November 26, 2008
Before I left for college in August 2001, a number of my friends and I decided to meet up at a Chili’s in order to say some temporary final goodbyes.  After eating, and before we left for good and made it to our cars, my friend Alex—with whom I started my first band ever and shared many other great memories in just the three years he had moved to Delaware from San Diego—brought me aside and thrust an envelope into my hand.  The dude ended up at Stanford so I think it’s fair to disregard the spelling/punctuation/handwriting! Inside the envelope was a letter.  And a guitar pick.  And a concert ticket for Weezer in 1997, right at the peak of Pinkerton’s critical and commercial failure/misunderstanding.  Seriously, for as much as Weezer is begrudged these days (and backhandedly revered with respect to only their first two records), I chose my friends in high school strictly based on whether or not they could explain to me honestly which half of Pinkerton they dug more and why.  Extra points if they could play the rhythm part to “The World Has Turned” from The Blue Album on guitar. So I don’t think I understood Alex’s decision then, in that Chili’s parking lot, and how amazing it was that his parting gifts to me were two treasures of his own.  Right when we hit it off sophomore year, I recall him telling me about this Weezer show in Santa Ana and how he was close enough to the stage to strum on Matt Sharp’s bass strings.  He had savored the memory by placing the pick dropped by Rivers that he was able to grab and ticket stub from the show in both soft and hard baseball card sleeves.  And that is where they will stay until perhaps I get the chance to pass them back to Alex. — Kevin Arnold

Before I left for college in August 2001, a number of my friends and I decided to meet up at a Chili’s in order to say some temporary final goodbyes.  After eating, and before we left for good and made it to our cars, my friend Alex—with whom I started my first band ever and shared many other great memories in just the three years he had moved to Delaware from San Diego—brought me aside and thrust an envelope into my hand.  The dude ended up at Stanford so I think it’s fair to disregard the spelling/punctuation/handwriting!

Inside the envelope was a letter.  And a guitar pick.  And a concert ticket for Weezer in 1997, right at the peak of Pinkerton’s critical and commercial failure/misunderstanding.  Seriously, for as much as Weezer is begrudged these days (and backhandedly revered with respect to only their first two records), I chose my friends in high school strictly based on whether or not they could explain to me honestly which half of Pinkerton they dug more and why.  Extra points if they could play the rhythm part to “The World Has Turned” from The Blue Album on guitar.

So I don’t think I understood Alex’s decision then, in that Chili’s parking lot, and how amazing it was that his parting gifts to me were two treasures of his own.  Right when we hit it off sophomore year, I recall him telling me about this Weezer show in Santa Ana and how he was close enough to the stage to strum on Matt Sharp’s bass strings.  He had savored the memory by placing the pick dropped by Rivers that he was able to grab and ticket stub from the show in both soft and hard baseball card sleeves.  And that is where they will stay until perhaps I get the chance to pass them back to Alex.

— Kevin Arnold

•