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BAD HAIR DAY?


This is my snivelling little tribute to the King of Rock & Roll Parody, "Weird Al" Yankovic. There are plenty of other Al pages out there, most of which contain far more and far better information than mine. A list of these appears below. This page, though, is just my own little tribute to Al and his band -- easily the most versatile group of musicians in modern music.

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This is me with drummer Marty "Gumby" Lick's homepage.

(Conducting the "Cutting Edge Chicago" Interview)

(As Bermuda looks on, Al and I watch my recent footage of a TMBG concert)

Al and what's-his-name in Waukesha, Wisconsin, 1994.

After 1992, Chicago had a bit of a dry spell as far as Al was concerned. With the gaps between "Off the Deep End" and "Permanent Record" (the 4-CD greatest-hits box set), there wasn't much reason to play here. So when the band passed through nearby Wisconsin and downstate Illinois, I made a couple short road trips. The Waukesha show was great because I finally had a bit of time to hang around with Jon. Not so much before the show, but after, when the band was granted an unexpected day off in Chicago. "Bermuda" and I spent Saturday hunting through Chicago's vast array of used record stores (I scored some insanely rare Billy Joel records that day), shopping for Frango mints at Marshall Field's Old Orchard store, a home-made spaghetti dinner (complete with salad and garlic bread), and an evening of hitting the internet on my Amiga... this was shortly before Bermuda himself returned to the online world in a big way with his "Bermuda Files" homepage.



In 1995, another Wisconsin show coincided with my 27th birthday (and true Al fans would understand the significance of that!) so I decided to hit the road once again and see the "one-and-only stop of the fall, 1995 tour" at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay. A good number of internet-linked Al fans were there, and that weekend marked the first time I got to really spend some time with Al himself.

October 27, 1995 - Green Bay, Wisconsin

This was Halloween weekend, and after the show, a group of five of us went out to see what the night life was like in Green Bay. Perhaps the funniest thing I saw all night was that many people didn't think Al was really Al. Almost everyone else was in a costume of one kind or another, and - as many people questioned out loud- why would Al be in Green Bay, anyway?
The night ended in Al's hotel room, with Al's keyboardist Rubén, my friend Michele, and I talking music with the Weird One. Breaking out the same accordion Al has played since he was seven, most of us tried our hands at pounding out tunes, including a way-cool sing-along of "School Cafeteria," which Al later told me he hadn't played in almost 20 years (do the math!)

Waking up the neighbors in Green Bay. 10/29/95 - 4 am!

The people in the adjoining rooms eventually complained, and a bewildered bellhop was sent to the room at around 4:30 am to ask us to stop playing "loud accordion music."

For what it's worth, it's been great getting to know Jon and Al over these past several years. The band itself is an amazing array of talent. They've been together, as the same lineup, longer than most popular groups... and they can also sound like just about anyone - whether doing a parody or a style emulation. Like many so-called "novelty acts," like Spike Jones and Frank Zappa, the band's talent is often overlooked because of the kind of music they make... the true musicianship isn't always given due credit. I urge people who take Al's records for granted to pop on the headphones and listen again... closely.