Karl's Corner - 04/27/2002

...Dusty West Tour: Travel/Day off
"...Pat goes thru his compu-zen mind exercises..."
...show review: Calgary (4/24), from the Calgary Herald.
::: "HEADLINE: Weezer proves geeks can still be cool
::: The members of Weezer have been known to bristle at the geek rock tag that music scribes have so readily pinned on the band, and, really, who can blame them? At the end of the day, how cool can geekhood be?
::: Really cool, it seems. At least in this case, because no other band has ever worn it as well as Weezer does. Just ask the 4,300 or so adoring fans who turned up at the Stampede Corral to blissfully chant "Weezer", dance at the concession stands, dash for the front of the stage as guards chased them, and, basically, lose their minds at the band's Wednesday night concert.
::: They seemed to love every nerdy nuance. And make no mistake, from its music to its image, with frontman Rivers Cuomo's plastic-rimmed specs, maroon Player's Only windbreaker and chinos, Weezer is a rock 'n' roll Revenge of the Nerds. It's all there in the band's quirky songs where, for all the rock guitar din and catchy pop, there's a real sense of awkwardness. Cuomo sings about freaks and geeks; outcasts and goofballs; people that aren't entirely comfortable in their own shoes. Apparently, it's something a lot of kids can relate to.
::: But for all that, there's also a real sense of cockiness with Weezer, like it knows, the nerds have won this round.
::: For one thing, nerds are reputedly punctual, and Weezer didn't hit the stageuntil about 9:45 p.m. (which is a bit of a panic for those of us on deadline). And then there's the little matter wherein the band played songs from not one, but two unreleased albums. Not many acts are snide enough to even attempt that trick - but Weezer pulls it off.
::: In the case of their opening tune, Dope Nose, the anthemic alt-rocker and first single off their soon-to-be-released album Maladroit, it was an easy win. Like the smash single Hash Pipe, off last year's Green Album, that song is meant for the big time, and radio's already picked up on it.
::: Then there was Cuomo's wierd onstage raps., which were either entirely goofy ("It's all about the cheddar") or the stuff of supposedly tough heavy metal dudes ("Here we are, back with a vengeance").
::: But the band gave the crowd exactly what they wanted. From the grungy surf-rock of Photograph and the power-house slacker power cords of My Name Is Jonas, to the energetic Say It Ain't So, where the cheers were so load that Cuomo was all but drowned out - Weezer was at the top of their game.
::: But it wasn't only Weezer that made the night. With the addition of acclaimed singer-songwriter Pete Yorn to the bill as am opening act, this show will certainly be in the year's best.
::: On his debut CD. musicforthemorningafter, Yorn distinguishes himself as a very pretty songwriter - and not in a shallow sense of the word. He's a fine tunesmith, incorporating folk, pop and a touch of soul, with real finesse. Pulling it off live seemed like it might be a real trick.
::: But Yorn delivered a stunning set that started out a little too tame for an arena rock show, but built momentum in a highly moving fashion. Despite a lukewarm response, by show's end Yorn had more than proved his worth with impressive renditions of songs like Like On A Chain from his disc, and a handful of inspired cover tunes, which included a country-tinged version of The Smiths' Panic and a heart-stopping grungy version of the David Bowie-Iggy Pop classic, China Girl.
::: Kick yourself if you missed this show."
...anyone looking for the heretofore import-only Green B-Side 'Oh Lisa" on a US disc need look no further than the new "WWF Tough Enough 2" Soundtrack...(note that theres no guarentees that you'll like whatever else is on it!)
...a smattering of more strange weez tales from around the way...
(or, "So what have we learned today, class?")
