Roll Call: Ween, Toronto July 29

[TheAlphaNerd]

Where on the board??? I couldn't find a source on that rumour

[Schwa.]

Where on the board??? I couldn't find a source on that rumour

[briguy]

Ween fans might be interested to know I have Marco Benevento in Ottawa, Hamilton, and Toronto on Oct 15,16,17 and Dave Dreiwitz will be accompanying him on bass. Tix on sale next week. There's more info in the Hamilton music listings forum. Will be good.

[Schwa.]

Ween fans might be interested to know I have Marco Benevento in Ottawa, Hamilton, and Toronto on Oct 15,16,17 and Dave Dreiwitz will be accompanying him on bass. Tix on sale next week. There's more info in the Hamilton music listings forum. Will be good.

oh, really? Hamilton on Saturday the 16th? If so, consider me VERY in.

[Patchoulia]

If anyone needs a ween ticket - $40 - let me know.

[Basher]

Ween: a band that doesn't suck

Justin Go, National Post · Wednesday, Jul. 28, 2010

Countless adjectives have been used to try to describe the music of Ween, but when founding member Mickey Melchiondo (a.k.a. Dean Ween) is asked to give his own opinion on the band, the description is simple: “I think of us as new classic rock.â€

While Melchiondo’s answer might seem too flippant to sum up the many genres Ween’s music has covered, it’s telling of where the band is at these days. Melciondo and co-founder Aaron Freeman, a.k.a. Gene Ween, have been together for 26 years. Formed in their hometown of New Hope, Pa., when the two musicians were still in high school, Ween has remained active throughout the breakups and reunions of contemporaries such as Pavement and the Pixies and weathered all the changes the music industry has undergone during that time. And while the duo’s early oddball, lo-fi albums (God Ween Satan, The Pod, Pure Guava) always seemed like a reaction to the so-called alternative bands that ruled the airwaves in the mid-’90s, Melchiondo comes across as more of a rock ’n’ roll traditionalist when asked about the current state of music.

“We’ve been doing festival gigs all summer and the music just sucks so bad,†Melciondo says. “It completely blows my mind just how spineless the music is where there’ll be 115 bands on four stages and there’s not one f--king guy up there playing a guitar solo with distortion.â€

Asked to name some of the bands he finds most offensive, Melchiondo offers: “All of them.†According to the guitarist, today’s music is so “wimpy†that he’s developed a newfound appreciation for some of the ’90s alt-rock bands Ween initially rebelled against.

“I thought Pearl Jam was the wimpiest s--t I ever heard when it came along,†Melciondo says. “But I will eat s--t and say that while I was a total hater then, now it comes on and it sounds amazing.â€

Apart from the lack of distortion, Melchiondo suggests that his distaste for current rock bands might have something to do with a sense of humour.

“There are some people you can tell have a good sense of humour and they would be a lot of fun to hang with. To me, The Beatles are really funny,†Melchiondo says. “And Prince is probably the funniest f--king guy in the whole world. He changes his name to unpronounceable symbols and people get all caught up in it -- he’s probably laughing his ass off about it! … But I’m not so sure that Robert Fripp has any humour at all. That would be the last person I’d ever wanna f--king hang with.â€

Ironically, it’s Ween’s overt sense of humour that has sometimes overshadowed the quality of their recordings. But while songs that revolve around orders placed at a Mexican restaurant (Pollo Asado), detail a drug binge in the tropics (Bananas and Blow) or employ a vocal resembling a child high on helium (Push th’ Little Daisies) didn’t always garner attention from the mainstream press, it was not lost on what became a legion of devoted followers. Ween’s epic three-hour-plus concerts draw audiences that have filled some of the world’s most prestigious venues, and attracted a fan base that follows the band all over the world, making Ween somewhat of a modern-day Grateful Dead -- or at least a Phish for the indie set.

The band’s cult following is so great that the intensity of online discussion regarding the future of Ween and the state of Freeman following his stint in rehab often recalled the rabid nature of the mainstream tabloid press. Online interaction with fans got to be overwhelming to the point where Melciondo had to stop personally running the band’s website. While he acknowledges how the band’s Internet presence has helped Ween gain a lot of fans, Melchiondo is a bit more skeptical how it has changed the consumption of their music.

