Riverpedia archive - 08/31/2021

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Anthony Cuomo

My paternal grandfather.

Came from Fossacesia, Italy. The Cuomos had long been tailors. 'Tony' broke with tradition to become a shoemaker,.

He emigrated to the US when he was 16. Possibly illegally. Definitely didn't come through Ellis Island, but rather Toronto to Buffalo, then Rochester, NY.

He served in the US army during world war II even though he was not a citizen. He was honorably discharged for some problem with his breathing. He was granted citizenship after his time in the army.

When I was a toddler, I call him "doot-doo" after the sound of his hammer, working on the shoes. And we all called him that thereafter.

His shop was in the front room of the their house, on Moran Street, Rochester New York.

In the mid 1970's, after my parents split up, he was assaulted in his shop. He eye was carved out and his throat was slit. Luckily my uncle Michael found him and his life was saved. He had a glass eye from then on.

His didn't speak much English (Italian being his native language) but he smiled a lot and radiated warmth.

Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York) Dec 30, 1964:

Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York) Dec 8, 1973:

Further Reading:
Frank Cuomo

( Last edited by TragicGurl at 2021-08-31T01:21:22Z)

Beverly Shoenberger

My mom. Born May 8, 1947. Lived in Charlotte, North Carolina until she was 8, then Atlanta, Georgia. She spent a lot of time in very rural Alabama on her grandparents' farm. Her mom had grown up on a cotton farm, and her dad was first a chemist at an ice cream company, and then a minister. His natural inclination to a spiritual path made a deep impression on her.

In high school, she won the International Science Fair (in Girl's Biochemistry) in 1965 for a project on kudzu. 6th place in Georgia for a play she wrote. 3rd place at the Emory Barclay Forum for Southeastern US for a dramatic reading. (She was assigned Hawaii.)

Then she went to New College in Florida but dropped out after two years, along with 40% of her class. The 60's hit her hard, and it took her a while to find her own way through all the cultural upheaval.

She followed a band up north. After a few months as a hippy in the East Village of NYC, she ended up at the Rochester Zen Center. Her father died suddenly of a heart attack a few days later, she married Frank a few months later, and I was born the following year. My mother says that my birth and the birth of my brother a year later, changed her life completely forever. She eventually divorced Frank and was married to Steve Kitts from 1976 to 1989. Now she's married to my current step-dad, Norman Richey.

The Shreveport Journal, May 8, 1965:

The Atlanta Constitution, May 20, 1965:

Further Reading:
Frank Cuomo

( Last edited by TragicGurl at 2021-08-31T01:20:47Z)

Cuomo Cuotes

These are comments or responses I’ve made in the chat that the neighborhood finds interesting, funny, noteworthy or newsworthy. Anyone is welcome to add quotes, but please take care to avoid paraphrasing or misquoting, even if it’s just one word. Also this isn’t intended as a vessel to log everything I say in the chat. Let’s just note the highlights.

“I’m here.”

“Yeah the paraphrasing drives me nuts. Even if they change one word.”

"Sometimes I get fascinated by things I don't like. And then start using them. And then I almost kind of like them. It happens with music all the time period".

"The first days of chatting here are pretty frustrating. Or so I've heard. It's a rite of passage."

"I haven't cut my hair since this all started. I'm giving Brian a run for his money."

"I think I meant that the lyrics just came off the top of my head or the bottom of my head, I don't know. I didn't set off to say anything in particular. It's crazy that sometimes songs can end up having a specific meaning that way." [In reference 'My Brain is Working Overtime']

"The stereotype of a record label is about as accurate as the stereotype of a rock star, which is to say not at all."

"Rivers delivers. That's what Michael Enzinger said."

"marriage is good."

"I am a 'white belt' at sleeping."

"One trick I like for writing melodies is to try and write a bad melody. I guess that could be applied to any creative pursuit".

"I am a perfect fig mint"

"Pigs were my favorite animal when I was a kid."

"I thought you guys were just being all internetty"

"Thank you guys. You're all very excellent people."

"We were doing a meet and greet when the album came out. A couple came up to us and said their son had been a huge Weezer fan. He committed s**cide. When they heard the new album was called 'Everything Will Be Alright in the End', it was a great consolation to them. I knew then that we had made the right move in changing the title. It was a real lesson for me. Choose positivity when you can. And you always can."

