Last night I fulfilled a lifelong dream. Well, at least it was on my "bucket list." Silly phrase that is totally being overused right now. So what was the dream of which I speak? It was seeing Weird Al Yankovic live in concert. Now, this wasn't a dream that kept me up at night. I have those, mostly involving a sailing expedition I'd like to embark on some day. This was a dream I kept in my back pocket, to be realized when the opportunity presented itself but not necessarily sought after. Yet, it was a dream.
I have been a Weird Al fan since the first time my brother shared his music with me. My brother had one of Al's early albums on tape, maybe Polka Party. We someone quickly acquired all his albums to date, the coolest being the LP of In 3-D that our cousins gave us. Don't know why they gave it to us, it was awesome. "Nature Trail to Hell" is still one of my favorite Weird Al compositions, yet I rarely hear it. My siblings and I, especially my brother and myself, quickly committed every song to memory, repeating it ad nauseum. My father, not the most patient man on the planet, never seemed to mind, even when we reproduced the farts and belches and other bodily function noises. I can remember my brother and I rewinding the middle section of "My Bologna" over and over again to listen to the belch. I can hear the accordion part now, even as I write this, crescendoing to that incredible burp solo. One of my fondest Weird Al memories is riding in the back of the boat in the dark while my father and grandfather argued, nay, agressively discussed our whereabouts while my siblings and I huddled in the stern singing Weird Al songs in harmony. Not just singing, but in harmony. We're of Welsh descent, could you tell?
So I decided to go see Weird Al in Portland last night. The tickets were cheap and I wasn't too far away so I went. And it was totally worth it. The guy puts on a great show, multimedia, costumes, live music. I laughed, I sang along, I laughed some more, I was glad I'd visited the men's room twice before the show started. It was everything I'd hoped it would be.
The best thing about the Weird Al concert was that it reminded my why I've loved him for so long. He puts out a quality product. His humor is self deprecating, yet genuinely funny. He doesn't blatanly make fun of anyone in a mean way. But for me, best of all is the quality of his music, his songwriting, and his musicians. His concert drove it home for me. Everything about his show was great. I think on the state of popular music now and I think we've lost a great deal of quality. The stuff they're shoveling out as pop music is horrible. Auto tunes, no talents (think Bieber and Cyrus), shows being judges by awful musicians like Christina Aguillera. Weird Al has put out quality for his entire career, even when parodying crap.
So I'll wrap this up, knowing that I really need to finish learning "You Don't Love Me Anymore" thinking again about how great that show was last night. Weird Al, and you band, if you can read this, thank you for proving to me what I've suspected all along, that you're incredible musicians and the force is with you. It flowed through the whole crowd during your encore of "The Saga Begins" and "Yoda."
I have been a Weird Al fan since the first time my brother shared his music with me. My brother had one of Al's early albums on tape, maybe Polka Party. We someone quickly acquired all his albums to date, the coolest being the LP of In 3-D that our cousins gave us. Don't know why they gave it to us, it was awesome. "Nature Trail to Hell" is still one of my favorite Weird Al compositions, yet I rarely hear it. My siblings and I, especially my brother and myself, quickly committed every song to memory, repeating it ad nauseum. My father, not the most patient man on the planet, never seemed to mind, even when we reproduced the farts and belches and other bodily function noises. I can remember my brother and I rewinding the middle section of "My Bologna" over and over again to listen to the belch. I can hear the accordion part now, even as I write this, crescendoing to that incredible burp solo. One of my fondest Weird Al memories is riding in the back of the boat in the dark while my father and grandfather argued, nay, agressively discussed our whereabouts while my siblings and I huddled in the stern singing Weird Al songs in harmony. Not just singing, but in harmony. We're of Welsh descent, could you tell?
So I decided to go see Weird Al in Portland last night. The tickets were cheap and I wasn't too far away so I went. And it was totally worth it. The guy puts on a great show, multimedia, costumes, live music. I laughed, I sang along, I laughed some more, I was glad I'd visited the men's room twice before the show started. It was everything I'd hoped it would be.
The best thing about the Weird Al concert was that it reminded my why I've loved him for so long. He puts out a quality product. His humor is self deprecating, yet genuinely funny. He doesn't blatanly make fun of anyone in a mean way. But for me, best of all is the quality of his music, his songwriting, and his musicians. His concert drove it home for me. Everything about his show was great. I think on the state of popular music now and I think we've lost a great deal of quality. The stuff they're shoveling out as pop music is horrible. Auto tunes, no talents (think Bieber and Cyrus), shows being judges by awful musicians like Christina Aguillera. Weird Al has put out quality for his entire career, even when parodying crap.
So I'll wrap this up, knowing that I really need to finish learning "You Don't Love Me Anymore" thinking again about how great that show was last night. Weird Al, and you band, if you can read this, thank you for proving to me what I've suspected all along, that you're incredible musicians and the force is with you. It flowed through the whole crowd during your encore of "The Saga Begins" and "Yoda."