Karl's Corner - 12/01/2009

2009/12/01 Raditude Tour: Chicago: Aragon Ballroom

...The Raditude Tour got off to a great start tonight here in Chicago, before a raucous sold out crowd. The Aragon is a legendary and quite beautiful venue where Weezer has played several times, and its always pretty great here. Its a big echo-y room which presents some acoustic issues depending on where one is standing, but tonight things were under control. Well, they were sort of out of control actually, but in the good way, with ladder climbing, balcony wig wearing, Petron bottles, giant beachballs, a contest winning guest singer, and much more. Tonights attendees saw the debut of a epic new instrumental intro song, written by Rivers himself - preceeded by a bit of "Hot For Teacher" for good measure of course.

Johanna M. won a contest with Q101 which got her onstage, dueting with Rivers on "I Want You To"! Prior to the show, she was escorted backstage where Brian went over the melodies and lyrics with her and got her ready for her stagetime! Johanna had the pipes and sounded good!

Shout-out to veteran photog Paul Natkin who shot the weezer show with me tonight, his wisdom, humor and insights were much appreciated. Paul has shot like everybody in music, and was kind enough to give us a cool shot of Rivers from when he got down with the peeps in the front row during "Let it all hang out". (pic #2 below)

And a shout out to Anuj B., who was onhand to hang and watch the band he freaked out on in 1994 as a youngster, inspiring him to start the Rebel Weezer Alliance (RWA) website in late 1994 / early 1995. The RWA soon therafter got the URL weezer.net, which as students of weezer history know, eventually became the official weezer.com in 2000. Via Anuj's RWA, mid 90's weezer fans had literally the only source of weezer video clips online and a direct line to weezer news well before I got online, via direct contact with Mykel and Carli of the weezer fanclub, and Brian's dad! Anuj is pictured in pic #12 below with an enterprising bootlegger down on Lawrence Ave.

...And now a show story I wanted to share:
"I am a 47 year old fogie who just happens to love punk rock, alternative rock and other rock genres. The Clash were the best band ever. No doubts. That being said, the best band in the land right now is, and has been, Weezer. I hate to be one of those guys who says...I knew them before they were famous but....I remember hearing the Blue Album and have no idea why I picked it up over 17 years ago. Jonas, Undone and Say It Ain't so are masterpieces. Every bit as good as anything Lennon/McCartney ever wrote. So, I try to see W every chance I get (see you Thursday night in WI). 2 of my kids happen to have great taste in music and love the band. My one daughter unfortunately likes ear piercing rap. Not my bag. My 2 kids(and wife and 12 others) went to the show last night. On a scale of 1-10, easily a 9. I was moved from the opening chords of Hash Pipe and the crowd was electric. So much for me. The best thing about the night was watching my 2 kids (15 and 13, boy and girl) react to the music. They jumped, they hopped, they sang, they clapped, they screamed. They were moved. They could not stop talking about the night on the way home. So, the purpose of this message is just to say thanks to the band for creating art that has had an impact on my kids. With X-box, reality television and the other mind-numbing distractions out there, I am very happy that they appreciate music for what it is...audible art. I am not sure how many other kids get to do that. When something touches your kids it is a thing of beauty to see. So, farewell mysterious Karl and thanks again. Say hello to the 2nd best band ever for me." -Rich Traub

(click on any photo for a full size version)

...Yes, the official bootlegs will continue for this December run!

...Everything I know about love, I learned from Weezer, on Nerve.com.

...Raditude review in the Philadelphia Inquirer

...the Weezer Songblog, continuing full steam ahead.

...info coming soon - some more weezer gigs in January!

...May 2, 2010 - Weezer at The Bamboozle! Tix on sale Friday exclusively via TheBamboozle.com!

...upcoming TV:

* Weezer will be hosting Mtv2's Subterranean show - UPDATE - NEW TIME: WEEZER Subterranean Hosting will now run on 12/13. Air date: Sunday Night (Monday Morning) December 13th 2:00 A.M. E.S.T.

* STILL UNKNOWN airdate - Weezer performing a cool song about bugs while in bug costumes, on the Yo Gabba Gabba show! Airtime TBA.

...We're excited to offer you this exclusive t-shirt brought to you by MySpace Music and Shockhound. Supplies are limited, so click the image below to get your shirt now!