonight’s show, held nine years and five albums later, Weezer played their singles, a mash-up cover and that was pretty much it.

Not that there’s anything wrong with their singles- they’re great songs and they played them very well.  But I do miss the songs when you’d hear a song like Falling for You or Crab at a live Weezer show.

Nevertheless, Weezer had a lot of energy.  Rivers once again showed it was possible to play guitar and bounce on a trampoline at the same time.  Scott rocked a kilt.  Pat went back and forth between lead guitar and drums.  And Brian took the lead on a very interesting instrumental (one of two) in the middle of the set.

For the show, because it was held at a state fair, there was a sign language interpreter off to the side.  The interpreter who covered Weezer’s set was rocking out while interpreting.  During Troublemaker, Rivers left the stage and joined the interpreter in her little area and sang as she interpreted.

It was a fun show.  The crowd was an interesting mix of all ages (because it was at a state fair), with a lot of kids.  One girl was celebrating her ninth birthday.  Maybe in nine years I’ll be able to take Hope.

King Tom1 Comment