Well, as hard as I tried, I couldn't get Ween to do an interview. Not this time, said their tour guy/publicist person. In all honesty, I'm not sure what I would have asked them. I'm one of those people that never got into the band, which says more about me then about them. Though I've heard that they deplore jam bands and the whole jam-band aesthetic, Ween and its horde of followers has a lot in common with Phisheads, Deadheads, Widespread Panicheads, etc. Without the help of radio, Ween has managed to garner a sizable following of fans who travel from town to town to hear their heroes, thanks for the most part to their stage shows that draw from a wildly diverse catalogue of music and styles. And because they're funny. So as background for you Weeners and non-Weeners who are braving the arctic cold to attend tonight's sold-out festivities, here's some recent Ween articles to study:

For weird's sake -- Dirt, Boulder, Colorado, Nov. 28 -- A good backgrounder about the band and this tour, written in support of Ween's three-night stand in Boulder that concludes this Saturday. Writer Andy Stonehouse (a more appropriate name for a writer of a Ween article I could never think of) describes the band as "Sophomoric. Ridiculous. Homophobic. Asinine. Puerile." And he's being nice.

Vegoose has flown -- The Rebel Yell, University of Nevada, Nov. 3 -- A review of the Vegoose Festival featuring Ween, Flaming Lips, Arcade Fire and Widespread Panic. A snapshot of the crowd: "All the lead singer had to do was say 'Ween,'and then all the weirdos in the crowd immediately began to howl, conditioned like Pavlov's dogs, which left all the sane people in the vicinity stricken with fear." Look for the same reaction tonight.

Order from Chaos -- Metro Newspapers, Bay area, CA, Nov. 2 -- A piece about Dean Ween side project Moistboyz, who One Percent should try to book when they go on tour this winter.

Ween Radio -- A website that does nothing but stream Ween music. You can request a song and find tour info... from as recent as 2002.

The Official Ween site -- The usual stuff.

Look for a feature on Milemarker here tomorrow, and a column that recaps the past year of columns on Thursday...

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