World of Weird Al Yankovic

Awesome! I can kinda relate - when I met Al, it was kinda obvious he was tired, but when we kind of demonstrated how truly dedicated we were (and all bought copies of UVC) he seemed like he didn't mind giving us time at all - he really put in an effort to make it great for us. But there were a bunch of people who obviously didn't know of him that well and had just come along for a signature or whatever, and in comparison I reckon he treated his true fans better. Not that he was unpleasant to the others. He just didn't give them his all.

Y'know, I kinda hope the Fahrenheit guys seek out an opportunity to meet n' greet Al sometime... maybe they'll see what he's REALLY like with his fans.

Orthography Enthusiast @ Mar 3 2005, 07:48 PM wrote: Y'know, I kinda hope the Fahrenheit guys seek out an opportunity to meet n' greet Al sometime... maybe they'll see what he's REALLY like with his fans.

Exactly.

They obviously got no feel for the 'real' Al.

Hey all-
I have been following this thread and something occured to me. This trip to the San Diego seemed like something Sea World had set up for Al since he made a cameo in one of their attractions. I was suprised to see the lack of security or any one around from Al's staff.(ie publicist, agent, assistant) I guess I'd be leary of traveling alone with someone I had never met before let alone being a celebrity in the same position. Of course this is nothing personal against the periodical or authors of the interview. In general I was suprised that no one was around to help Al or be there just in case he had any problems. It would be different if it was somekind of nationally recognized magazine or something like that. If nothing else maybe the staff could have just left and gone back to the hotel once Al seemed ok with his situation.
Dustin

Yes, Al is apparently a very trusting person. But, you're right, that is very weird—and unsettling.

Well, it's not quite as unsettling as it would have been before the invention of the cell phone. And except for events that require a lot of people-wrangling (signings, meet & greets, concerts) I don't know that Al does normally have much of an entourage. Anybody got any anecdotal evidence one way or the other? Dave-- how about Al's "Set In Skin" appearance??

I'm starting to think more and more that maybe Al or his people didn't really know it was going to be a tour rather than just an interview because, yeah, otherwise Al would have had a local media escort with him.

Orthography Enthusiast @ Mar 5 2005, 03:43 PM wrote: I don't know that Al does normally have much of an entourage. Anybody got any anecdotal evidence one way or the other? Dave-- how about Al's "Set In Skin" appearance??

It was just Al. I don't think Al has an entourage, nor do I think he really needs one.

Looking at the circumstances of the interview, I can understand why things may have unfolded the way they did. Or at least I can rationalize everyone's behavior.

First off, I don't think Al acted any differently than he does in other written interviews he's given. Coming from someone who's read a lot of intertiews with Al, early in his career, he certainly was in character during his interviews, but over time, he dropped the act during written interviews. He rarely does written interviews anymore as Weird Al, instead doing them as Al.

Having said that, I dont think it's unreasonable for the interviewers to have expected Weird Al, but when they got Al, they had two easy ways to remedy that -- either adapt their questions and interview Al, or tell Al that they want to interview him in character. I'm sure he would have obliged. Going on and on about how Al wasn't weird enough for them was the wrong way to handle it. I've seen plenty of interviews that start out saying (paraphrased), "For a guy who's so weird, he sure is normal." That's all they needed to say about the issue.

As for why Al and Suzanne were acting strange, keep in mind that "Haunted Lighthouse" opened sometime in early spring of 2003. It was probably one of the first big road trips they took with newly born Nina. I think their behavior wasn't any more than a couple of new parents nervous about being away from home for an extended period of time with the baby. Suzanne's eagerness to get to a hotel could be because the unexpected traffic caused Nina to miss a feeding, or any other parenting issue that she needed to take care of as soon as possible. Or maybe she was just tired of sitting in a car all day and wanted to sit down and relax. Whatever it was, it was a private matter, and should have stayed out of print.

Dave

Sounds convincing to me, Dave, especially considering how much more face time you've had with Al than these fellows did.

Elvis @ Mar 5 2005, 05:16 PM wrote: Whatever it was, it was a private matter, and should have stayed out of print.

Yeah really...were they there to interview Suzanne? Most likely not, so really what's it to them what she was going to do?

No wonder Al prefers to keep his private life private.