Puyallup WA 9/9/03

All about Weird Al's concerts and other live appearances.

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algonacchick
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Post by algonacchick »

So glad to hear that group had such a great experience with Al. *Like we'd expect anything less* Those pictures are pretty cool. Everyone who saw that show must have been so awestruck. Very, very cool!



Patti
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Post by Orthography Enthusiast »

as well as making it look as though Al has run out of giveaway shorts and had to dip into his personal laundry.
Do you know something we don't? :lookround:


No, I disavow any knowledge whatsoever of what kind of underwear Al actually wears. It's just that white briefs have something so not-for-public-display about them.
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Post by SmileyGirl87 »

Al waved to us from his white van when he left to get something to eat at the Cleveland show (I'm assuming, since they didn't leave in the buses...)



Then there was Steve and his lettuce-y sandwich..



:lol:



That image still makes me laugh...



Cool photos! TY for the link!!! :biggrin:



ttyl all!

~*Cat*~

^ standing with the perverts in the back, and currently has an elbow in her ear...:P
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josheee
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Post by josheee »

Hi guys!



Josh here. Long time Weird Al (and Star Wars) fan. I'm a member of Garrison Titan here in Seattle, and was one of the stormtroopers from the Puyallup show the other night.



I'm one of the die-hard Weird Al fans of our group, and the one who had a hand in setting this event up. It was definitely the best Al concert ever for me, and I know the rest of the troops loved it too. I try to see Al and the band whenever they're anywhere near WA, and sometimes...even when they're not.



In fact, just two nights before I took my nephews to see the show in Santa Clara CA, because they're from the Bay Area of CA....and I couldn't pass that opportunity up. We even saw Al on one of the crazy roller coasters there at Great America, presumably riding it with the lucky winnner of that Ebay auction I wasn't fortunate enough to be able to bid on :D



I just wanted to say hi, and let you all know that I've enjoyed reading the comments you guys had about our small part in Al's amazing show.





P.S. To Scottidog, I wanted to say that you got better pictures than a lot of ours (Even though our guys were supposedly standing in the middle of an aisle) so congratulations on being a great photographer.
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Caroleg
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Post by Caroleg »

Josh here. Long time Weird Al (and Star Wars) fan. I'm a member of Garrison Titan here in Seattle, and was one of the stormtroopers from the Puyallup show the other night.


Hi Josh!



I'm in Seattle (Magnolia) and loved the show your group put on! Hope to see you at some other shows in the area, too. I also travel to other cities to see concerts and bought the Ebay passes for Phoenix so I could take some long time friends. Wish I could've been at Santa Clara.



Anyway, welcome to the group!



Carole
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Post by sarley27 »

Welcome Josh!

Being in Cleveland, I didn't see it, but you guys looked AWESOME.

Hope to see you more on the forum!

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Post by scottidog »

Josh, thanks for the compliment! I am going to submit my pics to weirdal.com as soon as Bermuda empties out his mailbox...



You said you had a hand in making it happen... can you give us details? I bet I saw you afterwards at the meet n greet. It never entered my mind to talk to you guys... It was all about Al for me, I guess.
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Post by SmileyGirl87 »

Yeah, that must have been a great experience for you guys...thanks for sharing it! (I wish I had seen it live!)...



DETAILS, DETAILS!!!! :biggrin:



Only if you can spare them...



ttyl all!

~*Cat*~

^wants details, details, details...
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josheee
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Post by josheee »

Details? Ok. You asked for them...you're going to get em. :D



I came up with this idea sometime in July. We had just gotten done doing some parade or something, and we were talking about events coming up in the future. I had recently made plans to go to the Seattle concert as soon as it went on sale.....and I was talking with one of our leaders about how fun it would be to troop a Weird Al show. As far as I knew, no one had done it before, and I thought it would be really cool. It seemed like such a perfect fit, and I had a feeling the band would really like the idea if we could just get a hold of them.



So I started writting some letters to people I thought might be able to help us set this up. Unfortunately, it was going rather slowly. I got replies, but it was slow progress. About a week before the show, I asked for some help. I have a friend who has a friend, and they helped get me in touch with the right people. To respect the privacy of Al's folks and my friend, that's as much as I'd like to say about that end of it. :D.



