zero

That picture has always scared me and really needs no other remark.

There is no 'good' or 'bad' karma. Karma is simply cause and effect, like bouncing a ball against a wall.

Because it's free the divider will be down in which case you can always move out onto the boardwalk and away from the stacks. Do bring earplugs though in case or if you want to be closer.

Well everyone knows I love me some Ween and that means spending way too much time thinking about their songs and lyrics. You usually can't get a straight answer out of any of their fans off the ween.net message board (you think I'm harsh!) but recently a thread came up about the song If You Could Save Yourself. The fans didn't have that much insight but the great thing is that Aaron (Gener) comes on the board from time to time and posts as GW (papa). He added this thought:

ok guys, I'll just post Pat's analysis of the song she'd sent me a while back. I think she's pretty dead on. Here goes...

Dear Aaron,

In regards to "If You Could Save Yourself...

The first verse sets the scene. A man is talking to the darkness (put many possible interpretations for darkness here, I'll let you pick one) about a vision he had, and just can't shake. The vision has been with the governer" so it obviously affected him deeply. In this verse you first hear the recurring paradox "the sound of brown", here used to represent his thoughts (i.e. they are given sound by him, but otherwise they are formless)

He then begins to describe his vision (or his "cumming in the mouth"); as he walks down a dark, lonely, cold street he suddenly sees the "vultures circling around Phish". I think this shows that the vision is one of contemporary culture, used to represent commercialism and flashiness (think Las Vegas). Had it been a candle light, the songs meaning would bevery different. The sound of silence here could be the quiet calm of the night (whihc is split by the light) or it could still be his thoughts (which are "touched" by the light)

The light brings him a vision of thousands of people, all caught in paradox; They are "Saving themselves, thus saving us all", "the wanting" and "knee burns". These people are going through the motions of life, but not really experiencing it. They can speak and hear and write songs, but they don't get the full effect of "listening" or "speaking". I bet you know people like this... the kind of people who talk and talk and talk, but never speak anything meaningful. They are shown in the neon light, reflecting that modern society helps these people go on with their senseless lives quite easily. Here the "sound of brown" is the detached rut that these people have put themselves in that no one dare break (by "speaking" or "listening")

The singer tries to reach these people, telling them that this unspeaking, unhearing silence will consume them like a cancer. He wants to reach them, so that he can teach them how to "listen" and "speak". But the choice is theirs, they must "make it good again, make it strong" and accept his help. Instead his attempt fails, the people obviously do not want to be reached. They are happy in their rut. His words fall like "wide open windows"; barely felt, not even heard. Here the words "echo in the wells of brownness". The echo makes a lasting impression of his words, but it's made in "a well of silence", where no one can hear it.

The final verse is preety eerie in my opinion. The people begin to "draw with invisible ink" to a "note a mother would never read". I think this represents the people's general concensus of modern society that places technology and progress above everything else. But the sign seems to warn them against their unwavering worship. It tells them that there are wise, prophetic words written on "walls of John and Peters" and "tenement halls", places where this modern society wouldn't expect deep thoughts to be. These words are also "whispered in the sound of brownness". If the people only look for these silent words they may learn to "speak" and "listen" and truly live life to the fullest.

Love, Pat

I was hoping to get at least one heady spraydown before he went in damnit.

No this really is me. Watch would Pete say something like: "I don't know if mawkish or treacly best describes the music of the Cheese, add to that foppish and insipid which are sort of synonyms of mawkish meaning effectively falsely or overly sentimental as in the sentence 'the female vocals over the house break were mawkish at best.'"

But for the record that really was Pete who made up that whole rumour about the Slip in Guelph. I've heard some doubted that he was actually capable of such a thing to which I say even the vegan limp dick of weirdness can be mischievous from time to time.

I was out of the office. Can't jam with the jammers jammy jam jam all the time.

What the hell is 'The Casket'?

This is awesome by the way.

drop it mofo

Just so everyone's clear Kyle is still playing OTown tomorrow (Thursday 15th) at 6:15 opening for Jimmy Vaughan and Lyle Lovett. He's likely to showcase a poppier side of himself but tell me you don't see sparks of greatness there. Especially if he cuts into any lead.

A lot of the bigger live songs are from the first album. Their Dark Star is Coconuts, their St. Stephen is Space Wrangler, Travelin' Light and Porch Song are still in rotation as well.

Did I mention how pissed off I am. Correct me if I'm wrong you industry types but I can't see how anyone would give back their guarantees especially at this late late stage. That must mean ticket sales were incredibly soft considering they were willing to take that kind of hit rather then go on with additional production expenses (less deposits) and the other %50 of the guarantee.

With regard to Kyle Riabko I've talked to his manager and his two cents is that they're going to use the opportunity to do some press but that he isn't going to do any replacement gigs. fu©k.

