Karl's Corner - 01/22/2002

01/22/02 boom shackalacka yo here comes the cheif rocka

...the work continues in Miami, the guys splitting their time between the mixing studio and a separate facility where they are finishing up the songs that weren't quite ready for Tom Lord-Alge to dive into. In theory the gang will be wrapping things up pretty soon and returning to LA for album mastering and rehearsals for the upcoming tour. When they go to L.A., I'll be going there too, and the whole gang will be reunited at last. (At that point you can expect a noticable increase in the photo situation...)

...We've gotten a continued slow but steady flow of Photograph Video request info, all of which is going into the "request Info Page (link at above right). For those of you who have noted to us that you are not near any of these shows, please sit tight, we are working on expanding our horizons...

...Crazy Radio Action That Just Dont Make No Sense, But Its Really Cool: demo for "Mr Taxman" getting airplay at 97.7 WOXY in Oxford, Ohio. (studio@woxy.com); demo for "Take Control" getting played on 105.9 the X; demo for "Dope Nose" getting played on KRZQ. Special radio note: Framingham State College in MA plays lots o weez on "Casey's Happy Fun-Time Variety Hour," Wednesdays from 8-10 PM on WDJM 91.3. "i'm even planning a complete 2-hour Weezer-only ROCK-FEST"

...mini history lesson #1 (in a highly irregular series that are really just previews from the unfinished "chronology" section)...

...when the Blue Album was being recorded, there was a lot of brainstorming going on as to what this record would look like. I kept coming up with what I can say in retrospect were some rather kooky ideas, and Rivers kept pushing for something simpler. Finally one day Rivers dug out a cassette (remember those?) he had bought around that time, a cheapo Best of Beach Boys collection called "Do It Again". "Do It Again" was never issued on vinyl or cd as far as i know, and is most likely to be found in those handy truck stop stores out in the boondocks. However, the cover was really cool in its own rather hokey way, featuring the Beach Boys smiling for the camera, standing in a line of sorts, with a soothing blue background. Rivers said we have to achieve this effect on our cover, and so the idea of lining the guys up in striped shirts in front of a blue background took form.

The guys actually went out and found 4 matching striped button down shirts, and in fact in late 1993 played at least one show wearing them, much to the contempt of the LA scenesters of the era. Noted 60's fashion photographer Peter Gowland was contacted to do the shoot, as his mellow pastel colored shots of girls in bikinis and guys out golfing had the exact "anti-90's" feeling we needed. To Peters sprawling Lloyd Wright-esqe 50's house we went, which was complete with a near-clone of 'Alice' from Brady Bunch manning the kitchen. The guys started the shoot in the striped shirts, but everyone later concluded that the photos looked better with everyone wearing regular clothes.

Next spring, when the cover started becoming known to the local LA scene, the band met with immediate flak for ripping off the Feelies' 1980 album cover for "Crazy Rhythms". This was baffling to the band, who had never even heard of the Feelies before that point! But sure enough, the resemblance was unmistakable. It just goes to show how difficult it is to do something new by doing something old.

...The Feelies "Crazy Rhythms", The Beach Boys "Do It Again", and "Weezer"...David Ruffin, 1969: had the 'buddy holly glasses idea' first...