Ween. Are they great or what?

"or what"

I know, I know. I'm just in denial. (x-post)

Can I just point out how many amazing headlines the author of that piece totally missed out on?

Aaron Freeman Cuts Ween Short
Ween: Aaron Freeman Pulls Out
Happy Trails To Aaron Freeman's Ween

Although the headline isn't bad, as is.

Against Me Isn't The Only Band With A Lead Singer Who's Changing Names And Getting Rid Of Ween

Sounds like Gener might've pulled a Frank Black: Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo Differ On Ween's Continued Performance

huge bummer.

Did Gene have a problem staying clean?

Against Me Isn't The Only Band With A Lead Singer Who's Changing Names And Getting Rid Of Ween

amazing

So nobody here heard Freeman's solo thing?

oh yeah i started listening to it..

it's all covers of the guy who wrote "Seasons in the sun" (forgot his name) so it's not stuff written by Aaron or anything.. it's nothing exciting IMO and doesn't sound like Ween at all

Rod McKuen, whose name I know only from having shopped in small-town used book stores for books of poetry for over a decade, wherein he comprises 95 percent of the stock.

Did Gene have a problem staying clean?

yeah, and touring seemed to often be a bad influence on him - Dean pulled a tour a few days in, five or six years ago, because it became immediately apparent that the road had inspired Gener to go from 0 to 70s rock star in nothing flat. He's talked about how his rehab program includes a sponsor to go on the solo tour and stay with him p much 24/7.

n/a you have no idea

can definitely understand this (if it's true) as Gene really seems to have lost control of himself lately. Regardless of what they said about La Cucaracha the fact pretty much remains that they have been pretty dormant and their recent releases don't have the same soul. I'm glad that Gene is soldiering on, hope Dean finds something to do as well (as he's really an excellent guitar player, I'd hate it if he hung it up) On the other hand I'm pretty sure they'll be back pretty soon

also the McKuen covers album really isn't that bad. Most of the source material is kind of hokey but Gene really does a great job with it. Like everyone else I'm just hoping he puts that kind of touch on his originals since the production is pretty good. More than anything I feel like this kind of thing is probably good for him and a gateway to whatever he chooses to do next. It's not really supposed to be great.

A lot of their early songs were great, but the humor was never funny. I pretty much lost interest around the time of The Mollusk & White Pepper. Still, it's sad to see such a unique band break up.

I cannot even fathom losing interest around two of their greatest albums. That post boggles my mind, but I've learned that different people look for wildly different things from Ween.

Yeah the quadrilogy of Mollusk/White Pepper/quebec/Shinola is probably going to be their legacy. Such great material all around and the replay value on those has been surprisingly high. Even though Shinola isn't even a real album. This is really why La Cucaracha was such a disappointment - it's an okay album, but it just seemed like Ween were only getting better and better

TBH, although there's some good stuff in there, that particular quadrilogy barely registers with me. It's all about GodWeenSatan/The Pod/Pure Guava/Chocolate and Cheese in my world.

ftr rod mckuen >>>>>>> all ween

it's time.... to troll

Just posted on his Facebook:

"In order to more fully explore and pursue my solo career, I've decided to end my musical relationship with Ween. I want to personally thank each and every fan for all their love and support through the years."

beneath all this "exploratory committee" horseshit, you know it's acrimonious

i dunno i can believe that dude just decided on his own and started telling the press without even talking to the other guy and is just trying to be all "i don't want to fight about it, i'm done"

It feels to me like Freeman's thinking is "gotta kill Gene before Gene kills me."

he has to take a sponsor on tour with him jeez.

just think of the master

Don't crest the weasel

Ween: homophobic?

News about Dean's forthcoming fishing show with Les Claypool and produced by Parker/Stone

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2013/01/mickey_melchiondo_of_ween_sets.html

But also this (given Sandy's impact):

"Holgate was my refuge," says Melchiondo, who commutes to fish in Jersey from New Hope, Pa., where he lives with his wife and son. "My parents had a house in Holgate. My father built it. He bought a little sugar shack, and he tore the roof off and built onto it. My sister and I bought a trailer and that was our place until we sold it a year and a half ago.

"Now, it's piled up like a Lionel train. The house where Ween recorded, it's like 20 feet in the air now. It was built on stilts and all the sand eroded under it. I've seen pictures. I don't want to see it in person."

Also:

Melchiondo hopes his fishing show will be an eye-opener for TV audiences who associate the Shore with a lifestyle centered on nightclubbing, rather than angling and boating. For him, Belmar is a place of serenity.

