Last night a bus carrying Rivers Cuomo, his family, and his assistants in upstate New York hit a patch of black ice and “[plunged] about 8-10 vertical feet into a muddy ravine off to the right of the Thruway.” Nobody was seriously injured, though one of Cuomo’s assistants “sustained two fractured ribs and a fractured lower vertebrae,” Cuomo himself “cracked three ribs and sustained some mostly minor but very painful internal damage,” and everyone was clearly shaken. Weezer webmaster Karl Koch has the detailed play-by-play of the crash as well as information regarding upcoming shows. (If you don’t have time to read the entire thing, the remaining dates of the December Raditude tour are canceled. Dates will be rescheduled when possible.) For the completists, there’s this:
Today at 7:18 AM EST, about 40 miles West of Albany on I-90, the weezer tour bus carrying Rivers and his family and assistants lost control as it hit a patch of black ice. The driver employed every ounce of skill he had in fighting to keep the bus upright, as the vehicle violently fishtailed over the highway. And while the bus did indeed go off the road, plunging about 8-10 vertical feet into a muddy ravine off to the right of the Thruway thus coming to a very abrupt stop, it did not flip or roll, despite having plowed right over a guardrail, flattening it. Kudos to the driver for somehow keeping things as level as they could be – surely this story would have been far more tragic if not for his actions.
Nonetheless the damage was severe, and everyone on the bus was either terrified or injured or both. The bus contained Rivers, his wife and daughter, their nanny, and Rivers’ assistant Sarah. Both Sarah and Rivers’ wife were pitched out of their upper level bunks onto the floor 5 feet below. Somehow Rivers’ wife was uninjured, but Sarah sustained 2 fractured ribs and a fractured lower vertebrae. The baby daughter was in her crib unit and was fine, as was the nanny who was sleeping near the floor in her bunk at the time. However in the back lounge, Rivers was tossed around violently, waking up as he landed back on his mattress. He recalled not hitting anything, but later we learned that he must have, as he cracked 3 ribs and sustained some mostly minor but very painful internal damage, as well as hurting his lower leg somehow.
The interior of the bus was a chaotic mess with broken glass, smashed glasses and plates, food and clothing items strewn everywhere, as well as the refrigerator flying off the wall and many drawers coming right out of their slots, spewing their contents everywhere. On top of it the sliding interior doors were fused shut and the bus’s electronics were ruined, so no one could get into the back lounge where Rivers lay immobile and unable to speak due to the pain in his ribcage. To top it off, the front door was jammed shut with 5 feet of heavy wet mud up pressed against it so there was no way to leave the bus.
Finally, using the jaws of life to remove a rear window bar, the local EMTs and firefighters got a ladder across the ravine to the rear bus window, where they could get to Rivers, eventually getting him and Sarah out on stretchers and into an ambulance. Meanwhile they dug frantically in the mud at the front of the bus, clearing the front door so everyone else could come out. To access the rest of the bus from Rivers’ lounge, the fused sliding door was destroyed by the firefighters.
The other buses pulled up within 20 minutes of the accident, and already a long line of firetrucks and EMT vehicles were on the scene. I threw on my shoes and walked up just as the jaws of life were being turned on, catching a glimpse of Rivers lying inside on his back surrounded by EMTs. I couldnt believe what was happening in front of me, as Rivers lay so helpless, shivering in the center of the chaos, and meanwhile the sun was coming up and revealing an utterly beautiful light covering of snow on the surrounding trees. I dont know how to describe the wave of awfulness that gripped me as I watched, but adrenalin took over and the next thing I knew I was in the passenger seat of an ambulance transporting Rivers and Sarah to the hospital in Amsterdam, NY, about 10 miles from there. That adrenalin would sustain me all day, as everyone’s did, from family to band to crew – everyone pitched in to help however they could all day as things unfolded.
Fast forward to now — Sarah was discharged, a 3-4 week period of extreme pain awaiting her as she heals from her injuries the only way possible, with time and gritted teeth. Rivers was transported to a larger area hospital where he remains under observation. He is resting about as comfortably as could be expected now, and we were relieved to hear that surgery is unlikely. Hopefully tomorrow the docs will have more info. You don’t fool around with internal injury. Whatever happens, we forsee some gritted teeth in his future too.
