Category: The Rock & Other Listening Material

Six years ago, I went to Detroit with djl to see my second weezer concert. Among the opening acts was a young (or at least around my age) band called Ozma. The Oz played energetic, melodic rock and was a perfect appetizer for the main course of weez.

Last night. accompanied by the Civee, I went to the Basement, here in Columbus, to see Ozma headline. The Basement is a small venue (not more than 100 people), but nevertheless a loud one. We missed most of the first opening act, and the second act, Eastern Conference Champions, had some interesting sounding tunes, even if their lead singer sounded like he had nasal issues.

As for Ozma, well, they’re all grown up. Mostly.

In the time since I last saw them, they released an album, broke up, re-formed, got a new drummer and released another album. They looked comfortable in their headlining role and played more of their old stuff, with only a handful of songs from their new album in the setlist. It sounded like they were having technical difficulties (the keyboards were barely audible for most of the songs), but they did a great job of rocking out. And, as a surprise to me, I wasn’t the only person in the crowd who knew the lyrics to most of their songs.

So it was a good show. Check ’em out sometime.

A few months ago, a report surfaced that Rivers Cuomo sent Rick Rubin a CD of some demos for the next weezer album.

Well, today, the first demo for the sixth album “leaked.”

The demo, a song called Pig, is a bit different, being told from the point of view of a pig whose time has come. It’s an interesting idea for a song and it sounds like a good first step (but be forewarned: it’s just Rivers and some instruments, not full-band-rock).

Since first hearing them sometime last decade, I’ve been a casual fan of Fountains of Wayne. While they’re not the weez, they have a gift for making some really catchy pop-rock tunes.

One thing that bugs me about them every now and then is their songs delve into the “slice of life of someone else”/story-style song. I heard some bits of their new album, and they keep this tradition alive. The one song that stood out (and even though it was a story song, I liked it), was the first single “Someone to Love.”

I was listening to the song this morning, and two of the lines bugged me:

And a date with the Late Show’s all that you’ve got

But she’s sitting at home watching “The King of Queens”

Are they getting some kickbacks from CBS for the title dropping, or what?

On a kind of related note, the Civee and I recently saw Music and Lyrics, a romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant. The music in the movie was written by Adam Schlesinger, a cornerstone of FoW. No big surprise, the songs in Music and Lyrics are actually pretty good.

So I was listening to the radio and the classic tune, “One Night in Bangkok” came on.

I’m listening to Murray Head go on about massage parlors and temples and I was thinking to myself, he’s not really singing, he’s talking.  Is it possible that Murray Head was one of the first white rappers? After all, the only singing in the song is really done by the women in the background.

And you can’t forget that pan flute solo, beats anything on a Tull record.

Tough guys tumble before O.G. Murray Head.

How to win friends and influence people, RIAA style:

Step 1: Sue a bunch of random people on vague claims of copyright infringement.

Step 2: In the event that a defendant dies, file a motion for a 60-day extension in the case to give his or her family time to grieve.

Step 3: Out of a self-proclaimed “abundance of sensitivity,” drop the case.

Sometimes it feels like the recording industry is a goldmine for bad karma. As if past actions such as:

-suing customers
-abusing their copyright rights
-denying artists their creative rights
-keeping artists tied to unconsciable contracts
-and promoting crappy music nonstop at the expense of good music

weren’t enough, they go and do something like this. I suppose out of my own personal “abundance of sensitivity,” I should congratulate them for dropping the case, but I’m not a sensitive person.

Well, it looks like the music media was wrong and weezer isn’t breaking up.

From Rivers’ blog:

“I certainly don’t see them becoming Weezer songs.” This is a misquote. The writer unfortunately didn’t record my words exactly but rather paraphrased them according to his understanding–and sometimes misunderstanding. In this particular case, what I meant was that the soccer song, “Our Time will Come”, certainly won’t be on a Weezer album. The verses are about particular players and situations in US Soccer history and wouldn’t be appropriate for that purpose. I imagine it would be recorded by Weezer and given directly to the soccer federation. The rest of the songs, though, are definite contenders for a Weezer record.

People can stop telling me they’re sorry.

Ever since that infamous MTV interview first appeared two weeks ago, I’ve had a number of people I know (and some I don’t) tell me they’re sorry that weezer’s breaking up.

The condolences are nice, but unnecessary. =w= drummer (and the only member of the band I haven’t met)Pat Wilson posted an interesting response on his blog:

What is up with all the crazy bad journalism drawn from Rivers interview? I can assure you that =w= is fully intact. I know this because I am in Weezer. The glaring proof that today’s media is shallow reveals itself in this simple fact: not one person called me to ask my opinion. Which is cool cuz I would have made up some fantastic lie about becoming an Antarctic explorer.

Of course, if he had told some MTV “journalist” that, he’d be on the next airplane to the South Pole.

So I was in Chipolte for lunch today and I hear a Tejano version of Hall and Oates’ “I Can’t Go For That.”

I guess bad music knows no cultural boundaries.

Weezer fans are nervous after a recent mtv report hinting that the days of the weez may be over.

In the article, recently-married Rivers Cuomo says “Really, for the moment, we are done. I’m not certain we’ll make a record again, unless it becomes really obvious to me that we need to do one.”

While there is a hint of finality in that quote, it’s really nothing different from what he’s said in the past. In interviews from last fall and earlier this year, Rivers said he’s looking forward to taking some time off to enjoy married life. Not to mention, to take a lot of time meditating. This is no different from what he said months ago–he’s just choosing not to comment on the future.

Of course I don’t want to see the band call it quits. If this is the end, I think I’m fine with it. They’ve given a lot of great music (even though there’s more out there still unheard).

But I really don’t think this is the end. In the past, after other albums, the future of the band was always uncertain (except following the green album, when Rivers was in world domination mode), but they’ve always found their way back together. In the past two years, the band has been more creative and more unified than ever. And Make Believe has given the band its two highest-charting hits ever. I just don’t think this is it.

By the way, I love how everyone jumps on these stories, not caring at all about accuracy. I mean, “his move to Japan“? Do some freakin research sometime!

Somehow, in between graduating, watching the World Cup and getting married last week, Rivers Cuomo managed to find the time to answer a bunch of questions from fans.

I’m actually surprised that out of the four questions I submitted, he answered two directly and the other two by proxy.

Go me. And congratulations Rivers.