my favorite weezer album.

one day i was at a party and Rivers was there.

it was during the time when Rivers was in exile because he was so sad and ashamed that Pinkerton wasnt the commercial monster that their debut, the blue album was.

he had a thick beard and he was as shy as everyone said he was gonna be and he sat in a comfy chair in the corner trying to hide behind his glasses. i think he was practicing to be invisible.

after a beer i got the courage to walk over to him and say hi. he said hi and smiled but it felt like even that was torture and for sure i didnt wanna torture one of my favorite rock stars.

i said, i just wanna tell you, i dont care what anyone says, i love Pinkerton and i am so grateful you made it. he smiled the most awkward smile like i had just complemented him on a messy poop.

later i heard people playing music in the garage.

the party was being held in the small house on Amherst Street in West LA where Weezer lived when they first moved to LA. The garage in question was the one Rivers wrote about in the song from the Blue Album.

whoever was on drums was playing super badly. i thought to myself, im pretty bad at drums but im not as bad as That guy. so i went in, asked for the drumsticks and took over for the jam session.

minutes later, shy Rivers came in with a notebook. turned out it was filled with Nirvana songs that he was learning. he had little notes with chord changes and lyrics. whoever was on guitar handed him the guitar and he turned to me and said, do you know Nirvana?

sarcastically i said WHO?

not catching the joke he said, Kurt Cobain, Nirvana?

i was all, play a little and i’ll figure it out.

(next to Weezer, Nirvana was my favorite band.)

and we all played Nirvana songs until i realized what was happening and i ran out of the room because my heart was about to explode in a million pieces.

even telling this very true story is making me feel that way.

a few years ago Rivers and Weezer played Pinkerton all the way through at the Universal Ampitheater which was then called the Gibson which is now called Harry Potter World because they tore it down to make way for an amusement park.

because life is super dooper weird and sometimes ridiculously magical.