"I go alone and I don't do anything alone, except fishing and Shore-related stuff," says Melchiondo, who has a solo album in the works, as well as a new release from his experimental hard rock band, the Moistboyz.

I am all about new Moistboyz.

dean's website askdeaner.com is surprisingly entertaining

http://www.glidemagazine.com/hiddentrack/ween-explain-boognish-show-off-new-hope-in-rarely-circulated-clip-from-1987s-the-ween-movie/

boognish explained

turning fire to steam?
http://aaronfreeman.bandcamp.com/

I only know Voodoo Lady, is it representative of them?

there's no real representative ween song, like there's no representative steely dan song

but maybe "buenos tardes, amigo" is their "deacon blues"?

I appreciate that Aaron Freeman couldn't handle the Ween lifestyle anymore, his solo album extremely disappointing. I gave it 2 extra listens if only for what he's been a part of in the past; still, no sale. I hope the boy does well, but maybe he should find a different career path altogether.

Don't crest the weasel

What, the album of McKuen covers? Id wait until a solo album of new songs comes out - some of the ones on that bandcamp release are pretty neat.

i like marvelous clouds alot, gener has a beautiful voice

the pastry chef at a restaurant i used to work in would commute from new hope and claimed to know these guys back when. i drove him somewhere at some point and he told me an elaborate story about why he had a falling out with them, but conceded that they were an ingenious group. i think it had to do with this guy dating the sister of one of the guys from ween(?) i forget the specifics and even the generalities. but yeah. something to do with ween. happy sunday.

Every time I see a picture or video of these guys, I want to cast a biopic with Kevin Sussman as Gene and Ashton Kutcher as Dean.

Dominic West would make a good Dean Ween.

Woman and Man smokes!

http://media.tumblr.com/92f37ad66650585b69e6cebbcd101d9f/tumblr_inline_njzlzkplve1t6md0n.jpg

sold

dang its an event not an album

Thanks to this thread's reemergence I'm listening to Live at the Cat's Cradle and wishing it was like 1994 again when I'm sitting in a driveway in a buddy's smogged out Ford Probe after a night of delivering pizzas (Mountain Dew bottles strewn across the floorboards), safe from the knowledge that everything after 2001 is gonna suck ass -- CUANDO CUANDO.

setlists from their 3-night reunion:

What Deaner Was Talkin' About, Buckingham Green, Beacon Light, Bananas and Blow, Japanese Cowboy, Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down), Now I'm Freaking Out, Roses Are Free, A Tear For Eddie, Your Party, How High Can You Fly?, Nan, Puerto Rican Power, Tick, Wayne's Pet Youngin, The Goin' Gets Tough From the Getgo, Mister Richard Smoker, Waving My Dick in the Wind, Gabrielle, Ooh Va La, Awesome Sound, The Stallion pt 3, Big Jilm, Licking the Palm For Guava> Mushroom Festival in Hell, Even If You Don't, Sorry Charlie, With My Own Bare Hands, Don't Laugh (I Love You), Boy's Club, Homo Rainbow
Encore: Fiesta, Buenas Tardes Amigo

Pork Roll Egg and Cheese, Take Me Away, Transdermal Celebration, Back to Basom, Mister Would You Please Help My Pony?, The Grobe, Stroker Ace, Object, Ice Castles, The Golden Eel, Happy Colored Marbles, Kim Smoltz*, Tried and True*, Baby Bitch*, Help Me Scrape the Mucus Off My Brain*, Joppa Road*, I Don't Want It*, Frank, She Fucks Me, Ocean Man, You Fucked Up, Poopship Destroyer, Transitions, Ace of Spades, Laura, Zoloft, Doctor Rock
Encore: Pollo Asado, Demon Sweat

Exactly Where I'm At, Mutilated Lips, She Wanted to Leave, The Final Alarm, Did You See Me?, The Stallion pt 1, Freedom of '76, Mononucleosis, Don't Get 2 Close (2 My Fantasy), Up on the Hill, Learnin' to Love, I Can't Put My Finger on It, Birthday Boy*, Chocolate Town*, Drifter in the Dark*, The Mollusk*, Flutes of the Chi*, The HIV Song*, Squelch the Weasel, Touch My Tooter, Papa Zit, Israel, Piss Up a Rope, Stay Forever, She's Your Baby, Never Squeal> Drums> Never Squeal
1st Encore: Tender Situation, Pumpin' 4 the Man, Common Bitch, Fat Lenny
2nd Encore: The Blarney Stone

good god