Where Weezer Began The Early Years Thru Blue Album - Amherst House / First Show / Band History Tour
Weezer - The Early Years to Blue Album Tour
Transcript
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welcome everyone out of the woo here
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today's adventure will take me around
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the greater los angeles area
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i will be stepping into the early years
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the history of the band weezer the
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formulation
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of all the members a little bit of
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backstory places they resided
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worked and a little bit more
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quite a few i got five or six different
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spots
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the first show and there is a rumor
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which i have not
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i have to wait till i get there that one
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of the most
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famous spots from their history
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is being demolished and i am
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crossing my fingers that i can get there
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before that happens who knows
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i'm inviting you to join me
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shall you that's right big the foot a
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little music history today
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you're into it good
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made it to hollywood boulevard now where
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their very first show took place
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back in 1992 and it was interesting
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coincidence it was the
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it was the same day they moved into
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a new house all of them which eventually
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became the banned house
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march 19th of 92.
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didn't get word that the show was gonna
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take place until about five o'clock
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that afternoon it's right up here on the
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on the left-hand side
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and the way you can find the spot is the
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patsy cline
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star kind of gives it away also
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yule brenner this was the front door
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also my friend natalie
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is here she is she's also
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into weezer so we are doing the tour
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together this was the front door
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of raji's which was a a restaurant also
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a rib spot
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right in here many many vans that went
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on to greater things
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was located in the bottom of the
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hastings hotel
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6160 to be more precise on the address
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hollywood
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boulevard there's the awning of
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raji's there notice this pole the pole
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has been replaced but obviously the
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electrical work
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and everything remain or it could have
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just been repainted and this
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possibly could be the same pole or a
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pole in that precise spot
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as well kind of looking back so by going
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off this
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front entrance would be is barry
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sullivan's
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star patsy kleinstar so you would have
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walked right through the front door
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right there can you picture it
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kind of makes sense right if you had to
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guess would you say that's the same poll
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probably just repainted so there's the
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three stars right there
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the one in the middle was
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the patsy kleinstar
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you see where it says cuisine so they
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not only had bands play here but they it
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was also
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they also searched food which you know
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there's
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okay well they still they still have uh
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some carrots right here on the wall so
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that's that's food
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yeah it does kind of look like cbgb's in
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a way like the awning and everything it
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totally does west coast west coast
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seabees
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the cover of the the vinyl
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going very fast for sliver from nirvana
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look up there
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it was right inside there one of the
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most famous photos of nirvana
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where kurt has kind of launched his body
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into the drum kit
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there's chris the bass player behind him
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look right up there
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it's very it's kind of interesting in a
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way too because rivers
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singer and one of the ones that started
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weezer
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he was a big nirvana fan and he always
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said that sliver
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changed his life as far as you know his
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music preferences