“The part of being in a band that I have enjoyed the most is recording and making full-length albums. But the amount of work we put into our last album (2007’s La Cucaracha) just felt like it was a waste of time,†he says. “It felt like nobody cares as much as we do about. People aren’t buying the albums anymore. They’re just downloading some s--t.â€

Nonetheless, Ween has chosen to persevere and the band is due in the studio this winter to start work on what will be its 12th album. Melchiondo says that distancing the business side of things and taking time to indulge in other activities -- he now books tours as captain of his own charter fishing boat -- are key to continuing on.

“We’re getting older and you can’t rage like you did two years ago,†he says. “But we’re at a point where we can take time off and we don’t have people breathing down our necks. … At this point it should be all fun.â€

Melchiondo’s more traditionalist stance ends when it comes to any discussion as to what kind of legacy his band might leave behind.

“That would be a really vain way to spend your life worrying about something like that. We met all our goals back in 1993!†he says. “Kurt Cobain said when asked what his goals were when he started Nirvana that he wanted to be as big as Sonic Youth, and that always struck me as right on the money. ... Only that wouldn’t be my answer. I like Sonic Youth, but it would be someone like the Butthole Surfers.â€

• Ween play Kool Haus tonight. For tickets, call 416-870-8000 or visit ticketmaster.ca.

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/arts/Ween+band+that+doesn+suck/3333531/story.html#ixzz0v58n1fLE

[Patchoulia]

Ween ticket $40. My last post contained a typo. D'oh!

[c-towns]

Any of you nancies pre-drinking anywhere?

[deranger]

what a fuckin awesome show.

that was an example of getting your $40 worth.

what a fuckin wicked awesome show.

[zero]

I have the setlist up on NorthernHeads.

http://northernheads.blogspot.com/2010/07/ween-setlist-koolhaus-toronto-on-july.html

zero out

[NewRider]

Not enough name dropping to keep my attention.

[zero]

You're fucking kidding me right? Seriously I save my breath for douchebag's like you.

And while we're on the topic why don't you get The Vultures and their ringleader The Sloth to tell us what songs they played.

a) if you saw how fast and furious the hits came from across the globe for that completely accurate setlist.... well you wouldn't bother to finish this...

if you thought NorthernHeads was satirical a fucking decade ago get fucking ready to take one on the fucking chin

[zero]

Sorry I left out the part about how on top of keeping a bang on tally of the setlist, AND, puffing, drinking like literally 3 beers I managed to take I think 350 still photos from various vantage points in the venue.

But I'm always so drunk and high and shit I get so confused.

I guess the last part of that is while The Vultures were horning whatever the fuck they horn up their noses (are animal tranqs still popular?) I was home in bed and up at dawn piecing together the setlist, formatting and editing a 350 photoarray and posting the setlist online. Then again I'm always high and drunk and shit, not to mention batshit crazy - I hardly know what's going on half the time.

sinc.

Luke C. Bowden

[TheSloth]

Sigh. Luke I really have no idea what you're going on about nor do I really care, I get you've got tons of mental and emotional problems and I guess I hope you get your problems sorted out but they're your problems, not mine, so leave me out of it. Here's a simple solution to any perceived problem you may have with me, leave me alone. Simple enough for you.

One last piece of advice for you before I ignore you from this point forward, if you're going to talk epic bullshit about posting a setlist on your "site" and how awesome you are at least get the setlist correct you douchebag. They didn't play "Pork Roll Egg and Cheese" for the encore. The song "She Fucks Me" has a line in it referring to a pork roll egg and cheese but they sure as hell didn't play "Pork Roll Egg and Cheese". For someone that knows everything about music you seem to be a little lacking on a pretty big Ween song. After that give "Stallion Pt 3" a listen because you called it "Don't Squealch the Weasel.", after that give "Transdermal Celebration" a spin, it's missing entirely from your list.

[PassedOutGuy]

.

[jaybone]

wow.

Edited July 31, 2010 by Guest

[zero]

That's the benefit of live text. And also the downside of unpaid music journalism, I knew I'd missed a tune or two in there but knew mine would be the best stab at it.

And no Sloth I don't have tonnes of mental and emotional problems, far from it, I'm on a board of directors of a non-profit housing corporation that manages $20M in subsidized real estate for people like myself who've encountered mental illness, homelessness and the criminal justice. I'm a sous chef at a successful restaurant. I am not without feminine company. In short my real friends and they AIN'T on this board, I barely have Barfly 'frands' around here- probably because anybody with any sense or drive in their life got the hell out of this Dead End Scene along time ago. The 30 some odd, aging 30 some odders that make up the remnants of the Canadian Deadhead, Phishead, or 'jamband' scene seem, like always to only have drugs, and increasingly bad music in common.

bDdBG2nUlWU

Nobody gets what I say,

Must be some way to convey,

But no-one else remembers my name,

Just the parts that i play.

