Dear Friends,
I’m so happy to be going walking this morning. I certainly need the exercise and the time with Tom and Quentin. The world is becoming a little brighter now.
As for work, I have a lot to do today, so I’m just going to say it will be nice to be distracted.
The news from Maine was mixed yesterday. Doug was somewhat conscious but unable to be taken off the ventilator. It’s not the news that Rhondi or I was hoping for, but more of a reminder of how tough of a fight he is in for. I am asking the universe, here and now, to send him some strength. Lots of strength.
*****
I spent some time with two Amy’s yesterday. My buddy, Amy, and then my Granny. It was nice to talk with them both. Got a nice visit from Dad and Lori, too. That was excellent. I also interviewed John from Osees. Entertaining guy, for sure. Their new record is pretty darn tasty.
The rest of the day was spent doing laundry, making the kids dinner, and hiding in the room. I have been doing that a lot lately. I think I need to break that cycle.
Actually, I know I do.
*****
There really isn’t a way to adequately describe The Pod by Ween (1991). I was a little late to the game on this one and picked it up at Eastside Records in late 1992 or early 1993. I went in there to find something good and my buddy, Geoff, who worked there said, “You want something kinda weird, huh? Try The Pod by Ween.”
Now, Geoff rarely, if ever, steered me wrong. He knew what I liked and when I said that the usual stuff wasn’t doing it for me, he had the cure. Ween was definitely the cure at that point. The next week I went back and got another Ween CD, God Ween Satan – The Oneness and between the two CDs, I had a couple hours of weirdness to sink my teeth into.
Over the years, I’ve got back to The Pod way more often than the other three or four Ween albums I own on CD. Maybe the first is always your favorite or maybe it is just the best one for me. I don’t know. I just know that I love it.
It is definitely different.
Like many of the Ween records, it has a little bit of everything. There is some sludgy noise and some warped power pop and even a bit of sketch comedy set to a tune you could do on an old Casio keyboard. Dean and Gene Ween know their way around a riff and also know how to fuck’em up real good in a really good way.
It is a lo-fi record, and that particular way of recording has always fascinated me. I had a shitty Magnavox stereo that was one of those all-in-one things with a turntable, tuner, and cassette deck and two pretty crappy little speakers when I was a teenager, so everything sounded pretty lo-fi to my ears. I got used to it, so that sound has always been pretty welcome in my world.
The Pod is basically two dudes with loads of ideas fucking around with a four-track recorder. What else do you need? Maybe some Scotchguard to huff.
Apparently, the Scotchguard thing was just a joke. If you don’t know the story, read the liner notes of The Pod. It will explain everything. The Ween boys said they huffed a bunch of it while making the record and people believed them.
The first song on the 23-song CD that I really fell in love with was “Rights to the Ways and the Rules of the World” which is the seventh track. It’s kind of spooky and a little kooky, too, but there is something that I dig about it. The track also has a little Pink Floyd vibe going on and I would always put it on mixed tapes I would make for people in those days.
“Captain Fantasy” comes next on the record, and I love that one, too. It is super 70s, as well, like a lost Foreigner track. Ween must have had so much fun making this record, even though they both got mono during the recording process, according to Ween legend.
Other ones that I love are “Awesome Sound” and “Oh My Dear (Falling In Love).” “Sketches of Winkle” is pretty fun, too. The riff is so great. Listening to it makes me wish I had the patience to make a solo record in this vein. That would be fun.
The one song that I used to try and explain Ween with back in the early 90s was “Pork Roll Egg and Cheese.” It was just a few years ago that I got to experience pork roll for the first time, and it was delicious. I always thought they were talking about some type of breakfast egg roll. I’m glad I was wrong.
It’s too bad that Ween might be done with playing live. I would have liked to have seen them, but the last time they came through town, the tickets were so pricey that I opted to sit it out. They also weren’t doing any press.
*****
See you tomorrow.
Ween vs the cocaine baby by AI.
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