"I wonder what would happen if I deep faked myself. I would never have to be in any videos or photo shoots again."

"bet you there are more "dan's" in the weezer fandom per capita, than any other fandom."

"playing my piano sounds like an euphemism."

“I never understood why guys swim topless. It’s so icky to put sunscreen all over your torso.”

“this song in fall called francesca is so amazing"

“doing research for Tastes Like Pain: [provides Wikipedia link for “brown rat torture”]. did not know about that one.”

"The reason I stopped moving around [as much onstage during shows] was because I started playing guitar again. Therefore I couldn't carry the microphone."

“In I need some of that? Oh, I know what [the conversation after the song] is. They had to chop off the end of the song. But they left that bit. That's from 2014. I think we couldn't get clearance for Ric's verse. We had him singing a whole verse. Well just his verse is from 2014.”

“Hot pictures of Rivers Cuomo seems a bit redundant.”

“I guess I’m just bigger than you’d expect.”

"one of my songwriting rules is to not say I'm sorry. Because I tend to see it too much."

"That would be cool only because I like the name oscar." [In regards to the idea of winning an Oscar someday]

"Evangeline, no I didn't realize people would have a strong reaction to it [the "daddy" line in 1 More Hit]. That's always been the case though. From The sweater song to it's a hip hop world and where the furniture. It all just sounds like me rambling to me."

“If the bird ain’t happy, the bird don’t sing.”

I can juggle three things.

"King Tom, good life was inspired by me."

"boy I was mad on friday. Hadn't been that mad in ages. but underneath anger, there are always softer emotions: in this case, sadness and fear.

“I have many many robots working here in my room.”

“We shall henceforth be thought of as one of the greatest rock bands of all time.”

"You only live once. have fun with your hair."

"Alright back to coding because I'm a beast."

( Last edited by TragicGurl at 2021-08-31T01:13:02Z)

Frank Cuomo

My dad. My parents divorced when I was about 4.

He was a jazz percussionist in NYC in the late 60s; and was the percussionist for Odyssey of Iska, a 1970 Blue Note Record released by saxophonist Wayne Shorter. He's also been onstage with me at two Weezer concerts - playing drums on "Back to the Shack" at the 2015 Burgerama Festival in Santa Ana, CA; and on "Beverly Hills" at the 2016 at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in Irvine, CA.

Like his father, my father was violently assaulted in his 70's. In 2018, while I was in Denver on the Pixies tour. While coming home from work in the train station in downtown LA he was punched. Broken jaw. Hasn't been able to eat solid food since. Dramatic weight loss and cognitive decline.

Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York) Dec 26, 1954:

Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York) Jan 20, 1956:

Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York) Jan 21, 1958:

Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York) Dec 30, 1964 picture, with a note of what looks to me as if my dad was writing to his younger sister from her father's perspective(Dunk and Ralphie are my dad's nicknames for my aunt and uncle):

Further Reading:
Anthony Cuomo

( Last edited by TragicGurl at 2021-08-31T00:51:08Z)

My dad's nicknames for people and things

My dad has a fantastic ability to give people and things alternate nicknames.

Alternative Words:
- Drums: "da blams"
- Piano: "pinano"
- Tissue: "hornblowers"
- Slippers: "slinkers"
- Peanut Butter: "peenter bunter"
- Sandwich: "sanguiladoche"

Family Nicknames:
- His son Shannon: "Bones da stickman"
- My uncle Michael: "Ralphie"
- My aunt Joanne: "Dodo"
- My mom: "Choofie" and "Magenta"
- Me: "Weezer" and sometimes, "Botch" - the latter because the sound made me laugh as a baby

( Last edited by Rivers at 2021-08-31T01:03:45Z)

Nicknames

Nicknames given to me:

- "Botch" - my dad gave me this because the sound made me laugh as a baby.
- "Coach" - born from the chaos of Riverchat.
- "Riv" - Petra used to call me that.
- "RivDawg" - a current nickname.
- "Rivolino" - my parents used to call me this.
- "Rivwanda" - a nickname the Weezer guys tried but it didn’t stick.
- "Sweet River Baines" - a nickname from an SNL skit with Michael Jordan that my friends tried after it aired.
- "Weezer" - my dad called me this because of my asthma.

