Show Notes
For this episode, we are thrilled and honored to have as our guest Eli Schwab. If you don’t know Eli, then you should start now. A 21st century renaissance man, Eli keeps busy with his Cosmic Lion Productions. CLP is a platform for his various ventures, from Monkelion (which, as he’ll tell you, “is the world’s only comic about an intergalactic afro-synth band on tour through the galaxy”) and the Weenzine, to his podcast Cosmic Lion Radio (among other podcast ventures). Eli has his hands in a lot of pots, and we were just happy to get him on the phone for a couple hours!
First and foremost in the eyes of Ween fans, Eli is the man behind Don’t Get Too Close To My Fanzine (affectionately known in shorthand as the Weenzine), the most recent issue of which just came out earlier this year. If you haven’t seen the Weenzine, you totally have to check it out. Do yourself a favor and go to theweenzine.com because everything you need will be right there, and last I checked, there are still a few copies of the 2nd printing of issue #6 still available. Talk about brownness! Eli and all the contributors really knock it out of the park. Tons of amazing and original fan generated Ween content! And what impresses me the most is the quality of the printing. High quality paper, a rich color palette, professional layout, all combine to make Don’t Get Too Close To My Fanzine the envy of fanzines the world over.
We talk a lot about the Weenzine, the origins, production process, and the community at its heart. The secret, I learn, of Eli’s success is not just his endless positive energy and ambition, but is perhaps more so how he threads community through all of his work. The Weenzine is like a culminating manifestation of the communal vision of the entire Ween Nation, and at the middle, stands Eli Schwab, directing and guiding this fancy into being.
But we also talk about so much more. We dive deep into Eli’s time up in Vermont (he’s out in San Diego now), and he regales us with tales from his time working at Nectar’s as a short “Jewish security guard”, and attending shows at Higher Ground. Especially brown topics include attending a Sound of Urchin Halloween show at Nectar’s, and the first night of Ween at Higher Ground. Talk about legendary status!
Among Eli’s other ventures, he’s been podcasting at Cosmic Lion Radio now for more than ten years! More or less, this makes Eli an OG podcaster, and so we chat about what he’s learned over all the years, and we also relive a few moments from all the amazing interviews he’s gotten over the years, including Kevin Eastman, of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fame! (oh wait the TMNT part of the chat is on the extended cut only available at Patreon.com/weencastpodcast, sorry).
It was truly awesome to get to chat it up with Eli, and we hope you enjoy the conversation!
More from Ween Cast
If you are a fan of the scene you are most likely going to come across this gentleman pretty soon upon hanging out for a bit, but unless you dive deep you won't know Chris. Talk about prolific, Chris Harford has been making amazing music since his high school days with no signs of stopping soon. Not only does he write, record and produce his own music, he also runs his own record label supporting other awesome independent artists and collaborators. You could keep digging into this guy's career all day and still not get to everything! For the sake of sanity, we stuck to a few points for this interview, and it will take us awhile to unpack all of these! We spoke with Chris about his early bands, including the cult favorite Three Colors, which he started in college with some fellow art students. The seminal album "Be Headed" that just happens to be the major label debut of some of our other musical friends being released in 1992. The independent record label "Soul Selects" that Chris and his friends started in the 80's and still run to this day. Living with Andrew Weiss and Sim Cain while the early Ween albums were being made, and Chris explains to everyone once and for all what the hell the "Zion House of Flesh" actually is!! Chris explains what it was like to be produced by Mickey and working on the Chocodog Records release of his record "Looking out for Number 6"; a true anomaly among the Chocodog and Schnitzel projects. We also talk about some of the really cool current projects that Chris has worked on within the last few years; like the Birdfeeder collaboration with Mark Mulcahy of Polaris and Miracle Legion. The very groovy instrumental record he made with the Philly based Jazz band Channel Collective, and his travels with Paul Muldoon and the rock-poetry group Rogue Oliphant. Please go to Soul Selects.com to see all of the available releases by the record label, and Chris Harford.com to download all of the catalog releases by Chris and his constantly evolving Band of Changes. Join us on Patreon.com for some more fun and exclusive material including the entire Chris interview where we discuss Chris' Dub project Blanc du Blanc, his thoughts on vinyl vs and download, and some other fun surprises! Also live is a new episode of Shane's Ween Vinyl featuring the Chris Album "Looking out for Number 6", its a cool mini-sode talking about the albums vinyl and some fun facts about the CD compared to the record. Thank You and Please enjoy!!!
Ep. 62: 4/28/2004, The Fraternal Order of Eagles Hall, Levittown, PA
Well, so far this has turned out to be a rough year for Ween fans. But what do we do when times are bad? We do what we always do, we come together as a family.
Well, its been over 20 years since the monumental 2nd to last Ween studio album launched into the heads of the unexpecting public. Songs from this record seem to keep popping up over the years since in some of the most unexpected places. Why? What is it about Quebec that keeps all of us heads coming back and screaming for after all these years? We dive into the time period, the songs, the credits, the live performances and stats, and of course, The Caesar Demos! This may be the only set of songs to accompany a studio release to come straight from the band. These included almost all of the songs from Quebec, plus a number of other amazing songs that made it into the Ween live show, and a few others that have latched onto the flam and have not let go. Please enjoy our full review and discussion of the Ween jewels that are Quebec, and the Caesar Demos.
Wow, New York City, just like I pictured it.... skyscrapers, and ...everything. Thats right, the big apple, the city so nice... all that jazz. Ween brings the funk and the punk for what we are deeming "The Live In Chicago Tour" of Fall 2003.