:::"...I live in a podunk town in Southern Oklahoma. Not to long ago I was needing new tires. These tires would cost around $300(Which I didn't have). I had a tire that was going flat a few weeks ago and took it to get repaired. The front counter guy said it would cost $7.50 to get it repaired and he'd call me when it was ready. He calls me and I go pick up my vehicle, and when I pull up My Bronco is sitting there with $300 worth of new tires!!!! It turns out the manager of the Tire shop is a huge weezer fan and when he saw the weezer sticker on my back window he gave me the tires for $20 apiece!!! Just goes to show the power of the weez reaches even the most remote areas!!" --- Lee
:::"...I got convinced into a blind date type thing a few weeks ago, i was supposed to meet this girl at a party that my friend thought i'd like, so i go and meet her, and she's really good looking, and we are getting along quite well. Then someone puts on the Strokes, and they're alright, but i feel they're a little over-rated, anyway, i say "ahh , the strokes?? come on..." and she just flips out on me. "How dare you bad mouth the strokes, they are Gods,. i would die for Julian..." blah, blah, blah. And of course, i'm wearing my =w= t-shirt, and she's says "the strokes are way better than weezer, youre such a geek!" and she was being totally serious. So left her, despite my long drought of relationship success.... WEEZ ON EVERYONE, WEEZ ON!..." ---??
:::"...Hi, I have a response to John's comments on Weezer and Julius Caesar because I did something with it too: One day in study hall I got really bored and being the good student who hates all the assigned reading we have i got mad at the book and i took my little scissors (about an inch or two tall) and i cut out the statue of Julius Casear and gave it to a friend. For a day i walked around with a hole in my book. That night i went home and took this postcard of weezer i had, cut it up and replace the hole with green-ness. It all started when my friends and I were talking about how dumb the book was and I said "Julius Weezer!" I dunno, it goes together..." ---Katarina 
::: ...In my band class, I'm already refered to as "that damn weezer kid." But yesterday I took that rep a little bit farther. Our teacher had to go down to the elementary school because the little tikes had a concert that night and they needed all the help they could get. So we had a sub. He was a bald, shiny-headed man. In fact, his head was the shiniest I've ever seen. He was from Africa and had a wonderful name. He wrote his name in full up on the board... Moweez was his first name. As if you couldn't see it coming from a mile away. With marker in hand and "Mo'Beats" in my heart, I voyaged to the front of the class. I brought the black pen up to the dry erase board. I went over Moweez to highlight it and then added 'er.' I loved it and was very proud til I discovered I had done it in permanent marker. So it looks like I'm going to have to sneak my copy of blue into detention. Rock on, sir..." ---=andrew=
::: "...My school is having a "Band Fest" where 7 bands play in a few weeks and the auditions were yesterday. I auditioned with my band which has me on accordian, a singer, a guitarist and a drummer. We played "Island" and
::: "Surfwax" and all the people sitting in the audition room loved it. One of the judges said everyone had recommended that we be in the show. Well, we didn't make it which means the teacher must have pulled the plug on us. Maybe it was the accordian, but my freind heard her humming "Pink Triangle" in class today which means we probably didn't dish out what she wanted, Pinkerton. Oh well, it was a blast!..." ---??
::: "...Monday I gave my chemistry teacher TBA to play later that week. Our chem class is sometimes two periods and he plays music when we enter and between classes and sometimes while were working. For the first 3 quarters of the year he played classical music so now its the 4th quarter and hes letting us bring in our music. Hes never heard of weezer and when he saw my american baseball jersey =w= shirt once he was like "Weezer? Is that a rock group?" and he reads my pins on my back pack and goes "rock music" even though he doesn't know its weezer. So I give him my cd and hes like "Weezer? Are they four asthmatics?" and my twin sister (we are in the same chem class) said "no, just one". On Thursday I walk in the class room and hear "no one else" playing. the cd plays all the way untill like 30 seconds into "buddy holly". It was a double period so I was sitting listening to "susanne" on a cd I had just made and I lift my head up and hear loudly the drums to the intro of "undone". Ironically my sister and I both wore weezer shirts that day and it was even weirder that was the day he played the cd. My sister had the "too loud shirt" on and was laying her head down on her desk and my teacher said the reason he made it loud was to "do what her shirt said". When "surf wax america" came on he was head banging to it, it was the funniest thing. He proabably likes weezer now because he hasn't played that much of anyone else cd’s and he probably listened to the whole cd when one of his other classes requested hashpipe... he was like "that was weezer" and then saying some weird sentances like "geezers who are weezers" and so I was like "4 geezers with one weezer" so that's my "rock and roll high school " story." ---Hayley