Nobody gets,

Nobody gets me but you.

No-one gets what I've done,

Everyone else seems to look trough.

Oh but maybe I've never wanted them to.

Couldn't count on it anyway.

Nobody gets,

Nobody cuts me like you.

Nobody gets what I say,

Those who know, those who lose.

Those who look trough.

Do they get me?

I thought they get me like you,

Oh no!

Nobody.

Nobody.

Nobody.

No.

Oh no-one.

[PassedOutGuy]

seconded Jaybone.

That last post could lead to a pretty serious rant by any of us on this board that has grown and lived with zero's ups and downs of the last five to 10 years.

Remember dude, its all been documented right here.

Something tells me that "The 30 some odd, aging 30 some odders that make up the remnants of the Canadian Deadhead, Phishead, or 'jamband' scene seem" as you seem to belive only have drugs or bad music in common are pretty successful around here. Correct me if i'm wrong but we have school teachers and lawyers, government officials and IT techs, (hell, i'm good friends with a chef on here that would cook you under the table in a second) ,we have all sorts of different level management types on here that are driven by their own successes as well as their own family life... not drugs and bad music.

I could go on forever with this but why don't you just take a step back before you post and think about what you have posted on here the past 5 to 10 years or however long zero and kung have been around... it may all be put into perspective for you then.

[zero]

Here's the big difference. I was really emboldened by something that our own John 'J.D.' Roberts said very forcefully on CNN'S American Morning the other day. He said 'the internet is like on Giant Bathroom Wall' then his tone shifted, suggesting it had come up in a production meeting that perhaps Roberts or a family member likely has been the victim of internet bullying - he stated unequivocally if you are going to post something on the internet 'have the courage to put your own name behind it'.

As far as I know I'm the only person that's every really put their name behind their avatar (truly I gave up trying to seperate you all from your handles ages ago mainly because it's incredibly gay). So yes it may be or seem to be that I have been an internet bully, I think there's challenging peoples tastes, perceptions, delusions then there's just outright bullying I'd like to say I know that line but have likely crossed it. Then again it's always the nation vs. me in a big fucking pileon. Same deal with Stillepost where they literally renamed their entire national forum 'Hive of Bitches' after a passing remark I made in the throes of delusion.

In that case (stillepost) it was clearly when I was most sick and in jeopardy and there were some helpful people but alot of people that were frankly edging me towards suicide. So basically at this point in my life, especially with the successes I've had in overcoming the stigma of mental illness, the trauma of almost being beaten to death in the Don Jail means not letting people antagonize me or stigmatize me for one second further.

I am not a violent man. I am not a wingnut. I am very much a practical, supportive person in my life and in my writing I try to be thorough, novel and come at things obliquely. Essentially if you want to talk shit about me. I mean literally from this moment on have the courage to do it in your own name.

For instance: zero/kung is Luke C. Bowden

Edited August 3, 2010 by Guest

[PassedOutGuy]

Luke we have met many times and I have no problem you knowing my name.. Its Bob, most people on here know that too. I have told that to you many times too but many times you have been in no condition to remember it anyways.

If you look at my post it I wasn't trying to talk shit about you but put things in perspective and defending some offensive comments. The Chef comment may have been out of context... apologies.

If you look back through your past as well there were many people on here that held out a helping hand and offered to take you in and help you get through some very troubling times.

There are also many of us (me included) that get tired of the "bullying" and headier than you attitude that you bring to the board quite often. Come to think of it, havent we been down this road already before? Not for just me but a thread almost identical to this that ended up getting modded because it was going to far?

Sometimes its better just to let things go before they are taken too far. All the best Luke.

[PassedOutGuy]

Sorry all for helping to sidetrack this thread... I'm sure it was a killer show from reading the setlist... i guess im just jealous I wasn't there.

now back to the ween talk.

[NewRider]

NewRider is Aaron Deitrich

[NewRider]

P.S. that's not how you spell my last name douchebag.

[gentlemonkey]

*ignore user*

-Jay McConnery

[Swifty]

Heads up NR there's a muay thai elbow coming your way.