My name is Matt Ritter, I am sixteen years old and I’ve wanted to write you for a very long time. In fact this letter is the culmination of weeks of thought. But I didn’t want to send the usual “kissing of the ass” “I’m your number one fan” letter. Let’s be real, there are a lot of “number one fans” out there.
I love your music. But it hasn’t always been that way. The first time I can recall hearing you guys was at my friend’s house. MTV was on and I caught the Buddy Holly video. I loved the whole idea of Happy Days in a music video. But that was all I felt. I wasn’t really clear on what kind music I liked or disliked at the time. The next time I heard you was from a burned CD of Blue that my friend gave me, I hated what I heard. At least that’s what I thought. I kept listening anyway and eventually I came to love every song on the album.
Now at the present green album era you are easily my favorite band. Since I got that copy of Blue not a day has gone by that I haven’t listened to your music. I fall asleep to your music every night. The same thing happened with Pinkerton. I hated that, but I learned to love it. It’s not a failure Rivers. Pinkerton is one of my three favorite compact disks. The other two being blue and green. The whole idea of incorporating Madame Butterfly into an album was a great idea and a hard one to make work, but you did it. I think it’s pure genius. I’m sure you’d argue that point though. Pinkerton is the host to my favorite song in the world “Across the Sea”.
You were also my very first concert. 5/20/01, 105.7 The Point’s Pointfest 13 in St. Louis. Not only was it the best day ever because I got to see you but I was one of the lucky people who got to meet you. My friend who is also a die hard fan heard that if you wore a T-shirt that sported the word “Point” and whichever band you wanted to meet then you’d get a special meet and greet pass. Mine said, “Point me backstage so I can meet Weezer” in marker. Not the best slogan but it worked and that’s what made it the best day ever.
I waited for an hour in the rain and my shirt was all smeared and unrecognizable but it was so worth it. I was kinda too awestruck to really say anything to any of you though. My friend told you how he loved the Madame Butterfly-Pinkerton tie in. I managed a “Yeah.” As you guys signed my Hooptie Tour Shirt. When I got to you I managed one question “How was the flight?”. That’s what helped me write this, I realized I had a chance to ask but I didn’t. My Signed Shirt is proudly hanging on my wall.
The new songs you debuted were awesome, I can’t wait for the new album. I’ve been trying to learn guitar. I’ve got tablature for a lot of your songs. I’ve got a piece of crap electric that I found in the basement. I bought an equally crappy practice amp and I even got a strap similar to yours off Ebay. My lightning bolt isn’t silver its plain white, yours must be a custom.
It’s summer and I’ve been trying to get a job so I can get guitar lessons. None of the places have called me back yet though. That’s pretty much all I had to say but I had a few questions for you. What’s your favorite song of yours and why? What’s your favorite song in general and why? What were your hobbies as a child and what are your hobbies now? Do you not skateboard? I read on the website when you did the skatepark show that it said Rivers wisely avoided all skateboards. What’s on your guitars that you’ve been using? Are those just various stickers or what? How come Hashpipe wasn’t censored on the MTV movie awards?
You’ve been great on all your show performances, on SNL and Conan. Your movie awards performance was freakin awesome. The flying W was in great form shooting fire and whatnot. I’m sure all your fans are as pleased as I am. I’ve got all your recent performances since Green came out on tape. Keep up the great work and thanks Rivers,
Matt Ritter
P.S. I’d be honored if you would sign the guestbook on my website if you have time https://www.angelfire.com/games/tribesMI6/
No, Rivers didn't write me back or anything like that but I figured out why he probably hasn't. At the time I sent the letter about a week or two afterward the mailing address was changed to the current one that I have listed. Damn it! Oh well, I can write a better letter than this anyway and that's saying a lot because a lot of you have told me how good my letter was. Thanks for doing that. So I guess that's all there is to it. I'll write him again at the correct address. See ya, Matt.
