Official "Weird Al" Yankovic Thread

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Good whiskey make jackrabbit slap de bear.
Another fan here, love his 80's work a lot. "Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies" is a great parody and "Trapped In The Drive Thru", from his later stuff is hilarious.
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"George, this is a little too much for me. Escaped convicts, fugitive sex... I've got a cockfight to focus on."



"Do you know what 'Nemesis' means?"
Loved him ever since a friend played me his Bohemian Rhapsody parody; laughed so much a little bit of wee (nearly) came out



The Adventure Starts Here!
Bumping this thread with the obligatory aren't-you-envious photo. This is from Al's current Self-Indulgent Ill-Advised Vanity Tour, which I had the privilege of seeing on Saturday. (Yes, I upgraded to the VIP experience. Soooo worth it.)




The Adventure Starts Here!
Okay, I'll have some even MORE impressive photos (plus a story) later today, but for now here is the official photo of me and Al from last night's Strings Attached Tour here in Pittsburgh. He even bought all the VIPs PIZZA for the after-party! What a standup guy!

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You look adorably awestruck @Austruck - can 't wait to hear the story.



The Adventure Starts Here!
It was a great twist on his usual concerts. The orchestra first played a bunch of pieces on their own (about 20-25 minutes), which were mostly Star Wars movie themes, plus the original theme from Mission: Impossible. Very fun! Then a 20-minute intermission, then Al and the 41-piece orchestra, along with his usual band (the same band for the past 40 years).

I'll copy and paste the story from my blog post earlier today. Bear in mind that I'm a writer.


I realize the saying is usually "fifteen minutes of fame," but in my case, it was closer to fifteen seconds. Give or take two seconds. I wasn't exactly timing it. I was too busy floating in a surreal world of Cloud Nine Dreams Come True.

My friend Amy and I were minding our own business in the front row of "Weird Al" Yankovic's Strings Attached concert here in Pittsburgh last night. I had already warned Amy that I would sing along with every single song, unapologetically. It's just how I roll. And, I did. Every. Single. Word. Of Every. Single. Song.

I'd given Amy homework before the concert: memorize both "The Saga Begins" and "Yoda," because Al does those two songs as an encore at every concert and everyone sings along. And he did not disappoint us. The audience sang along on all the choruses (and most of the verses) of both songs. First "The Saga Begins" ...


(Photo courtesy of @AmyJMable)

Then "Yoda." Near the end of "Yoda," Al turned the microphone to the audience and told us to sing. And we all belted out a chorus of "Yoda" together with gusto. Then, without warning—with his accordion still strapped to his chest and the microphone in his hand—he knelt down and crept over the wires at the front of the stage. I could see him headed my way with that microphone sticking out as the audience wrapped up its group-chorus... and... and...

Oh my gosh... was he headed toward ME with that thing??


Then, he yelled into the microphone, "NOW JUST HER!" and pointed it right at my nose. I saw my life flash before my eyes as I used that split-second to decide whether to curl up and die in an introverted heap, or to boldly go where I had never gone before (that is, singing solo in front of 3,000 strangers, right in front of my favorite musician ever).

Should I belt out an entire chorus of "Yoda" all by myself? Or should I live in regret and despair forever? Guess which one I chose. No, really, guess. I'll wait.



Have you guessed yet?



I even did my own conducting at the end...



It was perhaps the most glorious fifteen seconds of my life. And I might even include the births of several of my children and at least one of my weddings in that assessment. But I won't say which ones.

Poor Amy froze. Although she'd been surreptitiously taking a picture here and there (just like everyone around us), there just wasn't time for her to unfreeze, get her phone ready, and snap a picture.

So where did these candid pictures come from? Well, you see, there was this VIP after-party... where we all chatted and made new friends while we waited to get our photo taken with Al. There was classical music playing and there were battery-operated candelabras on the tables. Stormtroopers and Darth Vader entertained us.

Al even bought us all pizza!



Meanwhile, I was teasing poor Amy about having not captured my moment of glory for posterity. (She endured it with grace. I would've smacked me into next Tuesday, but Amy is lovely and forgiving, unlike me.) She began asking around while we were in line for our photo op, and since "Weird Al" fans are some of the nicest people I'll ever meet, we found someone further down the front row who had taken three photos of my fifteen seconds of fame, one Jeff McClelland by name. (That's one picture every five seconds for all you fellow English majors out there.)

Keep reading. It gets weirder.

I exchanged cell phone numbers with a beautiful friend of Jeff's, and she said she'd text me the photos today. And... she did. And... I squealed with delight.