I don't know what to chock all of these cancellations up to. The best theory I've heard is that big ticket tours like Prince and Madonna (add to that the Pixies in the fall) are sopping up the bulk of people's disposable income. Certainly in our community you could add Coventry to that list. All of us know we've had to pick and choose this summer and definitely for me Prince and the Pixies took a chunk. My blood is boiling right now by the way. I am almost feeling a kung-sized amount of rage....

My main reason for being upset is the (potential?) cancellation of Kyle Riabko in particular his late night Silver Dollar show that would have slayed and undoubtedly featured guests. fu©k fu©k fu©k fu©k. Seriously I want to see this kid at least once more in a club before it's opening stints for the John Mayer's of the world at the ACC's of the world.

What do you mean $1000 dollar tickets?

In part it's because Mickey's (Deaner) mom is a pepper (french canadian) and she had this album when they were growing up.

It finally dawned on me that Ween's The Pod album cover is a spoof of Leonard Cohen's Greatest Hits (with Mean Ween replacing Leonard and the cribbler on his face). Found this article.

I cannot place the music, it seems rather disharmonic to me. No connection to Cohen that I can see - other than being the exact opposite of the atmosphere, with kind of a dark quality, stressed by repetitiveness, disharmony, slowgoing syncopated rhythm and abuse of sound-distortions (changes of pitch, filters, overstressed bass drum) plus the occasional rocky guitar or bass. Sounds anywhere between a sound-check of the Sparks and jam-session rock in a badly supervised summer-camp for Alice Cooper fans.

At least no one listens to your radio show except a couple of board bums!

This kind of story ENRAGES ME TOO!

Nobody gives rim jobs for $15 bucks! At very least you'd think the blow jobs would be $15 and the rim jobs $20. Besides this stuff is more of a guilt tactic on the heady mamas part.

Esau really the best place to start is Space Wrangler the album. You'll have a hard time finding a better document of this band and you can sense what all the fuss has been about. That said I really haven't enjoyed an album of theirs since. The second album (self-titled) is on about the same par with less memorable songs but definitely worthwhile too (they came out in '88 and '91 respectively).

This sort of testimonial taken in conjunction with what has been reported on 10,000 Lakes is not going to be good. You can bet the DEA is all over this sh!t already and even more so now. While we have a great thing going up here we are going to have to be vigilant about keeping it that way.

why are we even involved with this scene?

Very much a highjacked username. Sorry kids blame Weirdness for the jerk off. I wondered what the PM from guigsy was all about. The only good thing is they went with Do Make Say Think which I am dying to see and happens to be one of Brad's favourite bands of the moment. fu©king dick weirdness that is just fu©king cruel.

It was crazy up here in Guelph last night and really close together (thunder and lightning) which obviously made me think it was really close by.

That's right kids, you heard it here first!!!

...And, you have yours truly to thank for having the boys come down for the late night slot on Saturday night. Looks like it's going to be the e-bar unless we can swing a liquor licence at the youth music centre for the night.

LOOK OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This hasn't been confirmed yet but it sounds legit and for the life of me I can't understand how this ended up in Australia:

Suitcase may yield Beatles trove

July 13, 2004 | LONDON (AP) -- All you need is luck.

A vacationer who purchased a suitcase at an Australian flea market found a trove of Beatles memorabilia inside, including photos, concert programs and unreleased recordings, The Times newspaper reported Tuesday.

While the materials have yet to be authenticated, some experts believe the collection is the lost "Mal Evans archive," originally belonging to the Beatles' roadie and sound recordist.

Evans was killed by police in Los Angeles in 1976 after he had brandished a fake gun. The contents of the suitcase were lost during the police investigation, The Times said.

Fraser Claughton, 41, from Tinkerton, England, found the suitcase in a small town outside of Melbourne, The Times said. Realizing the suitcase was not empty, he bought it for about $36.

"It's like finding the end of the rainbow in Australia," The Times quoted Claughton as saying. "I spotted one tatty old suitcase, which frankly I wouldn't have given house room, but when I picked it up there was something in it."

The 4 1/2 hour reel-to-reel tape recording includes John Lennon and Paul McCartney experimenting with alternative versions of some previously unrecorded tracks. The collection also includes previously unknown versions of new recordings of "We Can Work It Out" and "Cry Baby Cry."

The tapes, labeled "Abbey Road... not for release," will be evaluated by the Beatles' record label, Apple, and examined by experts to determine their origin and authenticity.

"With the exception of (two tracks) it sounds very exciting indeed," memorabilia consultant and Beatles specialist Peter Doggett told The Times.

A spokeswoman for Christie's said while the auction house has had no contact with the collection as of yet, there is "Beatles memorabilia in every pop memorabilia sale -- it's very popular."

In 1998, a notebook compiled by Evans, containing draft lyrics for "Hey Jude" and "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," sold for $185,000 at a London auction.

A year earlier, McCartney obtained an injunction to prevent Evans' widow from selling a scrap of paper with the original lyrics to "With a Little Help From My Friends."