The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, June 13, 2001, Page 7, Image 7
Itie ©amccock
■ Wednesday, June 13
The Handlebar: Jump Little
Children
Uncle Doctors: Zao, Stretch
Arm Strong, Living Sacrifice
Lutikriss: Society’s Finest,
Hopesfall
■ Friday, June 15
Ground Zero: Slayer, Vision of
Disorder, Skrape
Hunter-Gatherer: Erector Set
Hemingway’s: S-Tribe
Cat’s Cradle: Alkaline Trio
Pack Square: Southern Cul
ture on the Skids
■ Saturday, June 16
Momentum Parking Lot:
Jump Little Children
Uncle Doctors: Morbid Angel,
Dark Moon, Necrocide, Lust
morde
Wild Wing Cafe: Dezeray's
Hammer
Tremont Music Hall: Southern
Culture on the Skids
■ Tuesday, June 19
Elbow Room- Mannix
The Music Farm- Nothingface
with From Zero
■ Thursday, June 21
Elbow Room: Swearing at
Motorists
Ziggy’s By the Sea:
Nothingface with From Zero
The Eyedrum: Pilot to Gunner
■ Friday, June 22
Hunter Gatherer: 6-10 Split
Verizon Wireless
Amphitheatre: Styx, Billy
Squier
Elbow Room: Nothingface
with From Zero
■ Saturday, June 23
Elbow Room: Love Apple,
Science Knows No Sin
The Warehouse: Dezeray’s
Hammer
Sundance Bar & Grill:
Captain Easy
Newest album makes
Weezer comeback kids
by Sean Rayford
The Gamecock
The “Green Album”
ARTIST: Weezer
SINGLE: “Hash Pipe”
OVERALL: Weezer's third album
marks the band’s comeback
☆☆☆☆☆ of ☆☆☆☆☆
This time last year, rumors
spread throughout pop culture
that Rivers Cuomo had gone
mad.
The leader of the band that
gave the world “Buddy Holly”
and made the Fonz popular
back in 1994 had supposedly
locked himself in some
remotely located studio.
He refused to shave or even
bathe and passed time by
bouncing superballs off the
interior walls.
After the commercial failure
of the group’s second album,
Pinkerton, bassist Matt Sharpe
had left the group to concentrate
his efforts with the Rentals and
for the most part, Weezer was a
band that once was.
Miraculously, and much to
the delight of the Weezer
faithful, these rumors were
dismissed when the group
returned to the stage on several
Warp Tour dates during the
summer of 2000.
The group wasn t so sure
about its return, but when
Weezer managed to steal every
show of the festival, there was
no doubt that it was time for the
band to get back to the studio,
and Weezer proceeded with a
club tour that fall.
The demand for tickets was
so high that scalped ticket prices
rose high above the century
mark.
But what had caused all this
fuss about a band that failed
miserably with their sophomore
effort?
In actuality, it was this
commercial disaster of that
album, Pinkerton, that provided
the band with a cult following
that promoted the geek rockers
into gods of rock ‘n’ roll.
Since its release in 1996,
Pinkerton has managed to sell
more than 500,000 copies and
has set the stage for the
astounding return.
The band also helped to
propel the current enthusiasm
for the emo genre, a label that
everyone seems to want to
avoid, including bands like the
Get Up Kids who recently
toured with Weezer.
It’s been five years since the
band’s last release. Weezer’s
third album has been available
lor more mail mice weexs, anu
if you don’t have your own
copy already, you’ve missed the
boat.
Though the “green album”
lasts for less than 30 minutes —
unless you shell out for one of
the import versions — it
contains exactly what fans have
waited so long for.
It’s a breath of fresh air
from the crap like Limp Bizkit,
Kid Rock and Creed that has
smothered the scene that was
once labeled “alternative rock.”
The green album might be
the missing link between
Special to The Gamecock
Weezer’s debut and Pinkerton.
It also might be one the best
albums of the year.
Listeners need not rely on
the first single, “Hash Pipe”
because these 30 minutes of
pop-rock perfection are actually
highlighted with songs like
“Knock-down Drag-Out” and
“Island in the Sun.”
This time, the songs aren’t
about the personal female
frustrations of Rivers, but are
more geared toward a general
audience.
In short, it’s a well-written
and performed masterpiece that,
in the end, mght put an end to
the band’s cult following, who
are proud to be geeks and who
seem to wear thick glasses for
no reason.
This 2001 release will never
measure up to the genuine
qualities of the Pinkerton
album, and it won’t help
thousands of high school boys
manage through their trying
times like the 1996 release id.
But it will sell millions of
copies and allow Weezer to one
day create another commercial
disaster. =w=
The spotlight desk can be reached at
gamecockspotlight@hotmail.com
_
Through the.
Looking Glass
■ Learned your lesson yet?
After serving three years in a federal
penitentiary in North Carolina for bank
robbery, Murray Fisher, 60, now a free
man, w^s driven to the local bus station
at 7 a.m. Two hours and 36 minutes
later, he robbed the Mechanics &
Farmers Bank across from the police
station in Durham.
He informed officers who arrested
him a short time later that a voice in his
head told him to do it.
■ Pretty strong evidence here
Police in Ashtabula, Ohio, arrested a
man who had been sleeping in his car
because they found an ‘’abnormal
amount” of convenience store snacks in
there with him. There were about 50
bags of chips, cookies, and beef jerky in
the back seat and more in the trunk.
He’s suspected in a theft from an
unattended delivery truck.
■ I’ll be in my room, Mom
A young soldier deserted his unit
and moved into the bedroom closet of a
15-year-old Ohio girl he met on the
Internet. He stayed there for three weeks
without her mother’s knowledge, until
she found bedding and dishes in the
closet and went ballistic.
He has been sentenced to seven
years in prison for unlawful carnal
knowledge and other offenses.
■ The sweet taste of women
Three young women smeared a
powerful drug on their breasts and then
hung out on the sidewalk in a wealthy
section of Bogota, Colombia, enticing
men in cars driving by to stop.
After a bit of seductive conversation,
they would invite their victims into their
blouses for a bit of intimate contact. The
men would awake several hours later
without their wallets or cars and with no
memory of what had happened.
The women have been arrested.
■ Stick to your own species
An amorous male monkey has been
stalking women in the streets of
Kundasale, Sri Lanka, and then leaping
on them and hugging them with all his
might until being driven off by people
hitting him with sticks.
He has also made inappropriate
advances on cats and dogs.
Mike Pingree/College Press Exchange