We are sorry to say that the rest of the December Raditude Tour has been cancelled — when we can reschedule the dates we will, of course. I have no ticket or refund or whatever info at this time, but stay tuned to this site and the ticketing websites for more info. For now its a waiting game for all of us. Thanks for your kind thoughts and good wishes, we need them!
You’ll find more photos (interior/exterior), along with the above text, at weezer.com. A couple of the images:
UPDATE:
From Weezer’s camp:
Rivers’ internal injuries included both a small cut on his spleen and a small puncture in his lung. An internal cut needs to be carefully monitored to see if it is healing up or not. The lung puncture was small so the lung did not fully collapse, and thus no surgery was needed for that, but it also has to be monitored carefully to avoid fluid build up. Today the doctor announced that Rivers blood pressure had stabilized, meaning the spleen was no longer leaking – it was on the mend. And his lung seemed to be gaining strength and holding up, meaning it too looks like it will mend itself with time. All this is great news so far. Plus he was given the go ahead to eat some real food again – a very positive sign!
Tomorrow the doctor says it will be time to see if Rivers can stand up again. If that goes well and his vital signs remain stable and improving, he will get to go home pretty soon! Wish him well – your positive energy and thoughts are working so far!
More at Karl’s Corner.
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Hopefully this traumatizing, mid-life incident convinces him to stop writing songs like “The Girl Got Hot.”
Instant Karma’s gonna get you.
Hey Andrew why don’t you have some freakin’ compassion. Dude and his family were just in a serious accident.
Never meant any sort of disrespect- I acknowledged it was traumatizing. Just trying to get to the musical perspective of things right away. No one was killed, and if this inspires the next Pinkerton there’s clearly a silver lining.
Don’t be a smart ass. Nobody likes that.
hahahahahahahahahahaha
This is god’s way of getting back at Rivers for making Raditude.
People just don’t understand morbid humor these days. lol +1 for you.
Comment-wise, I couldn’t have expected anything more from the morons who enjoy the overwhelming crapness you know and love as Stereogum.
if it takes a bus crash to stop Weezer from plying it’s cloying trade in pitiful throwaway dreck songs, so be it
I guess he just couldn’t stop himself from “Trippin Down the Freeway.”
……….
hahahhaha nice one!
I think Raditude is as awful as the next person with functional ears, but making bad music hardly means Rivers Cuomo and his family deserve life-threatening experiences and painful injuries. I’ve long since realized that the anonymity of the internet tends to brings out the worst in an alarming amount of people, but I doubt the vast majority of you would tell Rivers Cuomo to his face that he and his employee deserved to be injured in a bus accident because he hasn’t made a good album in several years. Saying it in a place where in all likelihood he will never read it doesn’t make the sentiment any less disgusting.
In short, get well soon Rivers and family (as well as the others injured in the accident), and try to stay classy, Stereogum commenters.
“mostly minor but very painful internal damage” – sounds like rivers hurt his ballies!
I wish Rivers and his family the best. Forget the crap going on in these comments. Haters gonna hate.
this accident is sad, but most of those comments so far are tragic(ally mean-spirited and terrible toward someone who’s music they presumably like at least parts of who just got into a bus crash)
I’m just glad everyone’s gonna be ok
why has no one pointed out that dude was sleeping in the back in the lounge and his wife was in the crypt-like bunk?! um, what?
Hey Rivers get well soon dude!
Cry Me a Rivers
“Last night a bus…”
“Today at 7:18 AM EST”
and the images do look like they were taken during the daytime.
Just wanted to wish you a speedy recovery, Rivers!
I hope everything and everyone that is popular is destroyed by a nuclear bomb.
I’ll take all the disaffected indie asshole cred now, please.
Get well soon, Cuomo family and entourage.
hope he and his family is well soon…their music is better than most crap people pay better money for these days. The man has talent…more than I can say for most of this generation.
For such occasions as this, I think down-voting someone for making mean-spirited comments should include an electric shock to the cranium. These people should be ashamed.
Everyone dogging Raditude, pun intended, should listen to the bonus track “The Prettiest Girl in the Whole Wide World”. So good I listened to it 10 times in a row. Probably the best song they’ve done since Pinkerton and it’s insane that it was relegated to bonus track status.
This bus crash was an act of God. God could tolerate the Snuggie, the shameless soul-selling, and the train wreck eponymous red album, but the Lil’ Wayne collaboration was just too much.