This spring, Rivers Cuomo of Weezer is spending his last semester at Harvard studying, websurfing, and abstaining from sex in a dorm room of his own. Since 1994, Cuomo has been in college, off and on; in June, he will graduate at the age of 35 with a B.A. in English. Now, he's focusing on student life.

"There are so many difficulties to being a musician, and being a rock star," he said in late January as snow fell outside his room in Sarah Whitman Hall, a red-brick 1911 dorm with arched doorways and wooden banisters smoothed by time. "Here I can escape the pain of my profession. The truth is, I hate to perform. I get such bad stage fright, it makes me physically ill."

Remarking on rumors that his enrollment at Harvard means the end of Weezer, he said, "After graduation, I'll be able to make a better commitment to the band."

Rockdom and college would seem a dangerous pairing, but the room makes no concessions to the possibility of rowdiness or female visitors. As the popular music press incredulously observes at every opportunity, Mr. Cuomo renounced sexual activity two and half years ago, a stretch of abstinence that he says will end this spring when he marries his fiancée, whom he declined to identify.

Mr. Cuomo says his self restraint derives in part from his devotion to vipassana, a strict form of Buddhist meditation. He does two sessions a day seated on a pillow in his closet, his clothes dangling overhead.

quasi_sean

Houston, TX

July 2003

FEB 16, 2006 05:42 PM

My man-crush. Forever.

That's all I can say.

wickedmonkey

Pawtucket, RI

June 2004

FEB 16, 2006 05:48 PM

last time he was at harvard, he performed some really bizarre solo shows around boston. lets hope that happens again.

Cash

USA

OLD SKOOL

FEB 16, 2006 05:49 PM

How much do you want to bet that instead of the uber-hip rocker...students see him as that creepy old guy who lives in the dorms?

quasi_sean

Houston, TX

July 2003

FEB 16, 2006 05:51 PM

Cash said:
How much do you want to bet that instead of the uber-hip rocker...students see him as that creepy old guy who lives in the dorms?

Like that old guy in the first Home Alone movie?

Not that I saw it...I just assume there was a creepy old man in there.

fuck.

aegiswings

Cambridge, MA

July 2004

FEB 16, 2006 06:16 PM

wtf?! He actually started Harvard in 1994, the same year I did. Now, I've been out of school for almost 8 years and he hasn't graduated yet??

I remember at Harvard that he grew a long beard so people on campus wouldn't recognize him. The ironic thing was that no one at Harvard had ever heard of Weezer (at least not back then) and so no one gave a shit anyways and a couple of years later he complained that he never got any attention around campus.

I didn't realize he was 35 already though! He was an old student even back in '94!

ProgMan

USA

August 2004

FEB 16, 2006 07:06 PM

I like Weezer and Rivers, but is it just me or is he getting annoying? I always used to like his pained artist routine (How great is Pinkerton?) but now he just kind of seems like a whiny bitch. Am I being to hard on him?

I appreciate his spirituality though.

DrTchock

Montreal, QC

October 2005

FEB 16, 2006 07:28 PM

Wtf is the point of being famous if you're not going to exploit it to get laid? Some things are just beyond my comprehension

MC_escher

Irvine, CA

May 2003

FEB 16, 2006 07:41 PM

the pain of his profession!
and a BA in english?
Dexter Holland is running circles around this guy.

filmjedi

Brighton, MA

June 2004

FEB 16, 2006 07:43 PM

i work at harvard, ive seen him, he is weird.

Postblank

New Brunswick, NJ

June 2004

FEB 16, 2006 07:56 PM

I hate performing, but I'll still take your money.

MrStitches

Brooklyn, NY

November 2003

FEB 16, 2006 08:02 PM

Why does he live in a dorm?

Saraphine

SUICIDEGIRL

Pennsylvania, USA

FEB 16, 2006 08:03 PM

benhasglasses said:
i work at harvard, ive seen him, he is weird.

He's always been weird