Karl's Corner - 03/31/2004

03/31/04 it's fun to be clean

...thanks to YOU folks, Weezer has some very fresh new chart action!
* The "Video Capture Device" DVD debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top DVD Music Video 50!
* The Blue Album Deluxe Editon debuted at #2 on the Billboard Top Catalogue Albums 200!

The VCD was up against some stiff competition, namely the Linkin Park live DVD which has been sitting pretty at #1 for weeks. But 'VCD' knocked it down to #2 with a killer opening week. Meanwhile the Blue Deluxe had its work cut out for it over on the 'Catalogue' chart. The Pop Catalogue chart is where older albums that still are selling well (good examples: "Nevermind", Metallica's "Black Album", etc), plus greatest hits collections and re-issues all go. There are a lot of older albums and greatest hits that do amazing business week after week, but because they arent "new", they have a seperate chart for them. The Blue Album Deluxe had a good shot at the top, but a recent surge for Prince's new "Very Best Of Prince" album kept Weezer just a hair shy of #1.

These placements are a bit of history for weezer - their previous album top rank in any Billboard chart was #3, when Maladroit debuted in '02 on the Billboard Top 200. Now they have a bona-fide #2, and with the DVD, their first #1 ever! Again, many thanks go out to all the fans who got out to the stores and help make this a big week for the weez!

Meanwhile, things are warming up in the radio play world as well. The Blue Album Deluxe Edition was sent out to college stations nationwide, who were encouraged to pick their faves from either of the 2 discs for airplay. After 20 stations reported it last week as an early "add", 103 more stations added it this week, making it the #5 most added at college radio for the week. Meanwhile the College Music Journal top 200 chart shows the Deluxe Editon debuting this week at #101, the same week it was sent to the stations. Thats a good sign of whats to come, as usually it takes 2 weeks to get a placement. So if you got a college station nearby, it would be worth a shot to call em up and request something off the Deluxe - any track on it is valid for this!

Various current DVD/Blue Deluxe links and info:

* Blue Deluxe at a good price from indie online retailer Insound.com Use the following coupon code, good for 15 percent off:
coupon code: wdeluxe15
exp date: April 6, 2004

* DVD review on kempa.com.

* DVD Review on iesb.net, check for the weezer giveaway!

* International release issues - still looking for some info!
Canada: DVD out now, Blue Deluxe came out 3/30.
UK: DVD 4/19(?), Blue Deluxe 4/19
Ireland: DVD ??, Blue Deluxe 4/20
Australia: DVD ??, Blue Deluxe ??? (probably the same as UK?)
New Zealand: DVD ??, Blue Album ??? (probably the same as UK?)
Brazil: DVD ??, Blue Album (release planned?)
Norway: DVD ??(release planned?), Blue Album ?? (same as UK?)

*if you don't have the DVD yet and are looking for previews of the DVDs content, see older news posts below for the 'vcd player' banner, and several links to other preview clips online.

...The muscle car grapevine carries whispers of an upcoming feature in Chevy High Performance Magazine, showcasing Patrick Wilson's hot-rodded 1967 Chevelle SS! This has not been 100 percent confirmed but should show up in the upcoming issue or possibly the one after that. The Chevelle has recently completed a massive makeover in the drivetrain department, and Pat reports "alarming" amounts of power under the hood. He is looking forward to the feature but says he's learned to never count on these things happening, as sometimes stories are pulled at the last minute due to space concerns. Fingers crossed...

...more random weezer sightings (thanks to fans who sent these in):

#29: reported last week, here it is again lest ye missed it: jay-zeezer.com. (interesting how it seems that Mtv.com predicted it.)

#30: "geek test".

#31: Spin's March issue had an "Emo mad libs" page, ending with "I love ______.", with the only available answer being Weezer.

#32: on 2/19, on SF's LIVE 105 a Rentals/Weezer block was played "commemorating Matt and Rivers' public hatchet burial"

#33: The new album by L.A. underground hip-hoppers 2Mex includes a track called "Baby I Aint Joking" which cleverly paraphrases a part of "El Scorcho's" lyrics. Good CD too.

#34: ultimate-guitar.com sez: "Weezer are sometimes labeled as the godfathers of emo, even though they have been on the radio for years, they're nothing new but when emo came up they seemed like the perfect band to pave the way for this new trend and now bands like the used, thursday, taking back sunday are paving the way for emotional music into the mainstream. Many people don't think they're buying into it because they call themselves "indie rock" or "hardcore kid" , well, they are. Emo is defined by one thing, how emotional the song is."

#35: Fender Magazine/catalog for 2003 contains 2 weezer mentions, re: Rivers' Double Fat Strat, and Scott's bass guitar.

#36: New emo history book "Nothing feels good" devotes a whole chapter to weezer and the effects of "Pinkerton".

#37: On the 3/19 episode of the TV show "Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction", a story was run about a boy and his dog named "weezer" that came back to life after being hit by a semi-truck.

#38: oldie but a goodie.

#39: In the recent deluxe edition re-release of Pavement's hugely influential album "Slanted and Enchanted", the liner notes include "Pavement was the band that launched a thousand Weezers, including Weezer." (well, them and maybe a couple small bands like Nirvana and The Pixies!)

#40: Short story site tjmonkeys.com has a story called "On Being Rivers Cuomo" that includes numerous weezer references.

#41: The "Keep Fishin'" video was featured on the French MTV show "MTV 8", as one of the funniest rock music videos.

#42: another oldie but goodie: dictionaraoke.org, try the "Tired Of Sex" one...

#43: Strange use of "Keep Fishin'" here on the Brendan Leonard Show's "Sdrawkcab".