Dean Ween Posts Message Remembering Jeff Rusnak

As reported this week, Mickey “Dean Ween” Melchiondo performed a moving musical tribute to Bird O’Pray Records label founder Jeff Rusnak shortly after learning he had passed away. In addition to that performance of “Maggot Brain” with Parliament-Funkadelic guitarist Michael Hampton at The Invitational Music Jam held at John And Peter’s in New Hope, Pennsylvania, Deaner has posted a message remembering the man heavily responsible for Ween’s early success.

Titled “A MESSAGE FROM DEAN WEEN” and beginning by stating “I don’t wanna eulogize my close friend to a bunch of strangers, but I’m going to,” the post on the official Ween Facebook page goes on to explain Mickey’s teenage obsession with Rusnak’s cassette label operation and what it meant when the man he calls a “buddy and hero” agreed to release Ween’s first recordings. The entire message follows below:

A MESSAGE FROM DEAN WEEN:

I don’t wanna eulogize my close friend to a bunch of strangers, but I’m going to, a little bit. I was 14–there was a local fanzine called “Mercer Music Now” run by a man named Dimitri Rotov. there was not a hell of a lot to write about then (Trenton is in Mercer County). Half of the magazine, which came out monthly, was dedicated to this one label “Bird O’Pray” (spelled incorrectly on purpose) and the releases they were making on cassette only–the chief owner of Bird O’Pray was Jeff Rusnak….. Well to me this would be like being on Capitol Records—Ween were not very good–we were just noisy, but I wore out every Bird O’Pray tape, it was ten guys using 15 different band names—Partners in Wonder, Cleft Palate, Funkaphobia, Scornflakes—basically it was just Andrew Weiss, Bill Tucker, Jeff Rusnak, and the other usual suspects. I called Jeff Rusnak EVERY DAY—-20 TIMES A DAY! I still remember the number by heart. My dad was pissed because long distance charges still applied back then. I forced him to come see us play in my garage. all I wanted out of life was to be on this label. He came to my garage—I swear my sheer persistence forced Jeff to put out our tape. I mailed him a tape every week and I think he could hear Ween getting better. The day I got dropped off by my dad at their apartment at 711 Hamilton Ave. in Trenton was the biggest day of my life. I was going to meet the legendary (to me) Andrew Weiss, Bill Tucker, Sim Cain, Nick Candelori, and a lot of other people. Jeff told me to bring all of my Ween tapes and I did. Andrew and Billy mixed them down and Ween’s first ever release was called the “Crucial Squeegie Lip” and was followed 6 months later by “Axis-Bold as Boognish” . This was it, ween had made the big time! Then eventually came our first vinyl album, The Live Brain Wedgie. we printed 500 copies and Jeff was just as excited as I was. we drove to Discmakers in Camden, NJ and picked up our 500 records. The proudest day of my life. Jeff Rusnak literally brought Ween out of my bedroom at my parent’s house—from there on out we got better with every song, every day, all because Jeff could see we had something going on. Every week until late in ween’s career, I mailed Jeff tapes of our new stuff, i mean, even The Mollusk. These are my roots, and this was my best buddy and hero. I miss him sooo much already. Rest in Peace Jeff Rusnak.

Here’s the “Maggot Brain” from earlier this week: