Weezer Impresses Geezer

UPDATED 10/30/09, 7:19 am:
At the end of this post I’ve added YouTube video of Weezer’s performance last night on the Late Show with David Letterman.

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I plead guilty to having for the most part ignored new music since the late ’80s. As a dad of three boys ranging in age from 12 to 18, that hasn’t been easy to do.

One of the few artists to have (barely) penetrated my musical consciousness since the late ’80s is the band Weezer.

They were one of son #1’s first favorite artists. More recently, son #2, age 14, has become a Weezer fanatic. Monday night he was thrilled to learn he was one of the winners of a Weezer fan photo contest on Facebook run by iheartradio, the web streaming portal property of terrestrial radio giant Clear Channel Communications. The prize: two tickets to an invitation-only Weezer show at the P.C. Richard & Son Theater in New York City.

Yesterday I took the afternoon off to escort my son and three friends to the show (one of those friends won the contest too). I hadn’t expected to see the show myself, but the promoters, as they crossed off the names of the contest winners and their guests lined up outside the theater waiting for the doors to open, offered me free admission.

I figured the promoters say the show will only be an hour long — how uncomfortable could it get. After all, it was a chilly evening, I wasn’t dressed warmly enough for a long walk in TriBeCa, and World Series game 1 wouldn’t even be starting on taproom TVs until just before the scheduled end of the show. So I decided to take up the promoters on their offer.

I’m glad I did.

Weezer’s songs are upbeat and catchy, and in the show they delivered them with intensity and enthusiasm. The sound, in the recently opened intimate, seat-less performance space (capacity 250) — “theater” is a misnomer — was clear and the volume just right.

For me the highlights were the infectious “I’m Your Daddy”, the very danceable “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” with its spoken word segments, and the raucous show closer, “Buddy Holly” from their 1994 debut self-titled “blue album.” (The first and second are singles from Weezer’s new album Raditude, scheduled for release next week.)

On the way in the room, the two young female security guards motioned all those entering toward the stage. That’s where my son and his friends wanted to be, and, as a result of our having lined up outside 90 minutes before the doors opened, they got their wish. (My son captured the  pictures accompanying this post.) I, on the other hand, asked one of the guards if I could stand in the back, lamely claiming “I’m a dad”. At first she was adamant, but quickly relented, probably after taking a second look at me, agreeing “you’re a dad”. It turns out I had nothing to fear — but I was glad to be in the back all the same.

There was one down note: the show lasted not an hour but a mere 30 minutes. Although I heard only minor grumbling in the audience when front man Rivers Cuomo announced after five songs that the next song would be the last — I think most of us were too surprised to react — I have to think the vast majority of the audience shared  my disappointment. My appetite had just been whetted when it ended.

So is it a lesson here that I should be at least a bit more tuned in to new music — that I might hear I lot of other stuff I would like? I may have gotten a sign to that effect: This morning the car radio, with its dial left set to the station my son favors on the rare occasions he doesn’t opt for his iPod, greeted me with “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” from the concert set list.

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NFL — Haves and Have-Nots

Image via Wikipedia

“On any given Sunday …” the promotion arm of the National Football League used to trumpet. Pro football has become so popular the NFL put away the trumpet — heck, they probably sold it. Sure — on any given Sunday — or Monday or Thursday — a favorite can fall to a heavy underdog. Indeed, many weeks there are one or more significant upsets.

In recent years, though, there is less and less parity between NFL teams. Recall New England’s undefeated regular season in 2007 and Detroit’s winless season last year — both firsts for the league since the 16-game schedule started in 1978.

Well, the trend toward less parity is accelerating, alarmingly so, this season.

Exhibit A is this past Sunday when there were six — count ‘em, six — games with winning margins of four or more touchdowns!

• New England (5-2) 35, Tampa Bay (0-7) 7
• Green Bay (4-2) 31, Cleveland (1-6) 3
• San Diego (3-3) 37, Kansas City (1-6) 7
• Indianapolis (6-0) 42, St. Louis (0-7) 6
• NY Jets (4-3) 38, Oakland (2-5) 0
• Cincinnati (5-2) 45, Chicago (3-3) 10

Ouch — times six! A rout, a smearing, a burial, a rollover, a demolition, and a drubbing! These scores resemble early season college football — when top-ranked teams host cupcake opponents, yielding pay days for the visitors sufficient to fund their athletic programs for entire seasons.

I’d say now on any given NFL Sunday — or Monday or Thursday — there is a pretty good chance your crappy team will get blown out by my playoff-contending team.

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Driving Cross-Country — Vicariously

As a roadgeek and a fan of road books and movies, I’ve long thought it would be cool to drive cross-country. So I waited with interest above and beyond the parental variety for the daily phone calls from my oldest son as he drove from our home in southeastern Pennsylvania across the country — nearly — to central Arizona where he is enrolling a few days from now as a college freshman.

His driving partner was his roommate-to-be. They arrived at their final destination last night after a week on the road.

Here is their route, covering 2,499 miles according to Google Maps, as near as I can tell from my son’s reports:

View Larger Map

Their vehicle was my son’s 22-year old diesel sedan, packed to the gills, with 304,000+ miles on the odometer — that is, at the start of the trip. There were, as one would expect, concerns about the reliability of the car, but thankfully it didn’t give them any major trouble.

No major trouble, that is, except for the air conditioning, which gave out on the second day. That the A/C was leaking refrigerant was known before the trip. We didn’t expect it to last the whole trip. He charged it a few days before the trip, at my urging, with the hope and expectation it would last most of the trip. The eventual disappointment on that score made the trip much more of an endurance test — in my mind at least.

