One of the most poignant lines in all pop music I find in Weezer’s disposable ditty Island in the Sun.

The band caught a lot of criticism when the song came out. People said it sounded like Sugar Ray. That’s a fair criticism, musically. But I find the song more meaningful than anything on the soul-baring Pinkerton album.

Frontman Rivers Cuomo spent years battling crushing depression – the “put tinfoil on your windows and never leave your apartment for years” type. The hardcore type.

Wanting to be on an “island in the sun” isn’t just about a holiday... More

Winter creates a magic moment every time it snows. The world falls silent. The landscape is transformed by a blanket of white. The mundane and grimy is suddenly covered in sparkles and beauty.

Spring and summer rarely see that type of sudden transformation. You can feel it perhaps in the golden hour or just after a summer shower. But you don’t get the feeling of entering a different, magical world.

Except for one special day.

Boston had a terrible long, – seemingly endless – winter. Even last week jackets and coats were the norm. The mercury said it should... More