::: "...I was in I.T, sneakily catching up on the weez- when the supply teacher stopped at my computer and stared. Now, I'm not one to judge on apearences, but he doesn't look like the everyday weezer fan, he stood their pondering for about 30 seconds, then said slowly; 'weezer... did they do hashpipe?'. No telling off for me..." ---claire
::: "...I have the bright lime Green Album t-shirt (now i need one with Scott on the front, make one). But anyway, I got no less than three comments about it yesterday from random people walking by. One old guy, looked like he was like sixty or something, walked up to me in the store, and started singing Photograph. "If you want it..." Then he said the Green Album was "no doubt one of the greatest melodic albums of all time" and said that his favorite songs were "Track 1, 2, 3, 5, 8... dammit, pretty much the entire thing." We sang a few bars of Simple Pages and then went our separate ways. The brotherhood between Weez fans, there's nothing like it, even young and old..." ---chris
::: "...I wanted to send this as probably one of the first Weezer fans in Canada. I have been a fan since they first arrived. At the time I had a band of my own and used to cover all their early stuff. It was a very emotional day for me yesterday and I wanted to share it with you as we graduated to a second generation weezer fan last night. It was my 11 year old daughters first concert, she had saved for a month to buy the ticket. So what an amazing feeling for her , her first concert and it was weezer. She was totally blown away. She asked me if at every concert that you go to everyone sings along with the band. I said no, only at really amazing bands that have clever hooks in all their songs. Her only disappointment was not getting to hear her favourite and mine Getchoo. Wow who would think I would ever go to a concert with my kids and both be fans. Never happen with my Dad..." ---jim evans
...Maladroit marches on! Now in its 7th week on the Billboard modern Rock chart, Dope Nose has risen to Number 10! Thanks for all your support to date!!
*99.9 the buzz, Burlington, VT: Dope Nose is still No. 1 on the top 9 at 9, second week in a row!
*DC101 Washington DC/Baltimore: Dope Nose has moved up to the number 3 spot on the "It's Your Fault (M.I.K.A. edition)" nightly top ten countdown
*106.3 the Blaze in Lincoln Nebraska: has put Dope Nose into regular rotation!
*92.3 Xtreme Radio Cleveland: uses a Dope Nose clip as part of a promo advertisement for themselves, where they make an example of the songs they commonly play.
*"...I was in the mall yesterday and I went into America Eagle. As soon as I got in there I heard the first chords of Dope Nose. It was so awesome to shop to it!!" --Caitlin
*"...In Erie, PA we can pick up a radio station called FM 96 out of London, Ontario. They really don't play a lot of weezer to my displeasure. But, in the past couple of weeks I've heard Dope Nose two or three times!"
*102.9 the Buzz Nashville: Dope Nose in heavy rotation, was number 4 on the top 9 at 9:09!
*97.5 Kpoi Hawaii: Dope nose #12 most played
*92.7 WLIR in New York: playing Dope Nose!
*"...Hey, I wanted to tell you than our closed-circuit radio station at Highland High School (Highland Illinois) loves Weezer, and they're definitely the most requested artist we get. We've been playing different demos since they were initially made available, and "dope nose" and "keep fishin'" are in heavy rotation..." ---Jason
*Y100 philadelphia: Dope Nose continues to pop up in the top 7 at 8 (#4 most recently), plus "Take Control" is getting played on their new and local music program, YNOT. DJ Dan Fein is on the case!
*X103 Indianapolis is playing "Dope Nose." DJ says weezer is ""crankin em out..."
*94.1 the zone rochester NY: "...after they played Dope Nose the dj said "Dear lord that song rocks". And, DJ Weener talked about their contest, giving away tickets to see Weezer in Japan. He had someone on the phone and the person said something about a Godzilla problem and the DJ said that "Weezer in Japan is well worth the Godzilla risk"
*live 105 San Fransisco is still on the dope nose train!
*Boston's WFNX "...has a best music poll thing, and weezer's up for a few categories... vote here!.."
*92.5 KGB FM Binghamton,NY: playing "dope nose" "...thanks to Matt J.'s request..."
*hats off to longtime weezer supporter DJ Ian Schochet, from wpgu 107.1 The Planet, who has now left the station. Weez fans in Champaign IL will miss his weez-freindly programming!
