EVERYTHING IS TURNING BROWN

"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."- Aaron Freeman - 29.05.2012

Hardly the best start of a Thursday for me. Apparently the Mayans were right: it's 2012 and some worlds are indeed ending. But let us not allow the mucus to trickle down our chins for too long before realizing that, among other things, we've always loved Ween because they did exactly what they damn well pleased all the time and this is exactly what they are doing right now. Well, at least Aaron is. Judging by Mickey's reaction on Facebook - "This is news to me, all I can say for now I guess." - he hasn't been part of the decision-making process. You catch some, you lose some, I guess.

The thing is, without Ween around, the musical scene is really really boring. God only knows if I'll still be around to see another band like this ever emerging from this dyslexic gooey mush. But hey, we'll always have Berlin, where Aaron asked me up on stage and I didn't hear him. That was particularly special for me and my special fucking needs.

The first song I ever heard was "Spinal Meningitis", back in 90-something, and the chills down my spine have never ceased since. I have preached the Boognish dogma for as long as I can remember and have even converted a few adorably misguided individuals to the Brown Belief, some of whom still percieved Goran Bregovic or any DJ as musical history's most tumescent pillars. That is quite an achievment, if I do say so myself. It was amazing to watch the transformation, the eyes getting rounder, the grin getting wider, the mud getting hosed off the brain, a new world unfolding and all that. It's a beautiful thing.

Ween is the only band I have ever held "close to my chest". I wouldn't share Ween with just anybody. I felt you had to earn it. I would go absolutely crazy when some random douche would just name-drop Ween 5 minutes after I'd mentioned them to him, just to impress some random chick with a pink straw up her face. And - this actually happened - the idiot wouldn't even manage to say the name right, he'd say "When". My mind just fills with bazookas and pirahnas in moments like this.

On the other hand, I feel like a thousand doves and butterflies when I play a compilation with various artists in the car and some unsuspecting passanger (whom I suspect is prone to brownness) will invariably ask "Who's this?" when we get to the Ween song. Someone always will, because it's that kind of band.

Fuck it, I don't wanna keep this long and cheesy.

Aaron, Mickey, Dave, Claude, Glenn, dudes, be happy. Do your own stuff, go fish, do whatever you want. You've given us a lot already and we (yes?) are more than thankful for these past 25 years. I just ask for one thing: be a rock 'n' roll cliché for once and reunite sometime in the future. I'll do the album cover for free as promised. Thank you.

Oh, and I hope you'll find this funny:

Rod McKuen - If you go away