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which that seven inch
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the photo was taken right inside here
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right in the spot
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where his band rivers band played their
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very first show
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kind of neat coincidence there's terry
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farrell can you flip the flip to flip
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the page just one little there and not
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just them but there's also maynard and
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tool
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right here at the same venue so a lot of
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history
4:19
it's gone long gone
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another interesting fact is i can't
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figure out if they opened
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up for or closed out the show but keanu
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reeves band
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dog star was the one that was on the
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same bill
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the promoter for raji's they called
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around they had some demos
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and said how about tonight so
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impulsively at the last moment they said
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yes
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they just moved into their new homestead
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loaded up the van drove down here
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and it happened two very historic vents
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on the same day march 19th 1992
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they loaded into a 88 bronco
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the carl koch he was he was the only one
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with a
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vehicle big enough to house all the
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equipment and
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tote it around town he kind of became
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known as the unofficial fifth member
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of the band also the webmaster historian
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as time went on and as the story goes 17
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people showed up to see them
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17 not bad for the first show
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pretty good amount right 17 friends
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better than 16. so if the front door was
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there means the stage would have been
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right over here
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kind of in this section you know give or
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take a few feet
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and they did play some songs that we
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know off the blue album
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well what would become the blue album
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including the sweaters the sweater song
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and the world has turned and left me
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here
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on the stage would have been right in
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this general vicinity
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i think they played a about eight eight
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or nine songs
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if memory serves me correctly it's now
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it's now an apartment complex
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yeah just amazing to think about oh
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check this out
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they got a little it's not an homage but
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there's some musicians here
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what they're playing a wheat maybe
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they're playing a weezer cover
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they could have been yeah maybe they're
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playing maybe they're playing i can't
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forget the way one of the earliest
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recorded songs by that band
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probably not but it's fun to think about
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and here's a description of
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what the venue was like if you cross the
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ramones with
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arabian nights you might come up with
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something close to the new club
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that's their just that's their own
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description
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of their place it's also kind of a neat
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little tie-in
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is right here on this corner
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just about a block away from where
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from where rajeev's was well not even a
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block on the same block
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just one storefront away is where the
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anew
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where the new amoeba records will be
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and they will have they will most likely
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have weezer albums in there
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right i think so you think they will at
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least one
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they probably have a lot and then you
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don't even know how many albums weaver
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weezer has put out
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i know they have a new one coming out i
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think we're coming out i think at the
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end of the month
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yeah currently part of the el cintro
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complex yeah record store there and
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the venue was right up there where those
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palm trees began
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yep that's right big the foot heading
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over to the sunset strip sunset
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boulevard
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on the corner of horn avenue and and
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sunset
