Weird Al -- Still an ‘Experience’ after all these years

James Meier

The man in the tropical button-down seems extremely interested --

albeit impressed -- with the decorative memorabilia that line the

walls and stand in the center of the room. It’s as if it’s all new to

him.

But this colorful 42-year-old -- with the long, reddish-brown,

curly locks and somewhat-new goatee -- should feel nothing but deja

vu. After all, it’s his. In fact, the man best known for translating

hit songs into hit parodies of his own is probably just admiring his

handiwork.

“I love it,” Weird Al Yankovic says of the “Weird Al Experience”

exhibit at the Orange County Fair. “It’s the first time I actually

got to see it all put together. I’ve been helping them organize it

and put it together over the last few months. I’ve done a lot of the

scanning of these items. My drummer and I actually did a lot of the

scanning for the exhibit. It was a big job, but it’s really

gratifying too see it all put together. It’s gorgeous. I’m just

really, really happy with it.”

From the get-up the parodist/singer/comedian wore in the video for

his 1988 hit “Fat” to his latest platinum record, “Running With

Scissors,” the exhibit contains everything “Weird.” But once the

fair’s over, the knickknacks too must go. Al needs ‘em back.

“I think they wind up in my garage,” Yankovic half-joked while

sitting for a 20-minute interview at the fair last week. “A lot of

the posters were, you know, rolled up before and now they’re mounted

on [boards], so it’s going to be harder to store, but you can’t throw

this stuff away.”

Visitors to the fair this week have the opportunity to complete

their own Weird Al experience with not only the exhibit, but also

Yankovic himself, whose brief six-performance tour makes its only

stop at the fair. In the past, Yankovic has played single shows here,

but fair officials talked the Hollywood Hills resident into strutting

his stuff all week despite his latest album being half done.

“It just made sense because when we had broken attendance records

the last few times we played here, they were excited about having

us,” said Yankovic, aptly sporting a Hawaiian shirt decked out in

green frogs to match the year’s “Leap into the Fair” theme. “So they

wanted us to do a weeklong run, which is normally not something we

do, but we figured it was Orange County and I could drive to the show

every day.”

So the man whose parody career has so far lasted 23 years will

perform in the Grandstand Arena at 8 p.m. today through Friday, on

which he’ll also perform at 9:45 p.m.

The Orange County Fair show is basically the new tour in

progress,” he said. “It’s obviously not going to feature many things

that will be on the new album, but it’s different from the last

tour.”

As for the album, that’s another matter.

“We’re half done. We’ve got the originals done. We still have the

parodies to do,” said Yankovic, explaining that he’s in negotiations

with his record company. “So we don’t want to get into the parodies

until we actually have a signed record deal because between now and

then, trends may come and go and we don’t want to end up with a lot

of dated stuff on the album.”

Seeing that over the years he’s parodied varied genres of

countless artists -- including Michael Jackson, Tiffany, Nirvana,

Coolio, the Beach Boys, Madonna and the artist formerly known as Puff

Daddy -- he must be tempted to parody some current act out there. But

who?

“That’s a really tough question,” said Yankovic, who seems

surprisingly sincere in his answer. “I mean, if you look at the top

of the charts, Eminem is huge, but do you parody Eminem? His videos

are almost like Weird Al videos to begin with. It’s hard to say when

you’re being redundant.”

And he’s not about to take on Britney Spears: “I don’t think I’m

Britney’s dress size. I’ve been working on that, but . . .”

But what about the King of Pop, whose ‘80s’ songs “Beat It” and

“Bad” translated into “Weird” songs “Eat It” and the aforementioned

“Fat?” Jackson must at least stay close.

“We never go bowling anymore. We kind of lost touch. I don’t even

think he has my e-mail address anymore. It’s kind of sad.”

But it’s not necessarily an accident that Yankovic hasn’t

volunteered to grab his crotch a la Jacko.

“I’ve done two Michael Jackson parodies and I’m trying to get away

from the image of being the ‘Eat It’ guy, you know,” Yankovic

explains. “Even though I’ve done many things since 1984, I often get

the person who hasn’t really followed my career, saying ‘What have

you done since “Eat It?”’ ‘Oh, nothing!’ So I’m just trying to get

beyond that image.”

“Black or White” must have been tempting.

“It tempted me, absolutely, but thankfully Nirvana came along and

saved me from having to do Michael a third time.”

Yankovic not only tries to avoid that image; he also somewhat

tries to avoid his own. Before “Scissors” arrived in stores in 1999,

Yankovic underwent corrective eye surgery to shed the trademark

glasses that made him oh-so-recognizable. He also shaved off his

mustache and let his curly hair grow.

“It’s kind of a blessing and a curse that I’m not as easily

recognizable now,” he said. “I think a lot of people in mainstream

America still think I’m the guy with the glasses, the mustache and

the bushy hair. I occasionally have facial hair, as I do now, but

since the LASIK surgery, I haven’t worn glasses because I’m keeping

it real!”

Yankovic has also made changes in his personal life. Last year, he

bought a house and married wife Suzanne. She’s the inspiration for

his current facial hair.

“My wife likes the goatee. Every now and then I’ll grow one and

I’ll shave it off. I’m mixing it up.”

At this point, it doesn’t appear Yankovic’s future will be mixed

up too much.