Thankful for Weird Al

Post by **stupidsurgeon27** » Sun Apr 06, 2003 8:42 pm

He definately had to grow into his looks. It seems to me he gets better looking every year. Some day he's gonna be the best looking octogenarian around!

He definitely won't act like an octogenarian either.

-CindyBob

Mon Apr 07, 2003 12:19 am

Well, to judge by his WAY Live appearance, Nick Yankovic is a pretty good-looking octogenarian.

I can see Al eventually being one of the very very few nonagenarians with groupies. Respectful ones, of course. Wouldn't want to upset the whatever-genarian Suzanne who will still be there beside him.

Post by **Squirrelygirl** » Mon Apr 07, 2003 4:24 am

If you faint, don't you miss all the fun?

One of the clips Al put in his Babalu Music Video from the I Love Lucy shows has Lucy as the "Maharinsis of Franistan".

Ricky was supposed to seranade her with the song "I Get Ideas", but whenever he started to sing, she would scream and faint dead away. At first he is alarmed by her swooning and offered to stop, but she just looked at him adoringly and said "Oh no, go on...I like it, I like it!"

Same idea here.

sg

Who somehow thinks Al forsaw a little bit of his own future in that clip.

Post by **Squirrelygirl** » Mon Apr 07, 2003 4:53 am

I'm not sure where this fits in with all this, but I just sent an e-mail to Bay

Area talk show host Ronn Owens KGO 810, and he describes Al on his website as one of his favorite guests.

That's not surprising really, just neat.

sg

Sat May 17, 2003 3:09 am

I was surfing the Web (not for Al this time, since I'm semi-trying to avoid spoilers, but for T-Bone Burnett) and came across this:

I never read the fan mail, actually, for legal reasons. It's kind of dangerous. . . .It's just a precaution. A lot of people don't open fan mail. You never know if you're going to get sued over stuff years later.

So... I'm thankful to Al for taking a bit of a risk with us, his very own posse of potentially-litigious strangers and admirers, and reading his fan mail (even at a glacial pace) when it would be more prudent, and much less troublesome, not to. We listen to Al avidly; the fact that he is willing in return to hear what we have to say (even if lots of us are saying the same things) confers on us the dignity of being something more than consumers.

Maybe CPFoA could take time off from burning the parody ideas in Al's mail to go train some folks to burn the song ideas in Jakob Dylan's mail.

Post by **kaffy©** » Sat May 17, 2003 5:26 am

Had it Not been for AL

I wouldn't have met all the fine Al fans that I know today. I have met some wonderful people, and it feels like i know someone in each state.. :crazy:

Anywho, I'm very thankful for Al, and for everyone else!!

Kaffy© :lookround:

Post by **scottidog** » Sun Aug 03, 2003 9:37 pm

Yesterday (8/2) was my AL-iversary. It was a year ago that I bought my first WAY CD, and went Off The Deep End as a fan.

That CD? Running With Scissors, of course!

Thanks, Al! For a year of laughter, good music, and good times with my fellow Yank-heads!

Manda · Post by **Manda** » Mon Aug 04, 2003 12:44 am

I'm thankful for Al because he gave me more of a sense of humor. Before I listen to him I really dident have much of a sense of humor. He got me to lighten up. I admire him because of several reasons, he never gave up on what he wanted to do, his smart, and because he is only one that I know of that doesnt do the Rock N Roll life style ( drugs, smoking, etc).

I cant really explain why I like him so much ethier. All I know is heres a guy who is happy at what he's doing, And I hope I find something that makes me happy as much as he is. The weirdest thing is that I dont know Al personaly but I feel like I could set down and have a conversation with him and feel comfortable and not feel like his to big of celebrity.

I think I looked up to him (and I still do) when I was younger because he doesent act like some people.

jerAL · Post by **jerAL** » Mon Aug 04, 2003 11:55 pm

Al has saved my sanity many times. When I got my surprise meeting with him (which I just can't stop mentioning) I spent my time waiting in line jumping up and down and trying to imagine what to say. My husband was sure I'd embarrass him. I trusted God to give me the right words, and what came out was something like, " I want to thank you Al, because you give me a present every day. You give me music, and you make me laugh." The bestest gifts! I am so thankful, and this year Thanksgiving is on the 27th!

Tue Nov 18, 2003 8:18 am

2727 posts.

When I started this topic on Oct. 14, 2002, I'd only begun my journey into fandom about two and a half months earlier (at the very last concert of the OC Fair Shows). I'd only seen him once in concert (and was mightily distracted by the apparent efforts of the large gentleman next to me to nudge me all the way out of my seat). I'd only bought about 3 of the CDs by that point. I'd never seen a Weird Al video. I certainly would not have expected to reach a milestone like 2,727 posts. But this topic is called "Thankful for Weird Al" so let me see...

I'm thankful for the fun I've had listening to the CDs, watching the videos, and beginning to taste the delights of tour-chasing (four concerts' worth).

I'm thankful for the people I've met on this forum, both virtually and in real life. It's been extremely cool, even within only one year, to be repeatedly meeting the same people and starting to build friendships. Al's fans, like Al himself, tend toward being smart and good-humored, and it's been a blast getting to know you.

Now that I've met him a couple of times, I'm very thankful for Al himself, as the stories I had heard about his graciousness and attentiveness to fans have proven to be true. It makes me happy to recall the sweet-hearted way he received my piece of *cough*fan art*cough* backstage after the Greek Theater concert (he promptly went to show it to Suzanne, so I think maybe he liked it)

. And then to see him again, almost exactly two months later, at the FYE signing for the Ultimate Video Collection. There are other musicians and other actors I admire, but Al is the only one with whom I expect ever to be able to have my picture taken. Not only a brush with celebrity, but a sort of momentary cuddle too.

But in a way, even though I can watch him on my TV screen whenever I like, thanks to the wonder of VHS and DVD, it's hard to think of him only as a celebrity. He's so kind, friendly and unpretentious-- amazingly so for someone with so many years of tremendous success behind him, who has had so much printed about him and had so many photos taken.

And I am thankful for Al's work, the whole "Weird Al" oeuvre. I'm thankful for the care, thought and intelligence he puts into it. It's only apparently silly; it repays close examination and repeated viewings and listenings. The craftsmanship shows itself all through.

I'm thankful for something else about Al's work, too, that's harder to put into words. The craftsmanship, the multiple layers of humor, yes, the subtlety-- all that would have left me simply a satisfied consumer, happy to buy and enjoy whatever he releases next to an unsuspecting public. But there's another dimension too, something I never would have expected humor to do. Al says his sense of humor is kind of sick at times, and in view of the decapitations, miscellaneous dysfunctional relationships described, etc., I can see why he or anyone else might say that-- Weird Al really does put the "fun" in "dysfunctional." But down there at the base of his humor is something fundamentally sane, healthy and joyful... and when it goes out into the world it has shown a surprising and sustained power to lift spirits, give encouragement and restore perspective. It is a salutary gift he is giving to the world.

Thank you especially for that, Al.
+And may peace be with you always+