Next: An ALL NEW Post!

Well, that’s the way they do it on TV, isn’t it? TV’s hype machine has successfully morphed “new” into ALL NEW.

Sunday, on an ALL NEW Simpsons …

Next, it’s an ALL NEW Office, followed by an ALL NEW 30 Rock.

No doubt you’ve seen this usage of  “all new” ad nauseam if you watch prime time network TV with any regularity.

I think it’s stupid and annoying.

It’s as if you wouldn’t watch the touted episode if you knew it contained the least bit of footage recycled from another episode. And besides, you know it won’t, not if it’s advertised as a NEW episode — unless the episode contains flashback sequences or it’s a highlights anthology.

So inserting ALL is not only stupid and annoying on the networks’ part, it’s redundant. After all, stock (recycled) footage isn’t used to any significant degree in prime time network TV. Or is it?

Would-be Windfall

Image by &y via Flickr

The July 9 issue of the Delaware Coast Press turned out to have a wealth of “blog fodder” — just what was needed to energize my moribund blog.

This, from that issue’s GRAPEVINE column, wherein DCP readers’ “comments and observations” are featured without attribution, is a real LOLer:

All my life, I have heard and read about the price of gas — per gallon. But it’s not the price for a whole gallon of gas, it’s for 9/10 of a gallon. You’re always cheated out of a 10th of every gallon of gas. Over your lifetime, that’s a lot of money these companies are making. Isn’t it time to get the federal government to get rid of that 10th and make them give us the full gallon?

This is like the parallel universe of gas consumption. A put-on? Probably. But very funny. Who would have thought the “9/10″ on gas station price signs is a fraction of a gallon rather than a fraction of a cent? The answer: the writer of this GRAPEVINE submission.

Care to Reenact That?

Image by Ed Yourdon via Flickr

Props to photographer John King for capturing the moment of a personal injury in the photo accompanying this article in the Delaware Coast Press (not the photo to the right) — at least if you believe the caption:

Jordan Wehtherholtv, 12, of Reading, Pa., gets a splinter while walking on the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk.

I don’t believe it. Looks like a reenactment to me.

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Well Hey There, Lil’ Feller

Some readers may have already heard this news — others may not have known it was even in the works. But anyway …

I became a grandfather yesterday, May 31. My stepdaughter and her husband were blessed with the birth of a son, Benjamin.

He arrived almost four weeks early, the morning after an exhausting Saturday for my stepdaughter during which she co-managed a six-hour charity yard sale in the morning/afternoon and oversaw her dance school students performing in a three-and-a-half hour dance recital in the evening.

Benjamin’s weight at birth was 6 lbs. even. Since arriving he has developed some issues typical for early arrivers. It doesn’t sound like anything serious but we’re told that to be on the safe side he will likely remain in the hospital for an indefinite period after his mom is discharged tomorrow.

Newly minted grandmom Mrs. QC uncles sons #1, #2, and #3 are thrilled — as am I, natch’.

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Unseconded My Notion

Mowing season is arriving in QC-country, so this past Sunday my car’s parking accommodations switched from the cushy garage to the exposed driveway.

I’ve always locked my car overnight when it’s parked in the driveway. We’ve lived here since 1992. There’s “Black Beauty” right there:

But to lock it I either have to

• use the key

or

• close the driver’s door, open the same-side passenger door and then reach in and push down the lock button on the driver’s door.

A puzzling design decision — them Swedes are, um, quirky.

Anyway it’s a bit of a pain. So for this mowing season I got the notion I would leave the car unlocked overnight. The car is 15 years old, I don’t keep anything of significant value in it, and the neighborhood is pretty safe.

Little Green Doggy Bag

My favorite DJs on Blip.fm have turned me on to several cool songs I’d long forgotten. In some cases I’d either forgotten or never knew the title and artist — like in the case of “Little Green Bag” by George Baker Selection, a number 21 hit in the U.S. in 1970.

You know how a song gets stuck in your head? Well, usually it’s just part of a song — the part of the song that contains what music industry insiders refer to as “the hook” — because it grabs you.

Can a song be one large hook? I ask because “Little Green Bag” is stuck in my head in its entirety.

Suffice to say, “Bag” is hook-laden. I warn you: Don’t play this video unless you’re prepared for a musical brain imprint that could take days to fade.

Smiling yet? Go ahead. Play it again. Or play one of the many other videos of this song on YouTube. I can wait.

One Year in the Blogs

Quiet Clown celebrates its first birthday today.

On March 25, 2008, I posted Tech writer’s block and followed it up later the same day with Remembering DJ Jackson Armstrong.

Here is a list of the 10 most popular posts:

1. My Long-Legged, Celebrity Colleague From Childhood 237 views
2. Blip.fm DJs — What’s Your BLA? 151 views
3. My Visit to a Service at WellSprings UU 150 views
4. Remembering DJ Jackson Armstrong 129 views
5. FiveThirtyEight: 11%(!) Chance of Obama Winning EV, Losing PV 104 views
6. Matching Mismatches 92 views
7. Bobbie Gentry’s Mystifying Mississippi Tour 86 views
8. Finally! 2001 Anthrax Attacks are Back in the News 77 views
9. Was ‘McCain Would be Better Than Bush’ an Obama Gaffe? 74 views
10. ’tis the Season for Throw-Up Coats 60 views

There’s more I could say to mark the occasion … but I really don’t feel like it.

Photo credit: Flickr user kymai100 (Brenda), used here in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons license.

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