The other part of setting it up was just getting our troops together. Half of us were from the Seattle group, and then we had 3 or 4 from Portland come up just for this. Usually when we do an event, there are a lot more of us.....but there is only so much room on stage, so we had to narrow the numbers down. We took our head honchos, and the troopers who were absolutely sure they could make it without a doubt. There were quite a few volunteers who weren't onstage that still attended the show. They took a lot of our pictures.



I also talked to the concert organizers at the fair so we could pack all of our gear into the concert area a little bit early. They were really accomodating, and had us on a little list that allowed us to bring in all that equipment early. That armor takes up a lot of space (think a small footlocker at least per costume), and we needed a few extra hands to help us wheel it all in.



I spent that whole day at the fair with some friends of mine, riding rides and seeing what there was to see. One of my friends got sick on the Dragon Swing thing, so we stayed off of the bigger rides after that. Lost some money on the games. You know...fair stuff.



Then in the evening, a couple of our guys met with Al's people to discuss the logistics. We ended up with a nice area backstage to change and wait. Some of us (me me me!) were really eager to see as much of the show as we could while we were waiting, so the security let us watch the show from off to the side of the stage.



Although I was incredibly happy to be able to be able to see the show, it was too bad we were further away, because I had EXCELLENT tickets for the show that I bought before I ever set this event up. My friends and I still sang along and yelled at all the right places though. Security thought we were a little strange, but who cares. :D



I ended up giving the seats I had to a friend of mine of mine who came for the show too so he could "upgrade". He said they're the best Al seats he's ever had, including the time we got front row at another fair....because they were so close to the stage. Also, I guess Al came out into the audience several times right next to their row. They even got wet from the water during the Smells like Nirvana song. Lucky ducks.



Anyway, we went back and got suited up sometime around Amish Paradise, and then waited backstage to come out at the beginning of the finale. We were practicing our little march and stuff back there. During the song itself, the plan was to stand "at attention" for everything but the chorus, and then dance during that. Everyone picked a specific dance, but I don't know if anyone actually stuck to their plans. I think this was actually Al's idea, but I'm not sure, because at that point we hadn't talked to him yet.



Once we got out there, I must admit I was having a hard time not moving around, both because that's one of my favorite songs....and because I was very excited. I don't know if you know this, but even stormtroopers can't stop smiling around Weird Al. Lucky we have those helmets to hide that.



We do events all the time where were on some sort of stage, or on TV, or in front of large crowds. We've even done events with Celebrities (from the Star Wars movies) but I have never been as excited about an event as I was that night. It was just the coolest thing to be up there with Al and the band in their robes, looking out at everyone smiling and cheering. Just great. I noticed Steve smiling a lot out of the corner of my eye.



When the song was over, we walked off stage and went back to our area to talk about how awesome it was. Afterwards, we got to hang around the meet and greet for awhile. Before we did that though, all of the people that were there because they had won radio contests, or were VIPs for other reasons were asking for pictures with us....so we obliged and stood around to pose for several dozen snapshots with assorted people. I think the fans in my helmet ran out of batteries sometime in the middle of that, so by the time we got to meet up with Al, it was getting way too warm in that thing.



He was really nice to us, and was kind enough to pose for pictures with everyone that wanted one. A couple of our guys had him sign a piece of their armor, so now they'll be able to wear it all the time as a reminder. I brought a CD cover myself, because I've been trying to get them all signed at some point or another when I've been lucky enough to see the band signing after a show.



After everyone got a chance to get a picture, we got back into our street clothes....and packed up to go. The whole drive home I couldn't stop smiling, and even though I was kinda tired....I had to stay up late to get the pictures onto my website for everyone to see in the morning.



It was truly awesome.





I hope I haven't bored you to tears with the details, but you asked for em. :)
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sarley27
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Post by sarley27 »

I'm not bored to tears. Have you guys ever been in Star Wars Insider?

(Remembers when he got wet during SLN)
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