Riverpedia archive - 10/12/2020

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Ilizarov Procedure

Contrary to what it says on Wikipedia I was not "born with [my] left leg nearly two inches shorter than [my] right. When I was born, there was no difference in length observed in my legs. As I grew, the difference gradually appeared. At full height my right leg was nearly 2 inches shorter than my left.

By the way, isn't it interesting that it's always been framed as a "short" leg? One leg is "shorter" than the other. Why not say I had a "long" leg? One leg was 2 inches "longer" than the other.

Or maybe one leg was a little too long and the other leg was a little too short.

The procedure I had in 1995-1996 to correct my unequal leg length.

The first operation was in April of 95. They cut my femur in half and put my leg in a steel-frame;There were two concentric circles embedded in my femur and separated by 4 or 5 inches, with rods between them. I believe the initial surgery took 6 hours. When I first came out of anesthesia, the surgeon quipped, "looks like you got hit by a bicycle."

each day I would turn some screws on the rods so that they would extend and increase the space in the break in my bone. After 6 months, the bone was supposed to be totally filled in and they would take off the metal frame. Two months in I was back out on the road with Weezer, stumbling around with a cane.

(from my mom, Beverly) "Of all the many concerts I have been to, the one that moved me the most was in London, when you had the Ilizarov . . . I wasn't sure you would even make it through the concert, you were in such pain. At one point you paused, Karl brought you water and a chair. You couldn't even sit properly on the chair due to the cage around your thigh. The room went completely silent. Every one was so with you . . .and when you began to sing and everyone joined in, it felt like we were sharing something way beyond a concert."

By December, the team finally accepted that the bone was not filling in as planned so they decided to do a second operation in January 96 (on winter break before Final exams at Harvard). I was quite bummed about this.

They took out some bone marrow from my hip, ground it up, and packed it into the space between the two halves of my split femur.

Chiba came to stay with me at my parents place in Newington to help me recover.

My recovery from the procedure, including the extended period I used a cane to get around, served as part of the inspiration for The Good Life.

I've always felt the incredible sweetness and vulnerability in my voice on PINKERTON was a side effect of the physical pain I had experienced during that time.

( Last edited by Rivers at 2020-10-12 09:06 AM utc )

OK Human

Beats 1 (@Beats1) January 24, 2019

"Our next album is not on a grid," I explained. "We just recorded the basic tracks, and there's no click, no grid."

When asked about a title, I said, "We don't have a real title, but the key word we have to inspire us at the moment is 'masterpiece.'"

Beats1 February 6, 2019

At the time I was listening to a lot of Nilsson Sings Newman and I said it was the biggest inspiration on our next album.

The song I chose to showcase this with was I'll Be Home:

LA TIMES. Feb 22, 2019

"Cuomo said the group is almost finished with another album, one he described as “piano-based, very eccentric, with strings already recorded at Abbey Road.” (Its working title is “OK Human,” after Radiohead’s “OK Computer,” though the singer identified his musical inspirations as George Gershwin and “Nilsson Sings Newman.”)"

KINK 1 year ago.

Brian Bell

-If he could play any album of Weezer's live he would pick OK Human. He didn't think he was supposed to talk about it but he was so excited about it.

-Played acoustic guitar, Hammond organ, and backing vocals.

-He was listening to it for a month at the time and it's all he wanted to listen to.

-His dream is to perform it with an orchestra and would like to play at places like the Hollywood Bowl.

-Management didn't hear it at the time and Brian said they were pushing for Van Weezer but he said they didn't know how powerful the album is.

-He didn't hear rough mixes at the time and had Pat's drums, Rivers vocals, and strings to work with.

-Jake didn't want the album rushed out.

-In their inner circle, they still called it "Masterpiece", and although Brian thought it was pretentious at first, he said that it was a "f*ing ... masterpiece".

Link to interview

July 17, 2019 Allthingsloud.com

Interviewer: You guys have got three albums in the pipeline whose releases are imminent, right?

Brian: There’s two. There is a third thing, but I can’t talk about it. One is more finished than the other. They’re both very interesting and I’m very excited for one of them.

Interviewer: Are these more high-concept albums?

Brian: Yeah, one of them is called OK Human which seems to be about technology and how it’s running our life.

Interviewer: Not just lyrically, but on the last few albums it feels as though you’re exploring specific musical themes, almost like an exploration into new genres.

Brian: Yeah. OK Human is unlike anything I’ve ever heard, unlike any other type of music and unlike any Weezer music. In the bass, if you really broke it down to its common denominator, it still goes one, four, five in a major key for the most part. That’s very Weezer, that’s very Sweater Song, but it does it in more sophisticated ways.

Link to interview

Aug 20, 2020

I posted potential lyrics to an OK Human song here on Riverchat.

Moby Dick trip on a whale. He’s kinda just like me. We’re thirsty for the deep.

And...

I’ll be there to show support for Winston Smith in 1984. Because battling Big Brother feels more meaningful than binging zombie hordes.

I referred to that one as the “audio book song” and may have given the title as “Crankin Mrs. Dalloway.” (needs clarification)

Assorted Quotes

"we recorded strings at abbey road and you can tell."

In response to a comment about the Harry Nilsson and Gershwin influences: "Bach and Beethoven sprinkled in and you've got it."

Album Cover

The album cover was created by an illustrator whose work I discovered in a comic shop/book store. He was commissioned to do an original piece for the cover.

Song Titles

1. Bird with a broken wing
2. Dead Roses (contains the word oubliette in the chorus and is very Gothic)
3. La Brea Tar Pits
4. Here Comes The Rain (some people said Rivers mentioned this, needs clarification)
5. Rock My Audible
6. Numbers

( Last edited by elchuby at 2020-10-12 15:04 PM utc )

Pig

A bonus track from the Red Album. I had previously shared the demo online in the Spring of 2007.

Some of the baby pigs mentioned in the lyrics share names with some of my siblings (Gina, Shannon, Gabe).

I wrote it in the basement jam room at Cabot house. That was my dorm at harvard.

( Last edited by Rivers at 2020-10-12 18:18 PM utc )

Riverchat

In case it wasn't obvious, many of the messages posted under the name "Rivers" are not actually from me. Many are pulled from databases of pickup lines and movie scripts. They are just for your entertainment and not to be taken seriously. I am a profoundly happily married man with 2 children I love so much. I would never attempt to have inappropriate contact with anyone.

Here is a video presenting the first published version.

( Last edited by Tiffany at 2020-10-12 15:42 PM utc )

Rivers Radio

A playlist for my music listening everyday. It's populated by a python script I wrote that runs in the middle of the night. Every Friday I tweak the algorithm.

Follow and listen along if you like. Note, these are not songs I'm recommending. Many of them I've never even heard. They're songs I'm interested in hearing, rather. I may not end up liking them. Listen at your own peril.

Please don't feel obliged to listen. If you do listen, skip songs if you don't like them. And don't feel obliged to listen to the whole thing. On an average day, I listen to 10-25 songs.

It's helpful to have so many more songs in the playlist in case the script doesn't work the next night. The next day, I still have more songs to listen to.

One more thing, it's important to me that this playlist represents my current interests with no consideration for anything or anyone else. Therefore, I'm resisting the urge to tailor the playlist to pique others' interest, to gain followers. (There's actually a song on OK Human about the negative effects of stats like followers. It's called "Numbers". )

listen to Rivers Radio on Spotify

( Last edited by Rivers at 2020-10-12 13:10 PM utc )

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