the cultural divide
- Are you jealous? When you saw this were you like all "Dang it! Why does the middle always get the good stuff?! What did I ever do to the middle to make it be so mean to me? Frickin' frackin' middle...."
- If I told you I've actually seen Weird Al in concert before, would you be even more jealous? Or would you simply feel sorry for me? What if I told you I had seen him twice? Would it make any difference if I tried to buy my way out of that admission by telling you he was the opening act?
- Haven't we reached a point in Weird Al's long career that it would be considered fine to drop the quotation marks around "Weird Al," thereby losing the connotation that "Weird Al" is really a nickname and for the most part, when he walks down the street or goes to the bank or shops for porn downtown, people rarely if ever actually just call him Al. You know he's just Weird Al all the time. Probably just signs his checks W.A. Yankovic.
- Do you think I'm embarrased to admit that I've paid money for a concert bill that included Weird Al? Honestly? I mean, knowing what you know about me?
- What's that? You need to know who Weird Al opened for when I saw him in concert twice (both times in the middle, btw!)? Does it really matter? Really? Ok. It was the Monkees.
I suppose I should say that I am not a Weird Al hater. Don't be getting all up on me in comments, saying I don't appreciate the fine art of musical parody. Trust me. I have nothing but respect for a man who can turn Lola into Yoda. But just once, I'd like my middle of the road life to really host a concert that would be worth dropping money on. Oh sure, we're getting the Who soon. But seriously, you have to admit, knowing that has to give you some indication of my cultural wasteland. You fancy people on both coasts get it all! Cripes, we probably won't even get the Van Halen tour with David Lee Roth. Which, honestly, does anyone really want that?
Of course, Weird Al shout out the Who's My Generation on his Polkas On 45, so basically, this allows me to save my money and avoid both shows. Because I'm freakin' entrenched in the middle, and there's little chance I'm ever busting out.
Unless you feel bad for me in my cultural dust bowl and wish to break me free. If so, you can look for me near Spatula City.
posted by for a different kind of girl @ 3:00 AM
24 Comments:
I envy you... only cuz I'm not the jealous type. Kansas City gets a bunch of nifty bands.... I mean you could always drive on down hear for a concert.
Did I mention Alice Cooper is playing at the Missouri State Fair this weekend? No?....
No worries.... I don't think I'll be seeing him....
Sigh. I guess I am stuck in the middle with you, which, really....is not so bad! :D
nrxjllb
Weird Al -- love him! Of course, I haven't really kept up with him since his "Weird Al in 3-D" days. Nature Trail to Hell ftw.
One of the joys of living in the big city is that I have some pretty awesome concert-going opportunities. I don't get out so very often, but the last live act I saw: Prince. And let me tell you, his name IS Prince, and he IS funky.
(My word verification: psstt!! How awesome is that?)
Oh I DOOOOO envy you. I LOVE Wierd Al! I would definitely go to see him in concert. Of course, the last real concert I went to was Huey Lewis back in the 80's so I probably don't have very discerning taste...
Stacie
I find weird al incredibly attractive, and for that reason I am jealous. He has a face MADE for radio.
But I don't know what he could do live that would make it worth it. The radio is enough for him.
What makes you think he goes by "al"? Maybe he goes be "weird" when he is with his friends.
The Monkees? Therese is going to be uber jealous. But seriously, you can't have been old enough to have seen the Monkees live...
I like the spatulas so much, I bought the company.
Don't get me started quoting this cinematic masterpiece, because I could do this all day.
ALL DAY.
Hey, Weird Al was just in our town a couple weeks ago! I think a couple of my kids even went to see him. 'The Parody King' has an irresistible genius all his own. . .
I've often wondered if he isn't the bastard spawn of Frankie 'The Polka King' Yankovic ("I don't want her, you can have her, she's too fat for me", and other classics of the genre)
Anyway, don't be goin' all 'boo-hoo' about the Middle; you know,
I'm goin' to Kansas City;
Kansas City, here I come.
They got some crazy ways of lovin' there.
I'm a-gonna get me some.
Hey, hey, hey, hey;
He-ey, ba-by!
And St. Louis has its own brand of the blues (heck, they even named their hockey team after it).
(Altho, when the old New Orleans Jazz moved to Utah, someone in the state government there should have mandated a name change; truth in advertising, and all that)
OK, sorry for the ramble. I'm just sayin', don't be all self-hatin'; the Wide Open Prairie has its own claims to cool. See, y'all are cooler than you might think. . .
