Yankovich: Why Do We Find It So Annoying?

[scottidog]

This seems like as good a place to put this as any, since I got it off of Dave's site...

I wrote my song, and Sunday night we went to Dr. Demento's live radio show in L.A. I brought my accordion and he suggested I play it live on the air. Whoever happened to be there played percussion.

That was taken from US magazine 5/26/81. They quoted Al, but I wonder if he actually said it. "Whoever happened to be there played percussion." Did Al really not know who it was that played with him? He remembered Musical Mike's name. Surely he remembered Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz? I suspect if he did say it, he actually said that Bermuda played because he happened to be there.



Any input from someone who just happened to be there?

[CatraDhtem]

That was taken from US magazine 5/26/81. They quoted Al, but I wonder if he actually said it. "Whoever happened to be there played percussion." Did Al really not know who it was that played with him?

That seems doubtful, since even if the interview was done as early as January, Al would have already been recording demo's with Bermuda.



Could Al have meant it as, "I was going to go there with the song, and I would have recruited anyone who was around to just bang on my case"?



Most likely whatever Al meant was just transcribed poorly.

[scottidog]

Most likely whatever Al meant was just transcribed poorly.

That's what I think too. We all know how "accurate" journalistic quotes can be. And since Al and Bermuda weren't the Huge Mega Stars that we all know and love today, it's doubtful that the reporter (or reporterette) thought it was all that important. Yet I wonder what other stories he/she wrote that people are still reading and discussing two plus decades later?



Thanks Dave for posting all the articles. Most of them are WAY MOBY. Except for the Daily Targum one. Egad! What'd Al do? Run over his dog?

[Elvis]

Could Al have meant it as, "I was going to go there with the song, and I would have recruited anyone who was around to just bang on my case"?

I've always heard the story as Jon asked (or at least suggested) to Al if he could bang along on the accordion case. My guess is if Jon wasn't there that night, the song wouldn't have that *thump* *thump* *thump* sound to it.



Besides, "percussion" pretty much covers "everything else," so it's quite possible Al was saving himself some breath from listing everone who was in the studio and added a sound effect, clapped along, or banged on an accordion case.



Then again, the article suggests Dr. Demento's first name is Bruce, so who know what really was said.



Dave

[Orthography Enthusiast]

I decided to see what the Yahoo news archive had to offer the dedicated WAY surfer...

MUSIC; A Master of Parody, Weird Like a Fox
July 9, 2000, Sunday
By ROBBIE WOLIVER
New Jersey Weekly Desk - 856 words

Profile of and interview with Weird Al Yankovic, musical parody star who favors playing polkas on his accordion and whose Running With Sizzors tour is coming to Waterloo Village in Stanhope, NJ; photos (M)

You can read all about it in the Sunday New York Times. :dontgetit:

[Orthography Enthusiast]

Found this on a rare-and-out-of-print books site:

The Authorized Al
by Insana, Tino, and Yankovic, Al, and Jankovic, Alfred M.
Buy Used: from $124.95!

Is this further evidence of Al's evil twin? And does this book cost such a lot because it's authored both by Al and that Jankovic guy? Inquiring minds like mine wanna know...

[Orthography Enthusiast]

You can read all about it in the Sunday New York Times.

And I did. BTW, I did have some other legitimate business with the microfilm reader, but since I was there anyway, I couldn't resist hunting up the article I mentioned above, and I'm glad I did. It always brightens the day a little to see Al praised, and I hadn't seen this particular profile/interview before.

"Mr. Yankovic, an incisive satirist, is one of the most versatile and talented rock stars on the road. While many would not consider putting him in the same category of the artists he parodies, the fact is he can sing like Kurt Cobain, dance like Michael Jackson, play accordion like Jimi Hendrix played guitar, and write as wryly as Barenaked Ladies.

"And those costume changes? He puts Diana Ross to shame."

[scottidog]

since I was there anyway

Glad to see that library time wasn't a totAL waste.

[Orthography Enthusiast]

This guy gets the pizza with the extra yanchovies:

"Weird" Al Yanchovic did a semi-cover of Loser for his album Bad Hair Day, the cover can be found in the track "Alternative Polka".

http://www.beck.com/diskobox/faq.php

[scottidog]

On the subject of really bad spelling, I had to get this out of a Google cache. It was so bad even Amazon.com wouldn't leave it posted:

I saw it on starzs acouple months ago. My Jordan told me about it when he saw it in the theartes. I thought that was funny escpiesly when weird-al Yanchovich was singing the theme. I wish they made a game.

Oh my eyes!



More Yanchoviches:

http://skwerly1.tripod.com/concerts.html



Al has a Performing Arts Center named after him? http://www.roadie.net/resume76.htm Actually, if they could get his name spelled right, it would be a darn good idea! Reading on, apparently they rename this Performing Arts Center with each performance...



This is "Weirrd" http://www.fsinet.or.jp/~eneman/MUSIC/o ... amain.html



Edited to put up the right URLs...