*Pacific Lutheran University's student station K103: has just added Dope Nose to its playlist. "...I'm a DJ there and I play it every shift I have. We also added Rock Music: A Tribute to Weezer..." ---Scott
*93.3 KTCL in Fort Collins, Colorado: has Weezer mp3 downloads on their website!
*"...Well at least online the Rivers interview on WBRU was a let down, for some reason you couldn't get the audio of Rivers so all you got was the DJ's questions and her reactions to them. As for what went down she asked about the current tour, and the one this summer with Dashboard and then basically focused on maladroit. She mentioned the fan support, asked about the whole thing with interscope and the two letters he sent out, it seemed like it woulda been a good interview if I coulda heard it...."--Jonas
*The Planet, 102.3 Weston, WV: has finally added Dope Nose, after heavy fan requests!
*"...In case you get any reports from Rivers' phone interview with the Zone here in Ra-cha-cha, I should tell you that as I listened to it this morning, I was embarrassed to be a Rochesterian. Those morons, Karlson and MacKenzie, wanted to turn the call into a comedy routine. In doing so, the clearly displayed just how unfunny they are, and I think Rivers did well not to just hang up on them. You see, they do a bit every morning where they make a crank call to some unsuspecting person, and what they pass off as funny is generally just mean spirited and repetitive. As a result, I think they get confused any time they talk on the phone, and think EVERY call should be a crank call or comedy bit..." ---Jim
*Tallahassee's X101.5: playing Dope Nose!
*"...Man, I couldn¹t believe it when I heard that Rivers was going to have interview on NRK (94.7) Even though I cant stand the anchor, Marconi, I listened anyways...Oh well, it was fun listening to it, even if the questions that marconi asked him were completely stupid "so, have you had sex with your girlfriend yet?"..."
*Radiostorm Alternative streaming internet radio station: Dope Nose in rotation.
...international action!
*"...The Weezer live from Brixton Academy was put on air by radio 1 on Monday April 15 and the rock was much enjoyed. Also BBC Radio 1 Session in Northern Ireland has been spinning Dope Nose, followed by Korns new single this week- I sense contrast!..."
*Maranhão, Brazil: a DJ (unknown station) writes: "...I've already received your CD's. Thank you so much! After I listen to it, I'll present your work (CD) at my radio show. I'm sure you'll apreciate my work. I'll do my best..." ---Gilberto.
*UK: "...Dope Nose was on the evening session with steve lamacq april 23rd..."
*Kenya clarification: "...where i heard it wasn't a kenyan station (absolutely no rock there), but a station called Bob which is on Worldspace, a satellite radio system which you can recieve all over africa and asia if you have a digital reciever (most locals probably don't, even though they're not that expensive or hard to get). i had a look at their website (there's a link to it on www.worldspace.com) and it mentions weezer as one of the bands whose latest material they're playing."
*The Netherlands: "the only alternative station we have, kink fm, has dope nose at number 7 of it's outlaw 41 (their 'hit list'), and it's still climbing."
...random action! (get yer ice cold sodas here!)
*"...I was at the Minnesota Twins game on Friday, and in between innings, they played Photograph. It was so cool that the Twins scored six runs in the next inning! Go WeeZeR!!"
*"...I was watching the Senators vs. the Flyers in hockey on Wednesday Night. After the senators thought they scored, the goal was waved off. After that, they were blasting 'say it aint so' over the pa..." ---Zach
*"...I am a huge Detroit Red Wings Fan. The audio people at the Joe Louis Arena (where the Wings play) have always been keen on Weezer and have Buddy Holly, Hash Pipe, and Island in the Sun in their regular rotation. Tonight at the Wings v. Vancouver Canucks game Dope Nose got added to the mix at 2:34 of the second period. All that Weezer has helped the Red Wings to the best record in the NHL this year and helped them tonight in their 4-0 win over the Canucks..." ---John F.
*"...Dope Nose was being played about 1/2 way through the first period of the Bruins-Canadiens game - in Canada no less!..." ---Tyler
*Y100 in philly is playing a lot of a goofy song called "playa hater" by Josh Katz, that includes the line: "i'm a gangsta, im iced out like a freezer. i'm a gangsta, i don't listen to weezer." One of the DJs, Ben Harvey, found it online and decided to play it and tonight it was number 1 on the top 7 at 8... 
Category:Karl's Corner - April 2002