SulliedWords: Wikipedia

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Winter Woefulland

For those curious as to my complete blogging absence, I've actually written two new ones this month that I chose not to publish. Unfortunately both entries were contradictory to my normal chipper upbeat humor, and took turns into dark parts of my mind where no one should venture. I fear the descent into these caves myself as the walls are steep, covered in thorns and a thick mucus, making escape all too difficult. I lost my keys in there once and rather than going in after them I had all my locks changed.

Perhaps I'm one of those holiday goers with an inverse reaction to cheer but I suspect it's actually a response to this thing called winter. I am unused to both extended cold temperatures and precipitous events other than rain and hail, but I didn't expect to have this kind of mental meltdown, if you will. Snow meanwhile has threatened to swallow our home.

According to Wikipedia there is an actual reported condition called winter depression or seasonal affective disorder (SAD). They define this as "a mood disorder in which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year experience depressive symptoms in the winter..." 'Normal mental health' may be a stretch but I can see differences in my overall demeanor and I'm having trouble concentrating for any length of time. I can only hope my friends and relatives take my SADness into account when reading my Christmas cards this year. Many of them are just signed "What's the point?" or are stuffed with random obituary clippings. Most intended recipients will be saved from the black Hallmark oddities however because my only attempts at mailing them were by feeding the envelopes into the garbage disposal or neighbors' car exhausts.

Vanessa fears that winter in this large house will get the best of me and she's happy we don't own a croquet set or axe. We were told that to get through the winter we have to enjoy it, finding outdoor activities in which to participate. My dog sled team is coming along nicely but I'm getting annoyed with the amount of "lost dog" posters cluttering up the neighborhood telephone poles. It's just tacky.

I'm torn on who should lead the pack at this point, the three legged Great Dane or the chihuahua with the big heart. Chi-Chi keeps getting trampled up front but I know she's strong enough. After all, she bit that big dog's leg clean off!

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Weezer's missing ingredient

Image by parn via Flickr

Upon the release of Weezer's third album I was confounded. I heard sounds emanating from my car stereo that had familiar Weezer flavors, but as I sat listening in the Hasting's parking lot, each track felt cold, shallow, and foreign. I never want artists to safely reproduce earlier works because growth and experimentation is key to a lasting band, but where was my Weezer?

Plastic wrapping and sticky security strips, once a nagging barrier between me and fresh audio pleasantries, vomited from my shopping bag, reflecting my sense of disgust. The songs, the whole album, was short quips of meaningless dribble; it was cookie cutter pop that didn't justify their previous years of silence. I didn't understand. I had heard "hash pipe" and thought it was kind of ridiculous but assumed naively that it would be the isolated radio single that was necessary for album promotion. It was instead the baseline of mediocrity for the green "Weezer" album.

I looked at the cover and looked at the faces. Something was terribly wrong. I drove home, able to listen to half the album once over again, needing answers. I called a friend who I thought would share in my dispair, but he failed to hear me as I assumed he failed to hear that disaster of a CD. "It's not that bad," he said.

I went into a rant that would be repeated many times over the next few years, trying to explain how solid and timeless the first two Weezer albums were and that these recent imposters were shells of the men they once were, devoid of talent and soul.

Weeks later, after a few attempts at "giving it another shot," I retired Weezer's third album into a sleeve somewhere in the back of my CD case, along with other collections of dissapointment and various gifted discs. Many months passed and I heard rumors of another album release. "It all makes sense now" I thought. That was just a fun throwaway album, like a bunch of B-side songs rejected from the upcoming legitimate CD. It was all just silly antics and they weren't being serious, those goofy guys! I was relieved, but only temporarily.

Of course a replay of previous year's events would occur with more angry ranting and general heartbreak, but with time, and acceptance at Weezer's irreversible decline and failure as respectable musicians, I moved on. I found new bands and new sounds and some new disappointments as well.

The painful resurgence of this subject is due to Pandora's insistence on recommending Weezer songs for many of my personalized stations. I decline most and praise a few, but it got me wondering just what happened to those guys. Some research, more simplified and unified now due to Wikipedia, and I discover the removal of bassist Matt Sharp was the reason all musical and structural integrity was eradicated from this tumbling tower of a band.

As others have said, Sharp is no musical genius, and perhaps he wasn't the heart and soul of Weezer or their sole talent, but it is unquestionable that his absense severely altered their sound, lyrical depth and upward development as a group.

Rethinking the concept of the third album, I realize that maybe the remaining members were very self aware of the band's reinvention. The album is self titled like their first one and the cover is a solid color, green instead of blue, with all the members striking a pose as if introducing themselves to the world. It is only in thinking that they too recognized Weezer had become something else, even if it was a devolvement, that I regain some thread of respect for the band. In listening to those first two albums I hold on to this thread tightly, but with great solemnity I will be forever walking away.