Al's Star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame

He who's tired of Weird Al is tired of life.

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Dr_Dad
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Post by Dr_Dad »

I'd always thought of the idea for a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Al would be a great idea. As Dave said, the main obstacle is not the man himself or his qualifications, but the hefty price tag. Although Al may be a little embarassed and overwhelmed by such attention initially ... with him being a long time resident of La-La Land, I'm sure ultimately he'd find having his own star immensely cool. I'm sure Jon or Jay could get the necessary paperwork together easily.



For those of you curious about what needs to be done to get a star on the Walk, check out this link:

http://www.hollywoodcoc.org/walkoffame/nom_proc.html



You know, not everybody in Hollywood has a star on the Walk, though of course many do [Both Siegfried and Roy and Pat Sajak have one, for Gawd's sake!!]. You'd actually be surprised at who does NOT have one. George Lucas doesn't. Nor does Julia Roberts. Steven Spielberg himself only JUST got his star recently. And Tom Lehrer or Dr. Demento never got one either [okay, maybe that one's a surprise only to us Dementoids and Dementites...].



Now, if we are really serious about getting this Star, we REALLY need to promote it -- not just here on WOWAYF [an excellent start though it may be]. We will need to include many of the other Al fans sites. There are multiple Yahoo and MSN groups dedicated to Al. And of course, there's alt.music.weird-al, or AMWA -- which I see you've already hit, Dave. My only fear in posting there, of course, is a little four-letter-word beginning with "S" and ending with "TAN".



If there is a doubt that we could raise the money, let me give you some facts. Al fans Cid S. and Kevin C. participate annually in a fundraiser for Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles [CHLA], where Kevin does an unbelievable Al tribute show [Kevin's in this WA.com gallery pic with Al:

http://www.weirdal.com/kevnal.htm ]

Anyway, on October 15 of 2002, they posted announcements in several of the Weird Al groups on Yahoo that they wanted to present a check on behalf of Weird Al fans around the country and simply asked for donations. Many did indeed donate -- including several in this very forum. And by the date of the concert only FOUR weeks later, they had collected $372.27, plus donations of autographed pics of Dr. D and Al, which upon auction raised even more money, making a grand total of $460.27. [Sure, it's not $15,000, but it's not bad for sending out a couple of e-mails and collecting money for just over one month!!!]



Now, granted, donating for a charity and donating for a Star on the Walk of Fame are two different things. What motivates someone to donate to sick children may not motivate them to donate for a Star -- and vice versa. But what the above example DOES tell me is that Al's fans are naturally generous -- much like the man himself. They also know he is vastly underappreciated by the Hollywood community. What a perfect opportunity for his fans to rally to his side and give him the recognition -- in a very real and, yes, a very permanent and everlasting way -- he truly deserves for providing entertainment for well over 20 years.



WILL we make the goal? Dunno.

COULD we make the goal? I have no doubt we could.

And if we DO make it? I know a perfect place for his star. Right next to either Spike Jones' star or Stan Freberg's star -- they could be neighbors forever!



Okay, let's say, though, by some stretch we fall short of the goal. Or for some odd reason, the Walk of Fame committee does not approve the application. We can STILL give Al a star -- for less than 100 bucks!!! Check this out:

http://www.giftoffame.com/OrderYourStar.htm

The Corporate Version could be purchased and engraved with up to three lines, on which we could say something like, "From your dedicated and supportive fans -- you'll always be a star to us!" I think he'd be flattered -- but I think we'd ALL like to see him get the real thing!!



[squinching up my face for my best John Belushi impression]

"Nothing is over until WE decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! And it ain't over now. 'Cause when the going gets tough ... ... ... ... the tough get going!! Who's with me? LET'S GO!! COME ON!! AAAAHAAHAAAAA!!!!" :onfire: :P





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Post by scottidog »

Or we could get him a real star... http://www.starregistry.com/



Ok, enough fooling around here. Let's do this thing!



QUOTE I know a perfect place for his star. Right next to either Spike Jones' star or Stan Freberg's star



Do we get a vote on that?



