Karl's Corner - 10/01/2005

10/01/05 but it's on to california, naturally

...MB '05 Tour: Day 104: travel to Minneapolis/St. Paul
Today we made our way up to Minnesota, where the leaves are starting to turn on the trees on this 1st of October, but were the temps were up in the mid 80's nonetheless. Minneapolis... city of lakes! City of progress! City without a 7-11!

...The most recent Mtv.com article contains some unfortunate errors that I would like to clear up.

Here are the facts: in summer 2004, at this time when ['Make Believe' producer] Rick Rubin was not often in the studio, I (Karl) was under the impression, based only on my personal assumptions and not actual inquiry, that Rick's role had been changed to more of a 'mentor' as opposed to an active producer, and thats what I incorrectly reported on weezer.com.

Rumors then suddenly flew online and in the press that "Rick was fired", when in fact, the band was talking to and/or meeting with him nearly everyday, and giving him the latest mixes of the songs in progress to listen to and give his input on.

Once I understood the real situation, I added a correction on weezer.com, which made it clear that Rick was indeed still producer and that the band was still working with him (in some form) on a daily basis.

Mtv.com's new article apparently does not take this info into consideration, either due to ignorance or sensationalism, and it amounts to a totally inaccurate description of what was going on during the recording of 'Make Believe'. It states that the story about Rick was "widely reported", which, perhaps aside from the spread of the incorrect rumor, is just plain wrong. Going on to state that "This may or may not be true..." is just a clumsy way of covering for the obvious inaccuracy. Weezer and Rick Rubin continue to have a great relationship to this day, and both are very happy to have worked with each other. I deeply regret that my original factual error, albeit corrected soon after the fact, has spawned such long-reaching negative hyperbole.

...Speaking of Mtv.com, check out the "Week O' Weezer" feature over at Mtv News' Overdrive broadband site. Pretty cool, basically a 5 part Mtv News interview story with the band. (Except that its only available on the IE browser? What's up with that?)

...December Japan Tour Dates (tickets on sale 10/23, pre-sale starts 10/1 - but ticket outlets are unknown at this time, consult with Japanese sources where possible.)

December 15, 2005 Osaka - Zepp
December 16, 2005 Osaka - Zepp
December 17, 2005 Fukuoka - Zepp
December 19, 2005 Nagoya - Zepp
December 20, 2005 Tokyo - Studio Coast
December 21, 2005 Tokyo - Studio Coast
December 22, 2005 Tokyo - Studio Coast

...Weezer on the Howard Stern Show Monday 10/17!

...Weezer on AOL Sessions on Wednesday 10/19!

...Weezer on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno Thursday 10/20!