I've never been much of a concert maven over the years. Saw Sir Paul three times, and Simon & Garfunkel when they went on tour a couple years back. I suppose The Who would fall into the same category of 'Retro Geezer rock acts trying to cash in on the insane money that wasn't around when they were in their heyday'. And, as long as aging boomers like yours truly will keep putting down $100+ for tickets, I don't suppose they'll stop. . .
I didn't think the Monkees ever did live shows, even when they were a real band; pretty much a made-for-TV phenomenon, weren't they?
Anyway, sorry for the ramble; I guess a week-and-a-half of vacation left me with a serious DKG-deprivation jones. . .
Savage - Oh, I'm a little bit the jealous type. Crept up on me, it did. However, I can't be jealous (or all that envious, really) because Alice Cooper is playing my state fair this week, too. We attract the superstars.
Nan - We're so in the middle it hurts. Sigh. But I got ya, sexy girlfriend!
Kelly - When I saw Prince (many years ago, and actually here in my middle,though I did have to drive home from college to see him), he told me he did not come to funk around. I believed him. "When it come to funk, I am a junky," I told him."
Then he squealed or something. I don't know. It was high pitched. But I dug it
Stacie - You saw Huey Lewis and the News in concert?! Jealous. I am jealous! I still own my HL & The News albums!
I take this to mean you didn't go see Marilyn Manson recently....It's ok. When he does the inevitable "old and washed up" tour that all acts seem to, you can see him then!
RS - Dude, seriously! First you're all talking about tossing pepper rings on FTN, and now you're telling me you find Weird Al (or Al or Mike or Bob, as I sometimes call him) attractive? What gives, mister?
But then you go and get all flattery with the age thing and I'm all swooning and thinking, "Ah, that sweet, sweet RS." It was the late 80s. I was still young. I mean, I still had to ASK if I could go to the concerts. No freewill to do as I pleased yet! Oh, and if it will make Therese uber jealous, don't tell her that I went to MANY Monkees concerts.
In fact, don't tell anyone, because, well, should I really be admitting this fact about myself?
FTN - Bring it, mister. The gauntlet has been dropped. Dual style. Shirts versus Skins.
In fact, if you don't --- I'm gonna club this baby seal. That's right! I'm gonna club this seal to make a better deal. You know I'll do it, too, cause I'm crazy.
However, if you can do it ALL DAY, then I question our government's need to retain you as a secret assassin and/or spreadsheet instigagtor...
Desmond - Look at you, all "jonesing" and stuff. Sweeeeet!
I've seen Sir Paul a couple of times. Once for free. Which, considering the load they want for those acts that just never stop, free is the way to go. The one good thing that came out of a really bad blind date. Shudder...well, that and I didn't die from eating a tofu hot dog.
And, even though I said I probably shouldn't talk about this, it seemed reasonably clear in the many, many times I saw the Monkees perform in the 80s (and ok, some 90s) that they were indeed playing their own instruments. But then,of course, how hard is it to play tambourine? Thus asks the girl who plays fake guitar to a video game...
Jesus one day, Weird Al the next. Wow, what an eclectic writer you are. :)
Wait, in this contest... Am I shirts, or skins? I want to make sure I'm dressed appropriately.
You know what they say about blogging, don't you? It's just like working in a fish-market. Except you don't have to clean and gut fish all day.
Finding Heart - I am what the natives would call "ecclectic."
Besides, in some photos, I think Jesus actually looks like Weird Al. But minus that 'stache.
I will now probably officially burn for all eternity.
FTN - We could trade off if you like. I'm sure the blog world would like it. You wanna be shirts first?
But if I'm skins first, I'm warning you! Don't even think about feeding me some BS like "Broads don't belong in broadcasting"? Is that the kind of professional courtesy you teach your news department?"
Because I will bust you,dude. Stone cold.
No, I'm so sad, I didn't get to see MM last week...DH spouted some garbage about my safety...blah blah blah..
Since when have I not been able to take care of myself? Whatever..when he does the old and washed up tour, I'm going even if I have to paint my walker black and hang fake boobies on the front..
Umm, yah, I just wanna go to a concert. Any concert. Even my kid has gone to a concert. Geesh, I feel deprived!
I don't know how many time I've told those boys, never call chicks broads.
This is an embarrassment. A disgrace. What do you think RJ Fletcher Senior would be saying if he were alive today?
