Karl's Corner - 09/27/2001

9/27/01 layin low in DC

...day off. We're in the same hotel as the Prime Minister of Egypt. So we started a rap side project with him. Just kidding. His Secret Service guys keep dropping 'bows on us.

(...Sorry, its 5 AM and there's a lot of Jay-Z type videos on TV...bless their little hearts...)

...Rivers settled on Baldur's Gate 2. His first session ended in his computer unexpectedly locking up and losing his game and character. "I will rise again" he says. In the meantime its a day of heavy biz dealings, he's been on the phone 24-7.

...Me and Pat went to the Pentagon Shopping Center(?) (not actually at the Pentagon, but nearby) to look for wireless networking stuff. Stepping out of the cab we ran right into a fan who was at the Special Goodness show at the Garage in November 1999. Turns out he works at the Starbucks there, so it was employee discount time! Aren't days off interesting?

...Philadelphia's New Music Alternative , y100 will rebroadcast the entire show from Wednesday night two more times this weekend!

Sunday, September 30th 9:00 AM eastern time
Sunday, September 30th 11:00 PM eastern time

They will again be simulcast on Y100.com Thanks to intern Mike for the inside scoop!

...Question Time: "I was at Weezer's show in Detroit, and the crowd on the floor was...what's the word? Violent? Rough? Crazy....after the first song I had to move to the perimeter of the crowd to
avoid being suffocated. What do the guys in the band think about that? Do they see the craziness that's going on during the show, and do they think it's cool, or are they surprised?" --Kirstie

A: The band loves to see people spazzing out and having fun, but they definately hate to hear that anybody got hurt. "The Pit" is traditionally the place where the 'die-hards' jostle for the best position near the band, and unfortunately it seems like a lot of people seem to enjoy the jostling more than the actual experience of watching the band, so sometimes its gets a bit violent. Backing off or getting pulled out of that area is often the only way smaller folks can enjoy the show, and in some cases stay safe! From the bands point of view, both a big pile of crowdsurfers going nuts, and an "seated" (all standing but very enthusiastic) crowd are lots of fun. It seems like fans seem to prefer the "General Admission" setups, even though they expose themselves to the pushing and stuff that way. Its really hard to know what's "best" in these cases, and no one wants to encourage a situation where people get hurt, which is why it usually ends up being a General Admission floor with heavy security. And while the security guards role is supposed to be to help pull crowdsurfers down and keep an eye on people and prevent injuries, we all have seen the ocassional hyper security force who are actually too rough themselves! All bands have to wrestle with this stuff, which is often mandated by the rules of the venues or cities themselves. Untill some new way of doing it is invented, I'd just have to advise steering clear of the area right in front of the stage unless you are prepared to be pushed around some.

...Note: I am working on the following things all at once, and I apologize that they are so long in coming:

"Spike's Island behind the scenes part 3" video clip
"The Pat Wilson Cobo Challenge" skateboarding video clip
The Recording History (2001 catch up)
The Equipment History (mucho catch ups)
Fans' News Stories catch up (way behind, lots of stories to share)

also still in the pipeline: the revised Band Chronology, and revised photo gallery

We hear the server tech guys are still making us wait on the chat room thing, but it has been promised

and I have a new (very cool) person working on the fanclub, making progress towards the day when those who wish to join up/refresh their old memberships finally can.