A Blog
So I’m driving from Bowling Green to Dayton down I-75 and outside of Wapakoneta, I see one of those temporary road signs that says:
Cutting Crew Next Five Miles
I started scanning both the AM and FM frequencies, but didn’t hear one note of (I Just) Died In Your Arms.
Who do I write to at ODOT to complain about this?
In 1995, after the Blue Album was released, Rivers Cuomo began writing the band’s follow-up album. Rivers developed a rock opera called Songs From The Black Hole, which told the story of a group of space cadets.
The band started recording SFTBH, but enthusiasm for the concept wasn’t really there and recording sessions were sporadic at best, with Rivers moving off to his first year at Harvard.
At the end of his first semester, the band returned to recording, scrapping the rock opera concept after Rivers showed up with a new concept, a crop of autobiographical songs which would become 1996’s Pinkerton. Some of the black hole songs survived, but the rest were seemingly discarded.
With the publication of the first version of the weezer recording history, fans were clued in to the original concept. And in early 2002, Rivers himself started funneling some of the original SFTBH demos directly to fans, speaking of an “en masse” distribution of not just the black hole songs, but the hundreds of other songs which he and the band worked on throughout the years, but never officially recorded.
For a few years, the band released dozens of songs straight to fans, but that stopped after the summer of 2002, with Geffen finally putting their corporate foot down.
The point of all this: things have changed again. In the last week, Rivers started writing blog entries about the held-back songs, saying:
I’m putting up the lyrics now because I suddenly realized that I can. I’ll also put up the sheet music (when I have time) so that you can play them for each other! I’ll release my home demos as soon as I am legally able.
And he’s put up lyrics and music for two songs, one from SFTBH, another a Pinkerton-era b-side. Fans with much more musical talent than I have started to work off these, developing their own versions based off what Rivers has posted.
While they’re not exactly Rivers’/weezer’s demos, it’s still an interesting idea. While I’m glad to finally be getting an idea of what the songs were supposed to be like, it’ll be nice if we actually get the real versions one day (perhaps when the band is free of its Geffen contract?).
I’m also interested in songs from other years- the late 90’s hiatus period, the Make Believe era and the future, which for weezer, looks like it’s going to happen.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past however many years of being a weezer fan, it’s that it’s going to be interesting. And I’ll probably get to hear some good music too.
For the first time in what seems like forever, I went out for my hour of me.
I’ve been able to walk without assistance for a few days- though I still use crutches for the long hauls, mostly the two blocks from the parking lot to my office. Because of the injury, I had been bringing lunch to work and eating it in my office. That seems to make the day go even slower, because I don’t get a chance to get out.
Today was different. I was able to meet the St. Tommy’s Day crew for our weekly lunch. That, combined with the clear skies and near-70 degree weather put me in a good mood that I haven’t been in in a while.
Now if I can only get rid of this damn boot.
Some other things:
-Even though I didn’t mention it in my weekly 24 commentary, I’m still getting hits from people looking for the First Lady of Cleavage. Keep on visiting weirdos!
-I’m also getting hits from people looking for information on Rivers Cuomo getting married.
-Speaking of Weezer, the Man (Karl) has revised the band’s recording history. The newest page details the making of Make Believe, which was released last year. I think this kind of stuff is fascinating. But that’s just me. But I also really liked Make Believe.
For various reasons, I’m not a fan of the “New York” Times.
The paper that claims to get behind the news has turned out a feature story on Rivers Cuomo that really doesn’t go anywhere. I suppose it may be interesting for the masses, but there are only four interesting bits (to me) in the whole article:
-Rivers is into Jane Austen. Great! So is the Civee! Maybe they can form a book club.
-It doesn’t really sound like it’s the end for weezer:
Remarking on rumors that his enrollment at Harvard means the end of Weezer, he said, “After graduation, I’ll be able to make a better commitment to the band.”
-Rivers just ended the interview:
With that, he politely asked to be excused and left to find out if the dining hall was still serving lunch.
-And finally, this is the first time I’ve seen it official that Rivers is getting married. Even though I don’t see him getting into the wedding planning, good for him! Congratulations Riv-Dog!
I’d like to wish everyone out there a happy international Weezer day!
Legend has it, that fourteen years ago today, Elisha Cuthbert taught the band to play. After dumping some Kool-Aid on Scott Shriner’s head, the former motorcycle-rock band kicked her out and replaced her with roadie Rivers Cuomo. The band returned to it’s Kenosha, Wisconsin roots and played several dance contests while Matt Sharp wrote and composed many of the band’s later hits.
