Hi Clif-

:)  Sorry for the "only half-drunk on cheap red wine coolers and miller lite" drunk dial from Summerfest....  I was hoping you'd be able to hear it cleanly.  Steph and I were at the Pixies concert there, and it made me reminisce so I called you from my cellphone, but then when I pulled out my left earplug to listen to the phone, the show was so loud that I couldn't hear anything at all through the other end of the phone, to figure whether a live person or the answering machine picked up.  Oops.

Anyway, the second tune you may've heard was Caribou.  The first, I don't recall, but it was certainly good.  It was a great show, but Steph and I were totally freaked out about the fact that Weezer were headlining over Pixies, AND the crowd of college-age kids went CRAZY when Weezer came on.  We were expecting very little of them going into the show, and pretty much saw what I expected, which was undynamic nerd rock, with a mopey edge.   The Pixies, however, were awesome.  Totally on their game.  Dave Lovering was crushingly smooth and dynamic on the drums, Joey Santiago did all those string bends and quick slides like on Nimrod's Son with swift and accurate abandon.  Charles was putting it out just like the last show we saw, and sweating like he was in a sauna.  Kim played bass (with a pick I think), was still beautiful, and had a huge smile the whole time.

So, back to Weezer.  They had a very nice lightshow, and played a nice straight big overdriven guitar sound a la Smashing Pumpkins, but had no drive, perhaps that's their schtick.  On a metaphorical level, it seems like their songs just didn't exist, lyricslly.  Perhaps I missed it, but their songs seem to just be entirely literal.

Read these lyrics: http://www.mattsmusicpage.com/wezlyric.htm

As we were leaving to go watch the crazy Summerfest nightlife and Steph was in the bathroom, I asked a college-age girl if she liked Weezer, to which she replied yes.  Then I asked her what was their appeal.  Is there some hidden message I'm missing in their music, or some inside joke you need to know to get their music?  And she just said "They're just fun.  There's nothing more to it." 

I'm sorry to say I was dumbfounded, because all I could answer was that I guess I just didn't get "fun" anymore.  In my book, the lyrical adeptness of Pixies is stunningly difficult to follow, but has the rewards of a pulsing rollercoaster ride, compared to Weezer riding around on the carousel.  Maybe I'll learn to appreciate the carousel again one day when the right one comes along.  In the meantime,considering the size of their fanbase, Weezer doesn't need to listen to my constructive criticism at all, but if I were Bob Dylan, I'd be talking to them like he did to the Beatles, about how your songs are about nothing.  Then they'd make the next Sargent Pepper.

<li> O lucky day! </li>

<li> I'm so excited for school. </li>

<li> Miss you.   Hugs to you and Angie and the kids. </li>

--

Peace,
Joel

Man is tormented by no greater anxiety
than to find someone quickly to whom he can
hand over that gift of freedom
with which the ill-fated creature is born.
But only one who can appease their conscience
can take over their freedom....

Thou didst choose what was utterly beyond
the strength of men, acting as though
Thou didst not love them at all --
Thou who didst come to give Thy life for them!
Instead of taking possession of men's freedom,
Thou didst increase it, and burdened the spiritual kingdom
of mankind with its sufferings for ever.

-Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Grand Inquisitor