School Assignment: A speech about Al

Post by **JEDM** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 6:45 am

I'm currently in a speech class at my college, and this coming Monday we have an "informative" speech to give. It can be about a person, place thing, etc, and I've decided to do mine about Al... since I'm sure nobody would be expecting it, aside from it being one of the topics I probably know the most about.

I'd like a little bit of input from you all, though. What would you tell a group of people about Al if you only had 5-7 minutes? I also need 5 cited sources, and I was thinking:

1) weirdal.com
2) The "Permanent Record" booklet
3) Al's "Behind the Music"
4) ??? (No idea)
5) ??? (No idea)

Thanks everyone.

- Josh

Post by **TMBJon** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 6:51 am

I would go into it assuming most people in the room know who he is, but have a generally negative or ambivalent impression about him. I would approach this from the angle of "everyone knows about Eat It and Amish Paradise but check out all of the other stuff this guy has been doing."

Post by **Mystik Tomato** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 7:13 am

You'd wanna cite this forum with a whole bunch of anecdotal evidence about how much of a top bloke he is.

Post by **anthontherun** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 7:41 am

I would definitely emphasize the longevity of his career, and how it's outlasted many of the artists he's parodied. He's not just a novelty artist.

One possible source: the Washington Post interview posted on this page--one of Al's best interviews ever.

Killingsworth · Post by **Killingsworth** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 7:54 am

I wish I'd thought to give an Al-related speech for a school assignment, but the opportunity never arose.

Post by **weird_el** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 4:02 pm

The NPR interview from 2003 is still archived there. One of the better radio interviews Al's done.
Even the WTF chat from yesterday might have something in it you can use.

Post by **gtrmu** » Wed Feb 29, 2012 1:27 am

Wikipedia, and VH1 Driven.

Post by **weird_el** » Wed Feb 29, 2012 2:30 am

It's my understanding that many teachers and professors will not except Wikipedia as a source. Al's Wikipedia page has several other sources listed that could be used.

Thu Mar 01, 2012 1:53 am

Actually, they probably will except Wikipedia as a source. In other words, they won't accept it.

minnick27 · Post by **minnick27** » Thu Mar 01, 2012 2:27 am

Bravo. I've seen some teachers say they will accept Wikipedia, but you must have 2 other sources to back up the entry. Which I'd say if you find one source, you should just go with that one

World of Weird Al Yankovic