“Nothin' ever (ever) happens in this town Feelin' low down (down), not a lot to do around here I thought that I would go right out of my mind Until a friend told me the news He said, “Hey, you know that vacant lot Right beside the gas station? Well, somebody bought it And on that spot they're gonna build a shop Where we can go buy bolts and screws"
I really cannot believe it has been 16 years since we took the boys to see Weird Al. First, let me just say this was an outdoor concert in Ohio in July, so yeah it was a little warm and a little humid. We all still had an amazing time. Larry and I knew Weird Al from our youth, you know such classics as Eat It and Like a Surgeon to name a few, but it was the release of 1999’s Running with Scissors that got the boys first interested in Weird Al. I’m pretty sure that was because of the Saga Begins parody of Star Wars but that was all it took; the boys were then obsessed whenever a new album would come out. The pinnacle of that obsession was with the release of Straight Outta Lynwood in September of 2006. I think our family pretty much wore out our CD. The boys requested it was played in the car on the way to and from school, who am I kidding it was to and from anywhere, but I enjoyed it too. What I enjoyed the most was listening to them sing and laugh as that CD played, there were the daily arguments about what songs were listened to because they each had their favorites, but mostly it was singing and laughing.
P.S. The lyrics I choose were because it perfectly describes two different things… life in small town America and how my son Gabriel’s mind works.
One of my all time favorite family memories. Who in their right mind in 1984 when "Eat It" was released would have thought that Weird Al would still be popular as ever in 2008? Let alone the Polkamania song he literally just released YESTERDAY!
I'll admit that over the years I lost track of Weird Al - it was my sons and their friends that brought me back into the fold. A lot of his popular songs came out between 1999 and 2006, and it was songs like The Saga Begins, Pretty Fly for a Rabbi, It's All About the Pentiums, Albuquerque, White & Nerdy, the two listed for tonight's songs and one other very important one.
We reached out to both of them to let them choose the songs for tonight. It is totally appropriate that Connor (who is also very much a music lover) would choose Don't Download This Song. Both him and Gabriel grew up as that technology was being unleashed upon the world - why bother buying a whole album when I can just get the songs I want? And as Shannon and I listened to it tonight, we marveled at the fact that A) Downloading to burn CD-R's isn't really a thing anymore - its' just streaming; B) You can't just go to a record store (what's that?) and buy the new Weird Al CD (what's a CD?) and C) Lars Ulrich is still an asshole.
I'm pretty sure the way I figured out that Weird Al was still "cool" and my sons loved him was when they would randomly start singing Trapped in the Drive-Thru. I had no idea what the song was so of course I downloaded it and we would listen to it on the way to school. At the time we also took one of their friends, Jordan, as well, and all three of them would belt it out. This is such a great memory for me and this song will always hold a special place for me.
So when Weird Al came to Columbus, we had to go. It was The Straight Outta Lynwood Tour and we all had a fantastic time.
P.S. All of Weird Al's songs are originals - he never takes parody suggestions from anyone, ever. Except for one - do you know who she is and what the parody is?
Ghost of a Chance 