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.
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