If Rivers Cuomo of Weezer were to walk past you on the street, you probably wouldn’t notice him. If you did, you might think that this stranger kinda looked like Louis Tully, the nebbish accountant played by Rick Moranis in a couple of Ghostbusters movies.
Chances are he’d be wearing skinny jeans, a t-shirt, a hoody, maybe a baseball cap, indistinguishable from a hundred other short, slight, guys with glasses you encountered that day. And that’s just the way he likes it.
Rivers Cuomo is an unlikely rock star who is extremely committed to being one—or at least doing the things that he hopes will keep him at that level.
He’s highly educated, deeply introspective, very private, and always looking to learn something new, be it studying the mysteries of writing the perfect song to computer programming to intense forms of meditation to careful study of the music industry. And one day, he wants to make a Weezer movie. Not a tour film, but some kind of actual movie.
Weezer has been together for more than 30 years. There have been no break-ups or reunions. There haven’t even been any official hiatuses.
But Rivers has also taken up pickleball with a vengeance. He’s a very good chess player, too. And he’s fascinated with Japanese culture.
What else? PETA once voted him “the sexiest celebrity vegetarian,” although he confesses to hating carrots. He doesn’t have a middle name because his parents wanted him to choose one when he got old enough—but he never got around to it.
Fox filmed a pilot for a TV show based on the years rivers went to Harvard. And he once had a pet squirrel named Mr. Peanutbutter.
That’s just a start. Think we can fill up an entire program with fascinating facts about Rivers Cuomo and Weezer? I bet we can.
Songs heard on this show:
- Weezer, Say It Ain’t So
- 60 Wrong Sausages, The Answer Man
- Weezer, I Can’t Forget the Way
- Weezer, Undone (The Sweater Song) (Demo)
- Rivers Cuomo, Buddy Holly (Demo)
- Weezer, El Scorcho
- Homie, American Girls
- Rivers Cuomo Cray One
- Weezer, Hash Pipe
- Weezer, Dope Nose
Here’s Eric Wilhite’s playlist.
The Ongoing History Music can be heard on these stations. Don’t forget that there’s a podcast version, too, in case you miss any episodes. Get them for free wherever you get your podcasts.
- 102.1 The Edge/Toronto – Sunday night at 7pm
- Q107/Toronto – Sunday night at 9pm
- Live 88-5/Ottawa – Saturdays at 9am and Sundays at 6pm.
- 107.5 Dave-FM/Kitchener – Sunday nights at 11pm
- FM96/London – Sunday nights at 8pm
- Power 97/Winnipeg – Sunday nights at 10am and 10pm
- 107-3 The Edge/Calgary – Sundays at 10am and 10pm
- Sonic 102.9/Edmonton – Sunday at 8am and 8pm
- The Zone/Victoria – Sunday at 8am and 9pm
- The Fox/Vancouver – Sundays at 10anm and 10pm
- Surge 105/Halifax – Sunday at 7pm
- WAPS/WKTL The Summit/Arkon, Canton, Cleveland, Youngstown – Mon-Fri at 9pm
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