Nicknames I have for others

- "Budouski" - that's my nickname for Leo. Because he likes grapes.
- "Doot-doo" - When I was a toddler, I called my paternal grandfather Anthony, who was a cobbler, "doot-doo" after the sound of his hammer, working on the shoes. And we all called him that thereafter.

Further Reading:

Frank Cuomo
My dad's nicknames for people and things

( Last edited by TragicGurl at 2021-08-31T01:04:36Z)

SZNS

A planned series of four albums (8 songs apiece, totaling 32 songs), set for release on the first day of each season of 2022.

July 9, 2021 - Interesting convo with JD. SZNS may not come out as I originally envisioned but cool nonetheless.

August 25, 2021 - JD heard all of SZNS. He said his fav was Fall, which surprised him, he thought it would be his least fav. I was surprised too, but now that I look at it again, it is pretty immediately likeable. It's more uptempo. His fav track off of it is What Happens After You. I also just shipped off my SZNS PowerPoint to everyone.

I think it's going to be five songers digitally at first. Vinyl will have all eight songs each.

You guys are going to have hundreds of demos for each song on SZNS. Documenting each step of the writing process. I've learned so much writing this album.

There are hardly any co-writes on SZNS.

Inspiration:

Each album will feature a specific emotion and musical genre, and musical themes from Vivaldi's 'Le quattro stagioni' will appear throughout.

SZNS starts out fully Pagan-Narnia in Spring, and ends up crushingly Christian in Winter (increasingly Old and New Testament into Fall and Winter).

Wow the Dead Sea Scrolls are pretty cool, I came across it while doing research for Angels on Vacation. It's on Spring. Gabriel and Michael take a vacay from heaven, come down to earth, Disney World etc. Halos off, baby.

I'm reading it [Ulysses] over and over until I'm done with seasons. Ulysses is one of the most influential works of art of the 20th Century. But I'm not mining it for specific quotes. More for techniques of composition and just general inspiration. It's pretty mind opening. He did things no one ever thought to do in literature before. Also I'm inspired by how he wanted to make an extremely difficult work of art (I mean difficult to understand).

• Spring (March 20, 2022): Happy Chill; acoustic & breezy; inspired by Island In The Sun.
• Summer (June 20, 2022): Youthful Indignation; crunchy beach boys; will be perceived as more "Classic Weezer.”
• Fall (Sept 22, 2022): Anxiety, Fear; dance-rock; inspired by Franz Ferdinand’s Take Me Out and the Strokes.
• Winter (Dec 21, 2022): Sadness, grief over loss; sad-acoustic 90's singer/songwriter Elliott Smith.

Recording:

Each Season will have a co-producer we've never worked with before, in addition to Jake (big picture) and Suzy (vocals).

SZNS will be the opposite of quarantine recording, as we plan to record with all musicians playing together in the same room with Jake’s version of The Wrecking Crew. We’ll also be working with Rob Mathes (LA Phil conductor we worked with on OKH) and his friends. The recording session will be in September after the Hella Mega tour.

My first deadline for SZNS is Friday, May 28, 2021.

Songs/Lyrics:

There’s a song on SZNS about the pilot of the Goodyear Blimp, although the specific season remains unspecified.

The opening song of SZNS is a tribute to Shakespeare, called Opening Night.

Maybe Fall is written from the perspective of an anxious android.

The verse from Hello, Concubine is currently being used as the verse for Basketball. Here's the Coach lyric from Basketball :

"Under the bleachers
Hiding for an hour
Coach is looking for me
Cuz his job is to empower"

I’m happy that I worked the word 'triclinium' into Summer’s Cuomoville.

I’ve also mentioned possible lyrics for The Opposite Of Me (also on Summer). “Somebody's so relatable you feel as if they're your best friend. And when they begin to make a speech you wish that it would never end.”

MNF is the last song on Summer which is weird but technically football starts in Summer.

Other songs in contention for SZNS:

Spring:
Opening Night
Good Morning
Angels on Vacation
Get Off on the Pain

Summer:
Dorothy
Cuomoville
Don't Give Up
The Opposite Of Me
Monday Night Football

Fall:
Francesca
What Happens After You

Winter:
Basketball
I Want a Dog
Tastes Like Pain

( Last edited by TragicGurl at 2021-08-31T01:11:43Z)

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