LimeWire Music Blog

I admit it. Here at LWMB, we like to make a little fun of Weezer and its preternaturally random frontman, Rivers Cuomo. But, as they say, it’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye — or, as it turns out, gets into a bus crash. And that is why I present the following news to you with no hint of humor: Cuomo’s tour bus was involved in an accident yesterday morning, when Weezer was traveling from Toronto to Boston. The crash happened on the New York State Thruway near the small city of Amsterdam. And, as NME tells it, the incident sounds like it was pretty horrific: “The driver said the back end of the bus slid on ice, hit some reflective posts before crossing back over the highway, going over the guardrail and landing in a ditch.” Of course, the Albany Times-Union reports that the band was lucky to get off as easy as it did. ”It’s amazing that [the bus] didn’t flip over,” said State Police Sgt. Brian Dollard.

Cuomo and Weezer’s assistant, Sarah Kim, were hospitalized. Thankfully, his wife, daughter, and her nanny weren’t injured. Of course, the incident made it to Twitter nearly immediately, with the band’s drummer, Patrick Wilson, tweeting: “It was perfect conditions for black ice. Got loose going towards the meridian, driver saves it but bus goes thru guardrail into 6ft ditch.” He also reassured fans that “everything is under control.” But in a post last night on Weezer’s website, the band’s friend Karl Koch acknowledged the extent of the accident:

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.

Kim has already been discharged, but Cuomo — who had to be removed from the bus with the jaws of life — was moved to a larger hospital and is still undergoing observation. Doctors say that surgery is unlikely. But the band has still canceled the remainder of its December tour dates. Here’s hoping that Cuomo will be fine and back on his feet after some much-needed time to heal.