Weezer autographs and memorabilia

If you'll excuse the occasional tangent away from sportscards onto other collectables, I wanted to post some other autographs n' stuff I've got. I originally thought about doing a week of posts dedicated to non-sports/non-card autos in my collection, but I think I'll instead just sprinkle in these posts here and there.

Today I'm featuring the band Weezer. They just put out a new album a few days ago, so seemed as good a time as any to feature them. I sure loved their first album (The Blue Album) when it came out in 1994, and it has held up very well over the years, still an all-time favorite of mine. "Buddy Holly" and "Say It Ain't So" are probably the biggest hits from it, but it's awesome all the way through.

They followed that up with Pinkerton, which was a little weirder but still pretty awesome once you got used to it. After an extended hiatus, they returned with The Green Album in 2001 which wasn't quite as legendary as their first two offerings, but in hindsight is a quality album. Then there were a few albums that weren't too good, but had a catchy tune here and there (and some embarrassingly bad songs in there, too). The new album is called Everything Will Be Alright In The End. While not up to the high standards of the first couple albums, the consensus is it's actually a pretty decent return to form.

Personally, my fandom hit its peak from mid 2000 till mid 2001, seeing them live 3 times within a year and following them pretty close online. While no longer one of my top 10 favorite bands, I'll always have a soft spot for Weezer-- the first 2 albums in particular-- and will always check out their new stuff when it comes out, hoping for the best. Some of their greatest songs were never properly released, such as the old demo at the top of this post.

Anyways, here's my cool Weezer stuff.

This one's actually my wife's. She got this at a Weezer show when she was a teen. They sold these pre-signed CDs at the merch table, so she didn't actually get it signed live-in-person by them, but still cool.

Here are my Weezer CDs. The trilogy! The Green Album is the Japanese import with 2 bonus tracks.

Here's a guitar pick I think I got at a Weezer show once, though I honestly forget the story behind it. I think it was Rivers' and I picked it up from the stage after the show ended.

Here's the other side.

Here's a cool piece! Back when the band regrouped after a few years off, they began by playing small, secret shows under the pseudonym Goat Punishment. I think this was only their 2nd or 3rd show since the hiatus, so there was a lot of excitement around these shows. I was lucky enough to snag a ticket to see them at my favorite club, San Diego's Casbah. The tiny place was packed! The band sounded great and I liked the new songs a lot (again, some of their best songs never got released, with "O Girl" and "Preacher's Son" fading into obscurity after this tour.) I hung around outside for a little while after the set and Rivers came out to say hi to fans. I got to tell him it was a great show and have him sign my ticket for me. I can't remember if the smudge at the end was his fault or mine. I was a newb to getting autographs, so it was very likely my thumb that was the culprit. Still though, love this signed stub.

Finally, here's a "game used" setlist. This was from their show at another of my favorite venues in San Diego, 'Canes (RIP). That place was so cool because it was literally right on the beach. This show was just a month after the Casbah show, happening 7/17/00, but it was not a secret show, so there were a ton of people there. But unlike the prior show, I was able to get nice and close to the stage for this one. (This was the show where I got the guitar pick, I believe.) Great vantage point from the right of the stage. After the set ended, other fans grabbed up the setlists that were in reach, but Pat the dummer's setlist was still up there. The band's drum tech/roadie at the time was Adam Willard, whom I was familiar with because he had been the drummer for Rocket From The Crypt, one of my favorite bands. Knowing his name worked out for me, because when he came on stage to start taking the drumset away, I was able to yell over the house music, "Hey Atom, can I get a setlist?" and he kindly obliged. You can see the band came up with silly versions of their song titles ("Surf Wax America" became "Smurf Waxxxxxxxxx"). You Weezer fans can have fun decoding the titles. This show was the debut of a new song called "Mad Cow", another really good song that never got released.

I also saw the band a third and final time (so far) 3/18/01 at the RIMAC Arena in La Jolla. I've got no mementos from that performance, but I believe that was the tour where my now-wife bought the signed CD pictured above. It was a solid show, but being at a large arena, it was a much less intimate show than the first two I saw, and I was way up in the nosebleeds. Quite a contrast from the club shows, but still a solid rock show. From then on, my fanaticism in the band waned and I stopped following them as closely by the time Maladroit was released in mid 2002. But again, I still listen to them from time to time and always have high hopes when a new album comes out. Again, Everything Will Be Alright In The End is a solid album if you like the band, though it won't blow anyone away.

Oh! I almost forgot. One last thing.. this doesn't count as memorabilia or anything, but back in 2001, I made a silly "webcomic" type webpage where the band encounters Mr. T. You read that right. Back then there were a lot of "Mr. T Vs..." pages.. like Mr. T vs. Spider-man, Mr. T vs. Chuck Norris, etc. They were all somewhat similar and very dumb. I wanted to get in on the fun, so I spent some quality time on Photoshop over a few days and whipped up Mr. T vs. Weezer. It's still online and you can check it out here. As the disclaimer states, "if you are not a Weezer fan, this page will likely be a waste of your time." Lots of Weezer references and tomfoolery. I thought it was pretty funny, at least!

So there you have it. Anybody else out there a Weezer fan?