Weird Al
The weirdest Al that ever weirded.
Ep. 213 is live!
Welcome to the last Monday of March, and the last episode of Music Mayhem Month. I honestly can't believe that the year is nearly a quarter of the way over. Time sure does fly. Speaking of which...Henry just turned five! That said, things have been wildly busy, April is going to be a BIG month, and there are some things in the works. I say all this to set the table for a shorter, simpler write up this Monday. This week sees us celebrating the career of Weird Al Yankovic, focusing on the beginning of his career, as well as Jason, Dustin and me sharing our favorite albums, polkas, and original songs. For this write up, however, I just want to share the albums that have, to me, very special stories associated with them. Let's go!
"Off The Deep End" was my first real introduction to Weird Al, and it came courtesy of Jason, After one fateful post church hang out over at Jason's house, wherein said album was blasted...I was hooked. That Christmas, which is still near and dear to my heart, saw all my aunts, uncles, and cousins on Susan's side of the family staying at my grandpa's house (at the time we lived there) for Christmas '92. My cousin John and I rode the hell out of a Honda XR80 our Grandpa got us, learning to take jumps, stick the landing, wheelie...all on packed down snow. We got pretty damn good at riding the hell out of that bike. Christmas morning I'd get my first dual play boombox, and with it came Weird Al's Off The Deep End. I've had many differences with Susan over the years. It wasn't always like that, and that Christmas stands as such an example.
Weird Al in 3-D holds the distinction of being the first Weird Al cassette I ever bought with my own money. It was at the old East Peoria Walmart in what was known as Town Center 2, not far from where I live now. I played the hell out of that cassette anytime I got sacked with cleaning the house.
Coming across Polka Party starts with Jason, and his 13th birthday party. A big group of us got together and went to Northwoods Mall, running around every store, until we wound up at the Sam Goody's. It was there we discovered Polka Party. Jason bought it, I'd borrow it, and eventually buy my own copy. Personally, this album doesn't disappoint from start to finish. That brings this write up, as well as this month, to a close! Music Mayhem was a good deal of fun, it was a blast having Marty on in the first half of our month, and the topics covered were fun for all! Join us next week, though, as we kick off a month-long celebration of Larry Kenney and his work with Rankin/Bass as we start April with an iconic and classic 80's property...Thundercats! You won't want to miss it, or ANY of April. Thanks for listening and reading, and as always...enjoy! -Derek
