Brother gets culture
I eagerly accepted an invitation from one of the brothers of the monastery I am presently visiting to attend a lecture by the obscure Russian Islamic philosopher, Warid el Yakimovich. Actually, it turned out to be a Weird Al Yankovic concert. Oh well, when life gives you lemons....
This was the opening concert of his new American tour, promoting his recently-released album, Straight Outta Lynwood. The new album proves that Weird Al is in no danger of losing his title as King of the Song Send-up. "White and Nerdy" was hilarious, from the moment he entered the stage on his Segway. "You're Pitiful" had me giggling like a ten year-old on nitrous oxide. Of course, no Weird Al concert would be complete without his signature medley of popular rock and rap tunes set to a polka beat and expertly played on the accordion by Weird Al himself.
While the new songs were great, I was really waiting to hear some of my old favorites, and Weird Al did not disappoint. While the old Michael Jackson parodies, "Eat It" and "I'm Fat", have lost some of their luster, other classics, such as "Smells Like Nirvana" and "Amish Paradise" have not. The two Star Wars-themed songs, "Yoda" (to the tune of Lola) and "The Saga Begins", were crowd favorites. His encore included the unreleased (for good reasons) "Everyone Has a Cell Phone" and a song from his Running With Scissors album, "Albuquerque".
The concert made good use of video, although there were some technical problems with it in the early part of the concert. Certain songs were enhanced with scenes from his music videos. Between numbers, there were mock interviews with musical celebrities, such as Mariah Carey, Madonna, Keith Richards and Kevin Federline. This latter was especially unmerciful.
All in all, it was classic Weird Al. I highly recommend seeing this concert. By the way, there were a lot of young kids at the concert. I doubt they will understand the humor, but the show is family-friendly. The only vulgur words used were during the celebrity interviews, and those were bleeped.
This was the opening concert of his new American tour, promoting his recently-released album, Straight Outta Lynwood. The new album proves that Weird Al is in no danger of losing his title as King of the Song Send-up. "White and Nerdy" was hilarious, from the moment he entered the stage on his Segway. "You're Pitiful" had me giggling like a ten year-old on nitrous oxide. Of course, no Weird Al concert would be complete without his signature medley of popular rock and rap tunes set to a polka beat and expertly played on the accordion by Weird Al himself.
While the new songs were great, I was really waiting to hear some of my old favorites, and Weird Al did not disappoint. While the old Michael Jackson parodies, "Eat It" and "I'm Fat", have lost some of their luster, other classics, such as "Smells Like Nirvana" and "Amish Paradise" have not. The two Star Wars-themed songs, "Yoda" (to the tune of Lola) and "The Saga Begins", were crowd favorites. His encore included the unreleased (for good reasons) "Everyone Has a Cell Phone" and a song from his Running With Scissors album, "Albuquerque".
The concert made good use of video, although there were some technical problems with it in the early part of the concert. Certain songs were enhanced with scenes from his music videos. Between numbers, there were mock interviews with musical celebrities, such as Mariah Carey, Madonna, Keith Richards and Kevin Federline. This latter was especially unmerciful.
All in all, it was classic Weird Al. I highly recommend seeing this concert. By the way, there were a lot of young kids at the concert. I doubt they will understand the humor, but the show is family-friendly. The only vulgur words used were during the celebrity interviews, and those were bleeped.
posted by BroLo | 5/03/2007 02:57:00 PM
4 Comments:
If monks like you had been around when I was being dragged reluctantly to communion classes as a kid, I might well not have become the sorely lapsed Catholic that I am.
.
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Oh - who am I kidding?
Gig sounds great, though.
He's pretty much the descendant of Tom Lehrer with an overlay of Tom Waitts. I'm glad to hear that Weird Al has grown no less weird with age.
Oh yeah, Tom Lehrer. My favorite song by him was, of course, the Vatican Rag.
"First you get down on your knees,
Fiddle with your rosaries,
Bow your head with great respect and genuflect, genuflect, genuflect."
Pog: I'm sorry to say that the fact that I was their teacher did not spare many of my students from lapsing.
YAY! Good for you for going. I'm not as brave as you. I tend to wince, rather than laugh, at weird Al. Probably just not bright enough to get it.
Glad you are having some fun!
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