Wow, I hardly know where to start.
"Do not hold your breath for chart toppers, middle! Who do you think you are, anyway?"
Well, I think you're lucky. Weird Al is a chart topper: his current album debuted at #10 on the Billboard album chart, and it's gone gold already. Weird Al's live show is a high-energy, multimedia HOOT. Al never phones it in, he gives it everything he's got at every show. And you'll find, if you go, that his parodies are not "based loosely on the musical stylings"-- they're dead on. Al's band is prodigiously gifted, and they take the music seriously. http://www.stephenjay.com/articles/bassplayer199912.html
"Haven't we reached a point in Weird Al's long career that it would be considered fine to drop the quotation marks around "Weird Al," thereby losing the connotation that "Weird Al" is really a nickname and for the most part, when he walks down the street or goes to the bank or shops for porn downtown, people rarely if ever actually just call him Al. You know he's just Weird Al all the time."
Nope. Practically the first thing that happens when fans meet Weird Al is that they drop the "Weird" when they talk about him. And lots of us have met him. Some of us have met his wife. A few of us have even met his poodle. He's a gracious, friendly, utterly non-ego-driven man.
I guess what I'm tryin' to say here is that it's absolutely worth dropping the money on an Al concert. Especially if you get an aisle seat in the first few rows.
oe
FTN - He'd tell me to tell you to "let me out of this box. I can't breath in here. Let me out!"
But first, I have to bust it to work. It's a nut house at the bookstore, I tell 'ya.
What's that? You're asking me where y'wanna go? That's right. To Uncle Nutzy's Clubhouse. And boy-oh-boy, are we gonna have big fun today. We're gonna have so much fun, we'll forget about how miserable we are, and how much life sucks, and how we're all gonna grow old and die someday.
I was jealous when you mentioned seeing Weird Al. I was green with envy, though, when you mentioned the Monkees.
Oh, and my obviously ignorant husband doesn't know that they DID have a reunion tour so that us younger folk could experience Monkee Mania for ourselves.
anonymous - Is there any chance we are married? Because if we are, then let me tell you thank you once again for getting me the latest Weird Al release for Mother's Day. And I shall ask you forgive me for not having things clearly in focus when I wrote this at 3 a.m. Research kinda goes out the window around here at that time of day. Thanks for your info!
Therese - Between you and me, let's teach that husband of yours a thing or two, shall we?!
Stacie - Heh! I will come along just to see that, ok?
Choppzs - Then we should go to this one. I have not been to one in a long time. Of course, there is that pesky Cali/Midwest thing that puts a damper on things!
Weird Al?
The Monkees?
Have I stepped back in time??
Hey! Just wanted to tell you sorry I'm so lacking in the comment department lately. The countdown to school is 10 days. In 10 days perhaps my brain will find it's place back in my head. As for the posts, I look forward to them every day. JC was hilarious. As for the concerts---we don't get anything. So I suppose that makes me down in the dumps vs. the middle. :)
So weird Al eh? Me thinks he is one that I would not see in concert. It's bad enough my oldest has one of his latest songs just about memorized, it's the only one I would agree to him listening to.
I've heard of better concerts roll through this side of the states Tim & Faith, Carrie Underwood, Restless Heart, Blake shelton both were an hour from me.
S.R.
Ok, I KNOW I left a comment last night. Where the heck did it go? Are you censoring me, woman? *peer*
*ahem* as I said last night...
Odd, I don't see one Grease reference in this post.
April - April! April! April! Yeah! You're still out there! Having you commenting back here is like stepping back into a nice time! Good to see you!
Rug's - Totally understand! This is the last full week of summer vacaction. It's truly flown by, what with all the running around I've had to do. I'll keep looking for you in the dumps if you keep finding me in the middle!
April - Granted, apparently, I bet he will be a big draw here, I guess my thought is the local gov. built this huge concert hall here a couple years ago, told us to brace ourselves for the likes of U2 and such...and the closest I get to these types of people in concert is a DVD in my living room. At least the seats are more comfortable here!
cat - Hmmm...Odd. I promise you, I've never blocked anyone's comments. Mostly because I wouldn't have a clue how to! And I'm too lazy to dump things in the trash!
No. I would never do that to anyone! Including myself, and sometimes I really should.
And trust me, I did an EXTENSIVE internet search on a way to tie Weird Al and Grease together, and came up empty handed. Which just made me want to then consider Rudy from the Capri Lounge...
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