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was tower records it has since closed
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quite a few years ago but you can see
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the awning
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still looks the same and has the gibson
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guitar brand
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on site rivers when he first moved to la
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he worked here back in 1990
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they originally didn't listen to indie
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rock or punk rock
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or alternative he was a metal head and
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that all changed
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you know his intention was to start a
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heavy metal band
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kind of similar to yingwei malmsteen
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kind of shredding guitar looks
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but after being here and listening to
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nirvana the pixies
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and others while playing on rotation
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while behind the desk and helping
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customers
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his outlook on what kind of music he was
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interested in
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all changed also when he first heard
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pet sounds by the beach boys you can
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definitely see a beach boy
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influence in his music
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as well as nirvana's sliver
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which as i stated a little bit earlier
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really changed
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you know changed his his music style
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became one of his favorite bands
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and then when he would go to different
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band practices using quite a few others
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for the creation of weezer he would
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listen to bleach by nirvana
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every night on the way to band practice
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classic car alert
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over there here on the corner of larabee
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doing a throwback photo
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kind of around the same time frame that
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he would have worked there during the
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early 90s
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this is modern day looking over there i
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do like that they still have the the
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awnings up
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kind of a little look into the past
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also take a look at this you can meet
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john waters
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i did find this photograph which was i
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guess would have been around 92 maybe a
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year or so
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well around maybe a little shortly a few
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months after he would have been working
9:53
there you see the
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has the bodyguard promotional on there
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so that would have been
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around that time period just to kind of
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show what it looks like now
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and what it looked like back then when
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when rivers was there
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helping customers and attending to
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organizing cds vinyl and cassette tapes
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interesting to think about it was also
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right in here where he met
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quite a few what would eventually become
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future members of the band
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behind these walls as well
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not really sure what that carving there
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in the concrete says
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met pat finn first who introduced him to
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pat wilson matt
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sharp and jason cropper who became the
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original lineup
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in an interview he once said that one of
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the best some of the best advice you
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could give
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new musicians would be to get a job at a
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record store because it completely
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changed
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his outlook on his musical tastes and
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gave him a more open mind when it came
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to thanks
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i'm peeking in the window of what what
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the inside looks like now
11:09
in 91 when never mind by nirvana
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was released originally he did not like
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it but it grew on him
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after time and that's when he decided
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i can write songs like that that's what
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i need to be doing
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and he committed himself to doing 50
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songs he only wrote 29 but it was a 50
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song challenge project
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and a lot of the songs that we know
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stemmed from those
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there's a photograph of of him and the
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other fellas
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kind of old school see he had the long
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hair
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that would have been around this time
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frame while he was here
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and starting that at this point the band
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was not named yet
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they didn't officially name it until
