What is Weezer doing?!

Ever since I saw their video for Buddy Holly when I was much younger, Weezer  has been an obsession of mine.  The Blue Album may be my favorite debut album ever, and their sophomore album Pinkerton is one of the most underrated albums of the 90's.  However, since those two albums Weezer has gradually changed.  All of their albums since then have had more humorous lyrics rather than heartfelt ones, and the once powerful alternative rock sound they had has evolved into more pop, radio friendly music.  Don't get me wrong, there are songs that they made after Pinkerton that I love (see Perfect Situation, Photograph, Dope Nose etc.).  However, their last album, Ratitude, was not good at all in my opinion.  The only song on that album with serious lyrics is one that the All-American Rejects helped write with Rivers Cuomo.  Despite all of this, I still try and see Weezer in concert whenever they play anywhere in the tri-state area (I even own a ukulele that Rivers handed to me when I saw the band in Atlantic City back in May!).  But now they are pushing it.

Their new album, Hurley, is set to be released on September 14.  It will be their first release since leaving Geffen Records; the band signed with "indie" label Epitaph Records this past week.  On the cover of the album is (drumroll please) Jorge Garcia, i.e. Hurley from the TV show Lost. I don't understand how anyone is going to take this seriously.  Just when I thought they couldn't top the flying dog on the cover of Ratitude.  To make matters worse, a few days ago the band released their first single off of the new album, a song called Memories.  I cringed and was so disappointed as I was listening to it.  Never has Weezer made such a... mainstream, Z100 sounding song.  And with a new record label, an indie one nonetheless, Weezer is going to have much more freedom to experiment.  Let's hope they experiment on making another album like Pinkerton.

Tune into 89.5 FM WSOU!

I never thought I'd promote my radio show and here but the hell with it! Right now tune in to 89.5 FM WSOU or www.wsou.net to listen to me, Dem Ducketts, and Stank bring you the best in alternative and hard rock.  Then from midnight to 3am listen to me spin some metal!

Back from the shore! And some new editions to the blog.

As usual, I spent this past weekend at my aunt and uncle's beach house down in Sea Girt.  There is nothing more relaxing than laying on a beach listening to music and reading!  Usually I am the only guest at the house, and spend time with my younger cousins Mike, Eric, and Lauren.  However, this weekend there was 18 other people down there as well, all of whom are not family members of mine.  As a few of us were on the beach yesterday morning, I got into a conversation with two of the other guests at the house.  The topic was music.  It began when my cousin Eric asked me who my favorite band of all-time is.   I had no definite answer (And still don't).  That's when his other cousins jumped in on the conversation. We started talking about what makes a band your "favorite band". His one cousin had an answer to the question; her favorite band is Pavement.  She said that no matter what, she always goes back to them, and understands them more than every other band. Her brother however, was like me and could not choose. We could not decide how to judge a band and pick on that is better than the rest,  Does it go by how strong their singles are? How great their albums are in entirety? I could not make up my mind.  The first band I fell in love with was The Who.  There is no way I can choose an album of theirs to put above all the rest.  Also, I don't listen to them that much anymore so how can they be my favorite band ever?  It works the other way too.  Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park is still one of the best albums I have ever listened to, and one of the few I can put on and just let play without skipping one song... but it is the only album of Linkin Park's that I like.  I am jealous of people that can say they have a "favorite band".  For instance, my girlfriend Kristen is the BIGGEST Tegan and Sara fan in the world. She would murder someone to get front row seats to a concert of theirs.  I on the other hand, go through phases with music.  When I was in high school, the Foo Fighters were "my" band.  Whenever anybody would hear a song of theirs on the radio they would text me.  Freshmen year of college and even this past school year, I was on a Weezer binge (thanks to my roommate from freshmen year).  And now, I can't stop listening to The Gaslight Anthem, Brand New, and The Cure.  There is no way I can put any of these aforementioned bands above the rest.  In a way though, I am happy I am open-minded when it comes to alternative/ rock music.  I love nothing more than hearing a band for the first time and knowing I am going to get obsessed.  So because of all this, I've decided to put a playlist of music on this blog.  I will update it every Monday.  I will try to switch up the bands every week, but there are some current ones I'm really loving right now. Also, I'm going to get into twitter again and decided to put my feed on here! Anyways, hope you like the ideas! Comment and tell me what you think.

Some articles to read

So on Friday afternoon, Seton Hall signed their fifth recruit of the offseason.  I was asked to write a little something for the paper's website and figured I'd post it up on here. Early on Saturday I went on the website to look at my article and on the front page was a concert review my friend Kevin wrote.  He saw the Gaslight Anthem at the Stone Pony this past weekend and documented it pretty damn well in his article.  Here are the links to mine and Kevin's stories.


Hall adds former Ole Miss guard: http://tinyurl.com/2cx8jop


The Gaslight Anthem electrifying in Jersey reunion: http://tinyurl.com/2ufdmsc