Part one of term paper
There are two Eddie Vedders. One is quiet, shy, barely audible when he speaks. Loving and loved in return. The other is tortured, a bitter realist, a man capable of pointing out injustice and waging that war on the homefront, inside himself. On a warm and windy late-spring day in the San Rafael, Calif., it's easy to see which Eddie Vedder is ...

Part two of term paper
... away. By the time Ament retrieves the ball, Vedder has already disappeared into the studio. His mind is on a new song, "Rearviewmirror." This is the last day of recording at the Site, and the track's fate hangs in the balance. It's a song about suicide . . . but it's too "catchy." The choice of the studio seemed perfect back in February, when the band decided to record the new album here. This idyllic studio compound in the hills of outside San Francisco offered privacy and focus. Keith Richards had ...