Matt then left to be bigger than Elvis, while Rivers locked himself into a closet bouncing a rubber ball against the wall and burning his master tapes. Brian lost several shirts and sweaters he would later lament. It was around this time that Rivers’ marriage to Lisa Loeb fell apart and the band found itself playing at several Mexican weddings. This period was promptly erased from the annals of band history.
All that I’m sure of now is that Miss Piggy fell in love with Pat, Rivers became Yoda and a lot of other stuff happened. I think.
Thanks to djl, I now know that my home state has an official song. It’s got an old timey polka feel to it, kind of like Here Come the Yankees. Only thing is, I can’t read any of the story because of that bizarre font effect they’re using.
Weird Al Yankovic is now eligible for the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame.
I should sign the petition, but it actually requires you to print it out and send it in. That must be why they only have three people on it so far. At least if I were to sign it, my name wouldn’t be joined by the likes of I.P. Freely, Mike Rotch and Homer Sexual.
I consider myself a fan- I do own more than a few of his albums/tapes/CDs (okay, no albums) and I know the words to some of his parodies better than the songs they’re based off of, and I think that UHF is one of the funniest movies ever made. But I never realized Al has been around this long. I don’t know why, but this makes me feel old.
But I figure he deserves it as much as that Elvis guy.
At today’s weekly lunch at Tommy’s Diner, the gang and I were talking about the rash of pop radio stations given one-syllable male names. The Ted in Columbus, the Bob in Cincinnati, and I’m sure there are more of them in other cities.
Anyway, these stations play a mix of pop music ranging from the 70s to today, but they have zero personality, hence the Ted/Bob/whatever naming scheme. Sometimes I do listen to the Ted in Columbus, and during the discussion, I said something to the effect of the following:
“Hey, if I’m flipping around and I hear the Safety Dance and Can’t Touch This back-to-back, I’m going to stop flipping.”
I didn’t think it was that weird a statement, but apparently everyone else did.
For those of you out there in Internet land- are there other stations similar to these in your area? With the naming scheme?
Hey gang. A few things:
-I can’t shop at Kroger anymore. They have this woman, Connie Cayhill-something or other come over the PA every few minutes talking about ice cream. Her voice is not what I want to hear when I’m trying to figure out what to cook this week.
-In the past few days, four different people e-mailed me about Rivers making the news. Interesting story, but it’s nothing new. Someone as headstrong as him would decide to extend his two-year vow of poverty. If he was simple to figure out, then life wouldn’t be as fun. The best thing about the whole story is from the Blender interview that kicked off all the ruckus. The last question is whether he’s a breast man or an ass man. His answer: “I forgot.” Rivers is awesome.
-I might need to rescind that last comment momentarily while looking at Rivers’ picks for the top songs of aught-five. His choices are b-a-n-a-n-a-s. Interesting thing about that article- Rivers beat out the other contributors, including Harvard’s president for top billing. I’ll never got the ivy league.
-Finally, I don’t know what to think about this: Kamala the Ugandan Giant Sings. It’s right up there with “Hulkster in Heaven” and Randy Savage’s rap album. Just make sure you have your speakers up loud. Bonus points if you check it while at work.
So I went with the Civee last night to see U2 up in Cleveland.
They put on a great show- I’m not the world’s biggest U2 fan, but I knew most of the songs on the set list.
The stage set was pretty impressive. There was this oval walkway circling half of the floor, and these big screens of light-beads which would come down during certain songs.
Institute, the band led by former Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale, opened for U2. Honestly, I wasn’t impressed by them. They really didn’t sound all that different from Bush, and Gavin did this weird skipping-around to get around the oval walkway. The one good part of their set was Machinehead. They played one other Bush song, but I wasn’t that familiar with it.
U2’s set was solid, for the most part. Bono is an energetic frontman- and he made his way around the oval many times, avoiding the skipping motions that made Gavin look ridiculous. Like I said earlier, I knew most of the songs on the set list- and they only played two songs from their most recent album.
They played three covers-all Lennon compositions- Norwegian Wood, Help and Instant Karma. My only problem with these was they only played half of Norwegian Wood- ignoring the part where he burns her apartment down.
My disappointment with the show- they didn’t play Lemon. There was at least one voice in the audience shouting for the song. Why they left this gem off the setlist is beyond me.
