“Weird Al” Yankovic

I have not been to a concert in a LONG time. That changed Wednesday night when my friend Art and I went to see one of my favorites growing up, and favorite again more recently, Weird Al Yankovic.

I remember first hearing Al on copied tapes from my friends. Yoda was probably the first song I had ever heard. I'd but the odd album or two here or there. I smiled from ear to ear when I heard Al doing the theme song for one of my favorite movies growing up; Johnny Dangerously with This is the Life. You may also remember he had a song in the Transformers animated movie, Dare to be Stuipid.

After that I was a fan. I eventually "grew out" of his music, thinking it was just for kids. I barely listened to him during the 90s, but then in 1999 I saw a video for his latest parody, based on a movie coming out in May and one of the greatest, most recognizable songs of all time. The Saga Begins told the entire story of Star Wars Episode I to the song American Pie.

That album, Running with Scissors, would be the first Weird Al album I purchased in over 10 years. I now have all the songs he's recorded, and if you ever look at my Zune Card at the bottom of my blog you might sometimes see him in my "Recently Played" list.

The show itself was a great time. Over 2 sold hours of entertainment, described by Al sometimes as, "a rock and comedy multimedia extravaganza" with an audience that "ranges from toddlers to geriatrics" (from Wikipedia). The show was definitely that. He and the band has several costume changes, which I knew about going in and had wondered how the show would maintain it's momentum during these changes. Not to worry, a performer like Al would take care of that by showing clips from "Al TV" on screens above the stage that were used during the performances as well. Projected images included clips from his videos of the song being performed, including Donny Osmond dancing during White and Nerdy.

I'll be talking a lot more about Al with my co-host Art on our podcast, Too Old to Grow Up! this week. Listen in for the latest show on the MP3 player at the top of the blog.

Here's a picture of me and Weird Al Yankovic.