March 23, 2001 - Pearl Jam Word Search Puzzle!

Contributed by Joe Whaley (aka Johnny Carwash on the Synergy BBS)

Joe's Tips: Just click on the smaller image to get a full-sized puzzle. Then print it out and circle the 20 hidden Pearl Jam song titles in the puzzle...and, no, "U" is not one of them ;). They can be found vertically, horizontally, diagonally, backwards, and forwards. And if you need a hint...there are 3 song titles from each of the 6 studio albums. That leaves 2 that are not from studio albums.

When you're done, here are the answers.

We've been receiving requests for songs for the summer tour so we thought we'd make a page and post some suggestions and possibly a tally of your most-requested songs with some selected reasons why...just a sentence or two please. We can't make any promises but we'd like to add to the page and have fun with it as we have the extra moments to do it. :)
PJ, how about playing....

May 22, 1998 - Ed in Letterman Skit

The skit tonight was a funny take-off of the VH1 Behind The Scenes shows narrated by Kris Kristofferson; the topic was the leader of the Late Show band, Paul Shaffer. It featured Ed, Sting, and Lou Reed with an appearance by Erik Estrada as a replacement band leader. Leading up to Ed's part, Paul accepts a Grammy and then drops his pants and flashes the Grammy and TV audience...wonder where they got that idea??? Then they cut to Ed in his green army jacket, who's explaining that Paul was the inspiration for Pearl Jam's song, "Jeremy."   "Well, Paul and this guy named Jeremy." he says all tongue in cheek. It was too short for us but fun to see and we can only hope for more next time. Maybe he'll be nominated for an Emmy...oh nevermind... ;)

You may think that you haven't heard some of the newly announced opening bands before, but you may have them in your Pearl Jam music collection without realizing it. In addition to their own fine albums:

• You can find Goodness on the Schoolhouse Rocks compilation on track 5 doing "Electricity, Electricity" with Mike McCready on guitar.
• Do you remember during the 1994 Atlanta radio broadcast when Ed was trying to tell us all that he weighed 850 lbs. or so and he said, "Black Francis ain't got nuthin' on me..."? That would be Frank Black, formerly of the Pixies. You can hear him singing on "Chinese Firedrill" on track 5 of Mike Watt's, Ball-hog or Tugboat. (Ed's singing on "Against the 70's" on track 2.)
• You'll find Exene Cervenka of X on the Home Alive compilation, disc 2, track 3 doing the mostly spoken word and dead on, "They Do Everything For Us." (Pearl Jam's on track 13, disc 1 doing "Leaving Here.")

Have you had the opportunity to read Daniel Quinn's, Ishmael yet? This is what Pearl Jam had to say about the book in the last fan club newsletter. "This book was passed around during the last recording session, and we pass it on to you... You could almost go as far as saying that the liner notes to the record are in there."

Matt Cameron, formerly of Soundgarden and filling in for Jack Irons on the tour this summer, took a break from PJ rehearsals to chat with fans at boomtheory.com. [full transcript at boomtheory.com] During the nearly 90-minute chat, Matt also fielded some questions about playing with Pearl Jam and the upcoming summer tour.

The recent appearance on the David Letterman show was fun but "too damn cold," said Matt. Just about everyone who's either been on the show or in the studio inevitably comments on the temperature of the Ed Sullivan Theater. We think it's to keep all that ham from spoiling. In preparing for the upcoming shows Matt said he'll learn 60 songs and do a lot of rehearsing with PJ. "So far my favorite PJ song is 'Faithfull'", he said when asked which PJ song he liked to play. He also revealed that he'd be helping out with backup vocals this summer.

Ever charming and tactful to boot, when Matt was asked who he'd rather have on vocals in his 'ultimate band', Eddie Vedder or Chris Cornell (of Soundgarden), he said, "To have the ultimate uber supergroup I would have both Chris and Eddie as my singers. My two favorite rock singers." Got to love him... :)

Matt also hinted that if Pearl Jam does a Soundgarden cover this summer, it could be "Room A Thousand Years Wide." He said he'd also rehearsed "Leaving Here." [a rockin' Holland/Dozier/Holland song covered by the early Who as the High Numbers that PJ often plays at the end of their sets]. Later, during the chat, one sports fanatic asked if Matt could kick Jeff Ament's butt in basketball and Matt replied, "No. He's a good player." We're sure the b-ball games will be interesting as the summer goes on.

One of our favorite answers was about what it takes to be a great drummer, hard work, talent or just destiny, wherein Matt replied, "Passion to play music." Since we have a passion to listen to great music, we're eagerly counting the days until the tour begins... Thanks for sharing, Matt.