Yank Blog

Rumor has it that Al will be interviewed tomorrow (Thursday July 1) sometime between 5:30 A.M. and 10:30 A.M. on The Frank Show on KFMA in Tucson, AZ. There’s no confirmation on the website of the interview, but John Fischer on Weird Al’s STUPID Club reports it as true.

At any rate, if you’re a parody artist, you may want to tune in just for this event:

DO YOU LIKE WEIRD AL YANKOVIC? WOULD YOU LIKE TO WIN TICKETS BEFORE YOU CAN BUY THEM? WE WANT YOU TO COME UP WITH YOUR OWN “PARODY SONG”. YOU GET BONUS POINTS FOR ADDING YOUR OWN MUSIC, IF YOU PLAY AN INSTRUMENT OR IF SOMEONE WILL PLAY WHILE YOU SING. E-MAIL FRANKSHOW420@AOL.COM WITH A NAME AND PHONE NUMBER TO CONTACT YOU SO WE CAN HEAR YOUR “PARODY SONG”

Free tickets!! Woo!!

For those of you who are completists and like to collect EVERYTHING with Al’s picture in it, you’ll want to pick up a copy of the July issue of Wired magazine. Al can be seen on page 55 with a blurb about his involvement in the SENT project. It’s a gallery of photos celebrities have taken with the cell phone cameras. The project has been mentioned here in the past. This is just to tell you Al is in Wired magazine.

Since many of “Weird Al’s” fans are also fans of They Might Be Giants, it’s also worth noting that on page 56 there is a quick interview with John Flansburgh about his latest work with the site MoveOn.

The “Weird Al” Yankovic Songography Take 17! is now available. Thanks to Greg Method for all the hard work he puts in to keep The Songography up to date!

To get on The Songography mailing list, sign up here.

(Sell me your watch please…)

Fresh off the PR NewsWire… remember the Tamagotchi, the original virtual pet? Well Bandai America, the company behind the phenomenon, has created a new version called the Tamagotchi Connection and will be putting special packages of the little digital doggies (or cats or lizards or whatever they are) on eBay months before they’re officially in stores.

“So what?!?”, you say? Well 60 of the Tamagotchi T-shirts have been autographed by a plethora of celebrities such as Jessica Alba, Alyson Hannigan, and as you’ve guessed, “Weird Al” Yankovic. All proceeds from the auctions will benefit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

Items will go on sale on Monday, June 21st at http://www.ebay.com/tamagotchi

Two new tour dates have just been added:

Aug 15 - Lincoln, NE - Lied Center
Aug 16 - Rapid City, SD - Rushmore Plaza Civic Center

Find your closest show

Bruce the Duck reports this recent Al finding:

In the current issue of “Mad Magazine,” there is a brief mention of Al. On page twelve, at the bottom of the page, in a spoof of “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” one of the characters (Goyle, I believe) is saying in regards to Professor Trelawney (played in the film by Emma Thompson, wearing large-rimmed glasses and thick, messy hair), “This school’s in trouble when the professors start using the same makeup and hair people as ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic.”

In the picture, Trelawney is drawn with a crazed expression on her face.

The issue has Harry Potter on the cover. #443 July 2004

Thought you’d like to know.

Thanks Bruce the Duck!

Seven new eBay items to benefit Weird Al Star Fund:

Disco Duck and Other Adventures in Novelty Music
Item #6905393092
Ends Jun-20-04 04:28:53 PDT

“Weird Al” Yankovic UHF on VHS
Item #6301930343
Ends Jun-20-04 04:37:28 PDT

ALF Bobble Head doll
Item #5904048338
Ends Jun-20-04 04:42:37 PDT

“Weird Al” Yankovic The Saga Begins Alakin poster
Item #3821542079
Ends Jun-20-04 04:48:20 PDT

Jar Jar Binks clock Star Wars The Phantom Menace
Item #5904049235
Ends Jun-20-04 04:55:02 PDT

Sim Theme Park Microsoft Windows 95, 98, and Me
Item #8111669065
Ends Jun-20-04 05:01:53 PDT

Star Trek “Dinosaur Planet” book and record (1979) NEW
Item #4018663644
Ends Jun-20-04 05:09:30 PDT

Bid early! Bid often!

PETA is doing their Who is the Sexiest Vegetarian contest for 2004. And of course our favorite accordion-playing, parody-singing, poodle-wearing celebrity is on the ballot. Vote early, vote late, vote in-between.

Here’s an update on that SENT phonecam art show mentioned a while back.

Images taken by invited artists will be published at sentonline.com
simultaneously with the gallery show launch on July 9, 2004.

Printed versions of invited artists’ phonecam snapshots
will also be on display in the gallery.

All artists were provided with Motorola V600 cameraphones.

From Squeezing out a tune for Accordion Appreciation Month:

Pop satirist Weird Al Yankovic has made quite a name for himself by taking popular rock songs (the dark, depressing variety seem to work the best) and putting them to a polka beat with lots of accordion accompaniment. It’s hard to be dark and depressing while playing a polka tune.

Have you hugged an accordion player today?