Call it a musical Revenge of the Nerds - Weezer, the smart guys who made sweaters and garages cool two years ago, gracing the stage of Cincinnati's musical gem and best-kept secret, Bogart's.

Onstage, singer/vocalist Rivers Cuomo looks like an inquisitive five-year-old with his first guitar. Drummer Patrick Wilson's slap happy expression is so implanted on his face you wonder if he's on Valium. Decked in garden-variety indie-rock attire, second guitarist Brian Bell bears a striking resemblance to the Cars' Ric Ocasek, the producer of Weezer's debut album.Churning through most of the old tunes and new material off their sophomore effort, Pinkerton, the five advocates of nightly teeth-brushing and good study habits played the crowd-pleasers ("Undone," "Say It Ain't So") with the eventual hits ("El Scorcho," "Getchoo").

Backstage, Bell spoke about fame, Knoxville and his affection for baseball.

Mat Herron: Is this the first time you all have played Cincinnati?

Bell: No, this might be the fourth or fifth.

M: Do you like the town?

B: Yeah. I'm from Knoxville, Tenn., and I used to come see shows here when I was a teenager. I would come to King's Island. The (Cincinnati) Reds and the (Atlanta) Braves were the teams that I saw the most games of. I was into the Reds for two years at one point.

M: Did you ever play baseball as a kid?

B: My first dream was to be rock star; my second dream was to be a professional baseball player. I gave it up in high school; it wasn't cool to play sports.

M: What was it like growing up in Knoxville?

B: It was really a dead music scene, except that since it was such a small music scene, everybody knew everybody. I was hanging out with people who were my friend's brother's friends, who were about four years older than me, and were out of their mind crazy. That's because the scene was so small and anyone that was into punk music, skateboarding or anything out of the ordinary would come to these parties. You couldn't really select (your friends).

I knew by the age of 15 that I must leave the city and go to a bigger town.

M: Were you shell-shocked, going from a city like Knoxville to one like L.A.?

B: A bit. I took about three years adjustment period. That's when I joined my first band (Carnival Art), after the three years.

M: What did you spend most of your time doing before you joined a band?

B: Playing guitar. I was pretty much a closet musician, and I wanted to fully develop a style of playing before I hit the clubs, and have something to offer people that was unique.

M: How would you describe the sound of your first band?

B: It was in the vein of Pixies, Buffalo Tom, Tom Waits-ish, too. We had two records on Beggar's Banquet Records. The singer was kind of a storyteller.

M: Is being popular necessarily bad?

B: It has its negatives, sure. Dealing with fans can be difficult. Sometimes it can be rewarding, you can meet some great people. People treat you as an object, someone that they feel free reign to grab at, stick little pieces of paper in your face and say, "Sign this, sign this!" It's so overwhelming. I've been extremely shy most of my life, and only recently have I been able to break out.

The business side really gets me down; that's something I've never thought of before. Just remember where you come from, and keep yourself grounded. Don't forget your friends. When all this is gone, it's more important to have friends than it is to have a million fans.

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