Monday, October 20, 2008

Monday, September 22, 2008

1923-2008


"I'd like to thank the Good Lord for making me a Yankee." - Joseph Paul DiMaggio

Monday, June 30, 2008

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Radio [Junk]ies

artist asserts alienation between barreling basslines
and billowing bombast
bongos babble cymbals collide collectively conspiring to compress
cackling crackles of disk-jockey dilemma

dive down dashboard derivatives until every enveloping echo
of ethereal engendered entertainment evaporates into eyesores of facetious fixation

funk un-godly glam gremlins and their golden hip-hop hiatus
hardly inspiring an instantaneous iota of introspection
just jamming the juice of jungle-boogey jiggle
killed by klick-klacks of kiwi-colored kick-drums and knocks of a knob
leaving listeners to lamely lament late-afternoon lush-hour
as lemmings leave monotone museums of macroeconomics and malpractice
musing for more music
to make microcosms manageable
never negating the necessity of novel neuroses

the open-mouthed pathetic pale-face percussive pattering
plucks primal propaganda with pop-star ploys
quietly relents to rocking redundancies and reverberating revolutions

relegated to re-run status some schmuck sings succulently
strumming sensations of scatological sermons smearing sense and talent
and ticketmaster tendencies to topple top-ten tyranny
turning unfilled urges into ugly undone unctions
of unutterable venom

veins vilify victims and vicars of verve violently veering toward
weird waves washed-up wenches and worthless waggles
wining wanderlusting waifs with XM xenophobia
x-ing out yesterday’s younger yardstick yearning
yolking youth for yuppie yen
yielding yucky yackkity-yak for zombies and zealous zephyrs
zig-zagging to zero

Monday, February 11, 2008

Monday, January 14, 2008

Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo


Release date: January 11, 2008 (Geffen Records)

All I can say is that this collection has been LONG overdue. A selection of raw, emotional four-track recordings from Weezer's neurotic and introverted front-man, Rivers Cuomo. Some of these songs ("Blast Off!", "Lover in the Snow", "Chess") were available for free download in the early 2000s. These dark, intense, grainy musings on loneliness, longing, lost love, death, and outer space quickly became my favorite tunes in the entire Weezer catalogue and got me through a good deal of self-inflicted (and now vaguely comical) high school angst, proms and pimples.

Cuomo recorded most of the tracks on "Alone" in his L.A. basement from 1992-2007, playing all of the instruments and singing all of the vocals in most cases. Highlights include the sad, soft piano and clarinet ballad "Longtime Sunshine," a track Cuomo resisted putting online for nearly a decade due to its profoundly personal (and borderline suicidal) lyrics. "Blast Off!" is a classic, hard-rockin' Weez demo about a hedonistic, alcoholic starship crew on a desperate mission to save the planet Normis. On the mostly acoustic "Chess," Cuomo compares a difficult relationship to the board game.

My favorite track is "Lover in the Snow," an electric guitar and tamborine masterpiece about - what else? - a former lover of Cuomo's entangled in a shady, allegorical snowy glen with another man. In moments of joy and heartbreak in my own life, the song has always resonated and haunted me with the simple, yet soul-wrenching power of its lyrics and minor chords.

This album is a must-have for any die-hard Weezer fan and a soothing cure for anyone suffering a lonely fracture of the spirit.

http://www.amazon.com/Alone-Home-Recordings-Rivers-Cuomo/dp/B000Y30ODQ