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that show
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over at raji's on hollywood boulevard
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because
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they needed a name for for the promoter
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so off the top of their heads came
12:13
it was a nickname rivers was given when
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he was in his youth
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because he had an asthma problem
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just no h-w-e-e-z
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the name's stuck no one come up with any
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better ideas and
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the rest is history hello there kitty
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this is on the far end of the parking
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lot
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okay about to move on over to the next
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spot
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cutting through beverly hills on my way
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to santa monica
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no real reason to show this but you know
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beverly hills
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that's where i want to be live in
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beverly hills it was behind me at the
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corner of
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iowa avenue and
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stoner ave at the apartment complex
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well apartment building that is right up
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i believe it was unit number one that
13:15
has never been
13:16
officially confirmed but patrick wilson
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lived here jason cropper pat finn carl
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koch
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and three others i believe a total of
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seven possibly eight
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in this building and rivers was only
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about a mile away and they had a lot of
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practices
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inside supposedly unit one at 1711 here
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the original lineup of rivers patrick
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wilson jason cropper
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and matt sharp took place right in here
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first practice they departed from this
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went down to a local studio was on
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valentine's day
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1992. while
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most lived here and rivers lived a mile
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away the mailbox number one right there
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they were eventually given the name the
14:13
stoner avenue crew
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can't get in it's all locked up i just
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wanted to kind of swing by
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take a look inside here
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santa monica what do you think what do
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you think unit one would be if you had
14:38
the gas
14:39
in correlation to the front i would say
14:42
this one i think that one maybe there
14:44
were so many people
14:45
living in the very tiny apartment
14:49
that they built little partitions in the
14:52
in the living room just to kind of make
14:54
extra rooms
14:56
total of seven or eight people in one
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teeny tiny apartment
15:06
now this might seem like any ordinary
15:06
taco bell
15:08
but it really isn't when it comes to the
15:09
history of the band
15:11
and the original spot has been i believe
15:14
has been bulldozed has been remodeled
15:16
since those days but here on the corner
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of pico
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they ate a lot of meals here hundreds
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it really is an important just as
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important spot as any
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because it was centralized to the
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apartment complex and where rivers
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originally lived
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and then when they all moved together
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into the house
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that's only about a block or two away
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from this and they continued
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to frequent this establishment tacos
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burritos
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and when they moved out of the house
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years later the new owner stated that
15:48
they found
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hundreds of hot sauce packets
15:54
from this taco bell who knew a fast food
15:57
establishment would have so much
15:58
importance
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while everyone else was at the
16:01
apartments a little few blocks away
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rivers was over here on urban ave
16:17
2914 right down the way here
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that was up until march 19th of 92
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and the entire crew went over well not
16:24
the entire crew but a good portion
16:27
went over to the amherst spot
16:36
a lot of demos he recorded in here some
16:36
of which have kind of drifted into
16:37
obscurity one or two can be found if you
16:39
do a deep dive online
16:43
some of the songs that you know and love
16:45
kind of were formulated
16:46
right in here the beginnings of
16:50
some of those trying to work them out
16:57
kind of have to use your imagination or
16:57
kind of think back a bit
17:01
not 100 sure if he had a vehicle at
17:02
those times but if he did would have
17:04
parked it either in the driveway or
17:06
street parking here out front
17:19
all right over to amherst just a short
17:19
three-quarter
17:20
of a mile commute
17:31
classic car alert here at the threshold
17:31
of amherst
17:37
right as i pulled onto the road we got
17:37
the double
17:38
fingers crossed because we are hoping
17:41
that it has not been bulldozed yet we're
17:43
just hoping
17:44
has not been bulldozed double finger i
17:46
got my finger cross your
17:47
cross your fingers big the foot all
17:49
right the moment of truth
17:52
it would be back up it's still back
17:55
there
17:55
it has not it has not been removed it
17:58
has not been bulldozed it is
18:01
right there two two two six now from
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what i had read online
18:05
i saw some photographs that it said it
18:08
was gonna be demolished
18:09
and they placed the signage
18:12
was right here on this fence now that
18:15
might have
18:16
changed but if you look the
18:20
garbage cans right there say two two two
18:23
six
18:24
that's the garage in the garage
18:28
the song from the blue album was in
18:30
reference to
18:32
what's behind that door at the end of
18:35
this little
18:37
this little duplex this is 2 2
18:40
