Rivers Cuomo and Weird Al rocking it
This year on July 25th, Genna and I will have been married for 20 years. To celebrate our anniversary last year, we drove to Charlotte to see Weezer and the Pixies perform. The Pixies were the draw for me. ‘Where is My Mind’ happens to be one of my favorite songs…one of those that when it comes on the radio makes me crank it really loud and sing along tunelessly at high volume. The Pixies were every bit as good as I hoped they would be, but the true joy of the night turned out to be Weezer.
Weezer has always pleased me. I mean, who doesn’t love ‘Beverly Hills’ or ‘The Sweater Song’? However, I was not prepared for the goodness that awaited. There were costume changes and three separate sets, each tailored to a season of their repertoire. There was banter. There was a little story telling. At one point the lead singer was doing a cover of ‘Happy Together’ and proceeded to row a fake boat out into the middle of the audience. He road back to the stage on a scooter. I laughed, I cried, I even learned a little. We were taken on a journey. The most exciting part of the experience, however, was that Weezer can ROCK. I had been listening to their loving retread of ‘Africa’ on the radio and wondering why they had bothered, but the live version knocked me out.
So, what does this have to do with our art? Bear with me. I aspire that Genna and I be Weezers of the art world…tongue in cheek, pleasing, in on the joke, self effacing, hard working, dedicated, and at once both light and airy and serious as a heart attack. I want to make work that both delights and burns your face off. I want to make frothy creations that draw you in with their seemingly effortless ease and then astound with their underlying roots.
I aspire. I aspire. I aspire to be like Weezer.