Book it: Chocolate and Cheese

I've spent the last 19 months or so working on a book about Ween. The result, focusing on and named after the Chocolate and Cheese album, comes out March 17, 2011 via the 33 1/3 series. You can read an excerpt—on the infamous "HIV Song"—at the 33 1/3 blog and you can preorder a copy at Amazon.

I loved working on this project and I can't wait for other people to check it out. Ween is a beloved, baffling and hugely influential band—not just on music, but on comedy too, and on any form of entertainment that wantonly ignores boundaries of good taste in the name of, yes, humor but also truthfulness and emotional intensity. I tried to do justice to all those qualities in the book—pleading Ween's case, as it were—while at the same time providing a ton of juicy documentary-style behind-the-scenes info. I interviewed many people for the book, including Gene and Dean Ween, Spike Jonze (who directed the "Freedom of ’76" video), Andrew Weiss (Ween's longtime producer), Josh Homme (whose old band, Kyuss, toured with Ween) and just about everyone who had a hand in making Chocolate and Cheese. If you're a Ween fan, I sincerely think you'll love this book. If you're a casual Ween appreciator, I think this book will reveal that there's a lot more going on underneath the surface than you may have thought. If you flat-out hate Ween… I'm not sure I can help you there.

Anyway, I can't wait to hear what people think of my take on Chocolate and Cheese, so please do drop a line via the comments or the e-mail address at the top of this blog if you get a chance to check out the book. Or say hello at one of the following release parties [full details forthcoming]:

Sunday, March 20, 2011 at WORD in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Saturday, March 26, 2011 at Farley's Bookshop in New Hope, Pennsylvania [Ween's hometown!].

Thursday, April 7, 2011 at Greenlight Bookstore in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. This one is a joint appearance with fellow 33 1/3 authors Daphne Carr (whose book deals with Nine Inch Nails' Pretty Hate Machine) and Christopher "1000TimesYes" Weingarten (who focused on Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back).