On Wednesday, I accompanied delicateman to the Puyallup Fair, where the motto is ‘Happy is Good’, which is pretty much equivalent to saying that ‘Fire Burns’, ‘Earth is round’, and, my particular favorite, Safeway’s brand new, ‘At Safeway, a dozen is twelve’.
But I wasn’t there for motto-mockery, or mockery in general for pretty much the first time in my entire life. I was there for WEIRD AL.
I came to be invited because delicateman‘s father was involved in an unfortunate incident involving a raccoon, a tiny dog, and some ferocious mauling of his leg and was therefore unable to attend. His loss (of a mouthful of flesh or so) and my gain!
Even though I’ve liked Weird Al for forever and a day, this is the first time I’ve seen him perform–he was performing at Summerfest one year when I had tickets to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Foo Fighters with grey_jedi, so I got to hear a snippet as I walked by, but I couldn’t stop and watch. That’s my biggest gripe about festivals in general–if there are multiple stages, generally the only two acts I’ll want to see will be performing at the exact same time, whereas in a perfect world, everything would revolve around my schedule.
Al is an incredible entertainer; between nearly every song there was a costume change to reflect the style of the artist he was parodying. Sometimes he’d change costumes WHILE SINGING. Sometimes I wonder if his entire career is constructed around the idea of wanting to be paid to play dress-up…
And then I see him in a silver lame suit and I know it’s the truth. I’m just jealous that I don’t get to play dress-up every night.
One of the reasons I left so impressed might’ve been that I could actually see the entire show–most shows I attend, some basketball-playing bodybuilder makes a point of standing directly in front of me, regardless of where I am. Why didn’t that happen this time? It wasn’t incredible luck–it was that everyone stayed seated until the encore. What the hell? I’ve never seen that before. The family behind me actually MUTTERED AT ME when I got to my feet as he got onstage. SIT DOWN, YOU’RE RUINING IT FOR EVERYONE! Seriously, what the hell?
More dress-up. In between songs, they played clips of ‘Al TV’ and various TV shows and movies that have name-dropped him over the years; not only does he comment on popular culture, but he’s become quite a slice of pop culture himelf!
This was my favorite costume of the night, because I’ll be goddamned if I don’t love fishnets and tutus, and the combination is particularly awesome. Spongebob is merely the icing on that cake of awesome. This one was worn during a rendition of ‘You’re Pitiful’, a take on the horrid James Blunt song ‘You’re Beautiful’, a song that apparently Atlantic Records will not allow him to release on a record…so it’s available for download on his website.
delicateman and I wandered around the fair a bit, watched some baby pigs being born, talked about how carnies who operate rides may or may not be amazing drunken scientists, and then made our way back into the grandstand to see if they were selling any ‘white and nerdy’ sweatshirts; no merch, but we saw a few people who looked like they were waiting around with some purpose in mind–they were hoping to meet Al/get autographs/whatnot. It wasn’t more than 10 people, so I was surprised when he didn’t at least poke his head out; it wasn’t exactly an intimidating, ‘rip your shirt off’ crowd. Once again, if everyone just did everything *I* wanted them to, life would be even more awesome. For me.
Speaking of fun musicians, my favorite musical crush and the future father of my incredibly talented babies, That 1 Guy, is playing at the Tractor Tavern in Ballard tomorrow, at 7pm. If you haven’t seen him perform, I can’t reccommend coming to the show highly enough.
How could you say no to that face?
All pictures of Weird Al taken by delicateman.
In a delightful coincidence I am having a showing of UHF at my home tonight. RAWK.
YES. If I lived closer, I would totally invite myself over.
Happy is Good
Remember: This is Puyallup. You have to keep it simple for these people.
This is a town named “Poo, y’all up?”
Re: Happy is Good
I think I am the only person who finds it ridiculously awkward to say ‘Puyallup’. And now I’m just going to think about poop when I’m trying to say it. 😐
Re: Happy is Good
Then my work here is done.
Re: Happy is Good
Poop on YOU, buddy.
Did you get any “oh my god, WOMEN?!?” looks at the Weird Al show? I saw him at Navy Pier a while back, and a few fellow nerds looked like they wondered what myself (woman, but still nerd) and my companion (woman, not nerd) were doing there…. of course this also happened while waiting in line for Episode 1 (companions were three other females, all on the nerd spectrum.)
Al still rocks my world. The Husband Unit almost sold his copy of the Weird Al DVD video collection – good thing I yelled at him. But please, Jeebus, can I return my Weird Al Hair?? 🙁 It looks great on him, not so great on the rest of us..
Not so much with the “OMG BOOBS” at this show–there were tons of families with small kids in the audience. I think if he was playing someplace other than a fair, that would’ve been more of an issue. I got a lot of it at the Penny Arcade Expo, and jesus, the attention I got the year I went to Gen Con (when it was still in Milwaukee)was ludicris. I was a big hit with dudes who still live in basements.
I’ve always liked your Weird Al Hair! 🙂
weird motto: Oregon’s State Fair motto was “Like a Magical Enchanted Land. But Real.”
So BAD
So…did it or did it NOT have unicorns?
Who gets paid to think these up? Seriously? I feel it’s a task I should be paid for since I certainly couldn’t do worse.
I saw no unicorns. Except in the ads.
When you coming to portland? I want vegan pirate dinner experience!
I was just there yesterday, actually. 😐 But only for Mike’s show, and then I had to zip back home.
I’ll be down next weekend on Saturday or Sunday for the pirate festival–I dunno how busy you’ll be with Yom Kippur, but I’d love to see you if you’ve got the time! I can also bring down the money for your commission. 🙂
sunday would be good. I’ll try to have the pin finished by then.
Excellent, Sunday it is! I’ll give you a call when I roll into town.
yay!
I see he played the Jedi song. Sweet. 🙂
cheers,
Phil
And then he left his home, and kissed his mommy goodbye, saying ‘soon, I’m gonna be a Jedi’. It was amazing. It’s hard to see, but he had a Vader up there, too!
it was a magical time with butterscotch waterfalls and gumdrop smiles.
I was actually amazed that my pictures came out as good as they did. It wasn’t a low light lens, non Vibration Reduction and zoomed in all the way.
but yes, im glad you like the photos (even though you didn’t say you did, but i assume things for a hobby).
Well, you assumed right for once! 😛
I wanted to go see him soooo damn bad, but I was poor and also, had no ride. It was a sad day in Broken land.
Laaaaame. Next time!
Weird Al is, in fact, awesome!
I know what you mean about Weird Al, the performer! I have seen him over a dozen times and he just keeps getting better and better!!! People who don’t understand why I have 2 Weird Al tattoos on my body have just never seen a live show! I also cannot understand how anyone can stay seated during these shows and I am really glad to hear someone else comment on that! These shows are so high energy that all I want to do is get up and dance! Al needs a pit or something in front of the stage!!! LOL
Your pictures were just great, by the way!
Christina in RI
Re: Weird Al is, in fact, awesome!
I would, in fact, like to see these tattoos. Do you have any pictures of them?
Welcome to my journal, btw, I hope you stick around!
I wanted to go to that show soooo bad. Unforunately by the time I heard about it the tickets were completely sold out.
Thanks for posting pics!
That sucks. 🙁 Especially since there were open seats around us.
Going to the POTBS event today at the aquarium?
I’ve never seen that man live. *jealous*
…which one?