And... it turns out Mr. McClelland designed the AWESOME Pittsburgh concert poster for this tour (all VIPs received a 16x24 copy of this poster, individually numbered), and mine will be framed and hanging in my office by the end of this week. It's a great mix of "Weird Al" Yankovic meets Andy Warhol.


[@JeffMcClelland]

I need to keep thanking Jeff McClelland (and his friend Brianne [@DellaandLila], who was the catalyst for these photos to get to me and who, as it turns out, is a children's book author—see? I told you it got weirder), but I don't think there is enough gratitude in the world for going the extra mile to get these to me.

And, of course, thank you to Mr. Yankovic, for not only entertaining us last night, but for providing me with decades of entertainment that got me through some very dark times. You, sir, are a gem.



Great story @Austruck. I liked the moment you had to decide whether to crawl up into an introverted ball - lol - or take the music, and then the mic, into your own hands.

It's so nice when a performer shows the kind of rapport and appreciation of his fans that Weird Al does. And I have NO DOUBT that he was watching you from the stage and chose you to sing because of your enthusiasm, and your in tandem mini concert of : Every . Single. Word. Of. Every. Single. Song of his music. lmao



Well I am not as familiar with his music as you , but I went back in this thread to listen to Yoda- terrific . I also read the ( heartwarming) story of how you raised your son (and our fearless administrator ) on Weird Al songs. I can actually picture you singing to a pint sized boy and even dancing round the living room to the song.

Which raises to me a question never before pondered here ( as far as I know) - did Yoda choose his mofo moniker b/c of the movie character? Or the song ???


Well- this surely was a fun story - and even more fun for Al's #1 fan. Btw did you notice how in the first photo Al seems to be glowing like an angel? Now some photo tech savvy person might want to say it's because the stage light on him was so bright, the camera sensor just' blew out' the figure.

But others may infer that this moment with Weird Al was sent to our awestruck fan by..........a higher power.



The Adventure Starts Here!
I would like to note how much I envy Al, being able to work with Dweezil Zappa (Frank Zappa's son) must have been awesome. He made a song in the style-parody of Frank though I can't remember the name.
This is a late reply, but it's "Genius in France" ... and it's currently been stuck in my head for the past three days.




The Adventure Starts Here!
Great story @Austruck. I liked the moment you had to decide whether to crawl up into an introverted ball - lol - or take the music, and then the mic, into your own hands.

It's so nice when a performer shows the kind of rapport and appreciation of his fans that Weird Al does. And I have NO DOUBT that he was watching you from the stage and chose you to sing because of your enthusiasm, and your in tandem mini concert of : Every . Single. Word. Of. Every. Single. Song of his music. lmao


Well I am not as familiar with his music as you , but I went back in this thread to listen to Yoda- terrific . I also read the ( heartwarming) story of how you raised your son (and our fearless administrator ) on Weird Al songs. I can actually picture you singing to a pint sized boy and even dancing round the living room to the song.

Which raises to me a question never before pondered here ( as far as I know) - did Yoda choose his mofo moniker b/c of the movie character? Or the song ???


Well- this surely was a fun story - and even more fun for Al's #1 fan. Btw did you notice how in the first photo Al seems to be glowing like an angel? Now some photo tech savvy person might want to say it's because the stage light on him was so bright, the camera sensor just' blew out' the figure.

But others may infer that this moment with Weird Al was sent to our awestruck fan by..........a higher power.
Pretty sure our Yoda chose the movie character over the song. He did, though, meet Al a few times with me over the years when he was younger. In 1994, when we first saw him in concert in Cleveland. Then in 1997 here in Pittsburgh, where we ended up meeting him because we gave his keyboardist, Ruben Valtierra, a lift to his hotel from the venue in our car.

But I don't think the song influenced Yoda's choice of moniker here.

I'm just grateful that, while doing that solo on the song "Yoda," Al had it pitched just right for my alto voice.



I'm not old, you're just 12.
Saw him in Boston a few weeks back, the Strings Attached tour. My wife got the tickets for me from a friend who couldn't go, and we had excellent seats. It was incredibly hot the day of the concert, but we both had a blast.
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"You, me, everyone...we are all made of star stuff." - Neil Degrasse Tyson

https://shawnsmovienight.blogspot.com/



The Adventure Starts Here!
Were you outdoors for the concert? Ugh! I did two Al concerts at outdoor venues, and both were hot July evenings.

I'm already wishing for the next Al tour to start up and he's not even done with this one.



Haven't heard his name in a while. My brother used to play his covers all the time.
It would usually be 'Bad Romance' and 'Royals'