<Scottidog will be happy if they SPELL his name right.>



QUOTE Although Al may be a little embarassed and overwhelmed by such attention initially



Embarassed? By a show of support by his fans? I don't think so. Overwhelmed and very touched, I have no doubt. It would be so cool if we could give this to him.
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Post by Elvis »

QUOTE Maybe Bermuda could get the contact info to whoever needs it.  Or perhaps he would be willing to contact Al (or Jay) for us?



I've sent Jay a letter. We need Jay's permission anyway so I figured that was a good place to start. So when/if he replies, we'll at least know if Al agrees with us and whether we should launch the campaign.



I've designed a website and started collecting the other necessary information needed just in case, but I'll wait for Jay's approval before I do any more.



In the mean time, I'd say keep brainstorming ideas. It sounds like there is interest, so I believe a campaign can be successful!



Dave
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Post by scottidog »

QUOTE So when/if he replies, we'll at least know if Al agrees with us and whether we should launch the campaign.



I am sure you will get an answer. How quickly? Who can tell. And I can't imagine that Al won't be supportive. I really think, since this is going to be fan driven, he will be very happy about it. :biggrin:
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Yahoo! Group for star

Post by Elvis »

Hi everybody,



Thanks for all your comments. As you can see there are a lot of obstacles, a lot of paths we can choose, and a lot of work ahead of us. And of course a lot of questions left to be asked and answered.



I asked members of WAY Live, WOWAYF, and amw-a for comments and each group has been very helpful and insightful. But since not everyone belongs to all of those group, I've set up a group on Yahoo! Groups.



To subscribe, please go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WeirdAlStar/

or send an email to [email protected]



I chose Yahoo! Groups because of its flexibility on reading and posting messages. Messages can be read/posted by e-mail or by visiting the website.



If you feel more comfortable posting your ideas here, please do. I will continue to read posts here and will pass any ideas, suggestions, or questions as necessary to the Yahoo! Group.



Or as always, feel free to e-mail me anytime.



Thanks,

Dave
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Post by JKaudio »

I'm in for at least $27... and if there's any other WAY to help... let me know!!!!!!!

Has anyone emailed Bermuda about this? Maybe he could give Jay a nudge to seriously consider it. I think John would know that we are serious!

:)
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Post by bermuda »

A few people have contacted me, and it's really not my job to be involved in Al's publicity beyond his web site, or to make such suggestions to management. You guys are on your own soliciting Al or Jay, and my involvement can occur only if directed by them.



But I think it's a neat idea, and I hope it all works out.
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hmm. well...

Post by martmercer »

Actually, i was going to enquire about this subject of al having a star



Ah well... saves time i guess
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Post by Elvis »

QUOTE As Dave said, the main obstacle is not the man himself or his qualifications, but the hefty price tag



Well keep in mind, Al's still got to be selected by the committee first. That's not as easy as it sounds. Only about 1/10 of the applicants get selected each year. Al meets all the qualifications, but I'm sure the other 199 applicants do as well.



QUOTE Now, if we are really serious about getting this Star, we REALLY need to promote it -- not just here on WOWAYF [an excellent start though it may be].  We will need to include many of the other Al fans sites.  There are multiple Yahoo and MSN groups dedicated to Al.  And of course, there's alt.music.weird-al, or AMWA -- which I see you've already hit, Dave.  



Online groups and Al fan sites are a good start, but I think the real promotion needs to happen offline.



If each fan gave $27, that would require almost 556 people to donate. To put it in perspective, the largest of the Yahoo! Groups only has about 250 members. (I'm not sure how many are active.) ALCON III probably drew about 300-400 people. WOWAY has about 300 members (most aren't active). There's a lot of overlap between those communities so it's not as simple as just adding up the memberships.



Even if, say, we got as many as 228 of the online people to donate $27 each, that still leaves us halfway short of our goal, ($7500 left to raise.). A good number of people have promised donations so far, but it's been no where near 228.



So you see, it's going to be a long and hard process, and we'll need a lot of the promotion to go on offline in order to reach our goal.



But having said that, I think Al fans are up to the challenge, and capable of pulling it off, and I look forward to working with everyone to reach the goal.



Dave
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update

Post by Elvis »

Hey, if you haven't been to WeirdAlStar lately, you're missing an rather cryptic update someone over there posted.



Sounds like he's trying to tease us with some potentially big news coming soon. Wonder whatever that could mean....



Dave
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