2 2 back there is two two two
18:48
so a little update it has not been
18:48
demolished there's a chain here
18:50
across the way
18:55
i was thinking worst case scenario if
18:55
there were
18:57
if there were workers tearing this down
19:00
i could talk to them to let me in but
19:01
i'm not seeing
19:02
seeing any activity here whatsoever
19:06
none still has some of the lettering
19:10
two two two six kind of similar
19:14
to that now this is if i shift it over
19:16
it's not focusing there it goes
19:19
kinda sorta now this would be just off
19:22
to the side
19:24
just a bit of what you're looking at let
19:26
me see if i can walk around the alley
19:28
and get a better view
19:29
if i go around the back side of this
19:32
should be able to get a good view
19:33
just kind of dipping around into this
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section
19:39
see if we can see over a fence and get a
19:41
couple angles some screenshots
19:44
this is a behind the scenes photograph
19:45
of when they were recording this say it
19:48
ain't so music video
19:51
and kind of this is the angle there
19:53
looking
19:54
looking downward now right over the top
19:57
of this fence line
19:59
is the garage itself
20:05
and you can really see it has not
20:06
very much this is the little section
20:08
where they were playing hacky sack
20:11
in the backyard it looks like the
20:14
washing machine is still back there too
20:17
and even that cinder block wall there in
20:19
the distance
20:20
see the tree has been removed and i
20:23
think it may have been
20:24
could have been repainted in that
20:25
concrete down that could be a new
20:27
totally different washing machine but
20:29
there is a washing machine in the same
20:31
there's the film crew setting up for
20:38
for the music video it is rather
20:38
obstructed by foliage but just imagine
20:41
playing a riveting game of hacky sack
20:44
over there
20:45
see bouncing it off his head and look at
20:48
kind of over there's
20:49
there's the cinder blocks and this
20:52
the top of this roof is
20:55
that roof there so camera was there on
20:59
the other side of the cinder block
21:02
showing this and a very distinct
21:05
building
21:06
in the background there which back then
21:07
was painted
21:09
very interestingly enough was painted
21:10
blue no correlation to the blue album
21:13
but that
21:14
see above his head he's bouncing it off
21:16
his his forehead
21:18
that's what we're seeing kind of off in
21:21
and this that roof there
21:25
is technically this roof i can't get in
21:28
the backyard but
21:28
that's about as close as i can match it
21:30
up from from that one
21:33
what i can tell this corner here so see
21:35
the pole
21:37
that is that pole so it would have been
21:41
kind of opposite just over over that
21:45
and you'll also see this other garage
21:48
not the one from the song and not the
21:50
one from their home but there's another
21:51
garage
21:52
past the alley that would be this
21:55
garage here
22:01
if we only brought a hack we should have
22:01
brought a hacky sack we shouldn't we
22:03
should are you good at playing hacky
22:04
sack
22:05
yeah neither neither am i you're
22:06
supposed to like supposed to like kick
22:08
it around
22:08
i don't think that's right we could have
22:09
like maybe have like an acorn or
22:11
something we could use an acorn
22:13
that's not really a hacky sack what is
22:14
that i think it's an orange
22:16
oh there you go oh it's pretty good here
22:19
we go there is fruit in the top of that
22:21
tree so
22:22
if that is over the fence line this
22:25
isn't the same one but it
22:26
is in the same yard so those would have
22:29
been
22:29
or are those tangerines or oranges or
22:31
grapefruit nonetheless
22:33
there are those types of fruit kind of
22:36
dangling right there
22:38
nice oh there's a squirrel shadow
22:42
hold on there goes a squirrel shadow
22:43
across that fence
22:45
hello squirrel this is from the fold out
22:48
of the blue album
22:49
and notice this door over here that
22:51
leads to
22:53
the backyard which you can kind of look
22:56
through the
22:56
the gate here and you'll be able to see
22:58
the tippy top of that door above the
23:00
washing machine
23:01
it's all the way over in that corner
23:04
there's also a really neat
23:05
and really neat angle when the camera
23:07
kind of zooms in on a
23:09
on a great like a little drum a little
23:12
drum sequence
23:14
kind of zooms in that door as well as
23:18
those two windows are the windows into
23:20
the backyard you kind of see the tree
23:21
branches
23:23
as well so those two windows
23:26
are those windows still there
23:31
and on august 1st of 92
23:34
you know back behind this in the that
23:38
and in the kitchen whereas was probably
23:42
the best demo to date named the kitchen
23:45
tapes which you can find
23:47
they do exist in all their glory called
23:50
the kitchen tapes because
23:51
the drum set was set up in the kitchen
23:55
which was just adjacent to the garage
23:57
where the rest of the band equipment was
24:00
which you could see straight ahead you
24:02
can find all those songs pretty easily
24:04
but a quick search
24:05
the kitchen tapes all recorded in that
24:08
house
24:08
right back there it was just about a
24:11
year after those demo tapes
24:13
that they went to record the blue album
24:15
in a studio
24:17
and they threw a little shindig a party
24:19
back there
24:22
and there were so many people they were
24:23
kind of passed out on the yard which had
24:25
been between this building
24:26
and the one back there and
24:30
rumor says the toilet was smashed
24:33
it's quite a quite a party really what
24:36
stemmed this episode in this video was
24:39
the heavy circulation that this was
24:41
going to be torn down
24:43
and i had to see it with my own eye
24:45
something i always wanted to do but that
24:46
really got the wheels in motion
24:49
i'm just thinking about the say it ain't
24:50
so music video
24:53
right there inside that very garage
24:58
just a few feet that way was the kitchen
25:02
looking into it i'll show an angle from
25:05
that as well
25:07
and after the popularity of the band
25:09
they they moved out of here but other
25:10
bands became kind of a band
25:12
house other musical projects took place
25:17
and then way later the carpet that was
25:20
lining the walls inside the garage which
25:23
was the rehearsal space
25:26
they invited people to come in and take
25:28
a little snippet so quite a few people
25:30
have parts of that carpet
25:36
as far as i know no one has been
25:36
undocumented
25:37
inside there in many years
25:41
it still stands which is a very positive
25:44
thing
25:45
now that i'm looking at this it looks as
25:47
if the dryer
25:48
was in the band room the dryer was there
25:52
or is that the washing machine either or
25:53
there was one inside one outside
25:56
there's that back door and i was looking
25:58
into
25:59
the backyard and there's that carpet
26:02
that i was referring to
26:04
this kind of angle would be almost
26:08
where i'm standing if i was if the
26:10
garage door was open and you had a
26:12
camera angle
26:13
kind of up like this kind of teetered
26:16
downward
26:17
if i was able to walk another you know
26:19
10 15 yards that way and that garage
26:21
door was open
26:22
you would have this very this very frame
26:32
the weezer house here on amherst
26:32
in the garage
26:39
not to be cliche when i heard they were
26:40
going to tear this down
26:42
i almost said say it ain't so
26:47
i don't have to say that now here's the
26:49
track listing off of
26:51
off of that demo recorded here opposite
26:54
sides of the same good old fence
26:57
you see some familiar names on there and
26:59
then
27:04
a photograph of the band surrounded by
27:04
foliage
27:14
that's going to do it for today if
27:14
you're new here please subscribe by
27:15
doing so helps keep you in the loop i'll
27:16
tell you future uploads here on this
27:18
channel
27:19
and if you enjoyed this particular
27:20
episode give it a big
27:27
thumbs up let me know you care see
27:27
the next video the vlog
27:44
i'm now realizing this taco bell is
27:44
just behind the garage
27:48
itself just like a couple blocks away
27:50
very close
27:52
in proximity i mean it was in the
27:55
it was close enough between the
27:56
apartment and river's old home
27:58
where he rented the room but it's really
28:02
close to the garage