The Fame Monster

I'd like to tell you about how I was whisked away in Lady Gaga's tour bus on Sunday night and only just regained consciousness this morning, glitter still stuck to my eyelashes...but that didn't actually happen. I just fell into a work hole - better known as getting-distracted-right-when-you-might-be-forming-a-good-habit.

Turns out Gaga might not be so fun to hang out with anyway based on this whole Weird Al fiasco. Did you see his blog post on his "Born This Way" parody? Please read it. I've mentioned before that I have a special place in my heart for Weird Al, but doesn't his telling of the tale just reconfirm what a decent and nice guy he is? Seriously. He's just an artist trying to make his art. (Art that has withstood the test of nearly three decades, I might add.)

I like Lady Gaga. I planned to buy her new album, but this is just bullshit. Anyone who can't accept Weird Al parodying their song as the ultimate compliment doesn't deserve the honor. Add in the fact that he planned to donate all the proceeds to the Human Rights Campaign and it's just a disgusting ego trip on her part.

I might be irrationally upset about this, but I just can't abide anybody screwing over the beloved Weird Al. Especially not someone who has risen to stardom by being a completely over-the-top media whore.

Anyway, please enjoy what could have been his new hit song:



UPDATE: In case you haven't heard, the whole fiasco has been resolved! Oh, internet, you are so magical. So happy to know that it was a misunderstanding and kudos to Weird Al for not being nearly as bitter as the rest of us...

The Circle of Weird

When I reminisce about my first concert, I like to say that it was Alice in Chains, playing at First Avenue on my very first day of high school. After all, that was what I consider my first "real" concert, which is to say that it was a real band, in a real club, without a parental figure present.

But really, I could say that it was New Kids on the Block, who I saw (for the first time) when I was 12 at Target Center. My mom didn't actually enter the arena, but she did wait in the parent area for me and my BFF to return, hoarse from having screamed at the top of our lungs through every song.

Or, I suppose it would be cooler to reference the time (also in middle school), when I saw Bob Dylan play at the Minnesota State Fair with my mom and the guys in front of us smoked a joint, which I wouldn't have known, except my mom felt the need to point it out as both an educational moment and a warning, I guess.

But really...really, really...my first concert memory is of going to Valley Fair with my friend Jackie and her mom when I was seven years old to see Weird Al Yankovic. I remember it was late and we fell asleep, but Jackie's mom woke us up in time to hear the only song of his we probably knew at the time: "Eat It." We talked about that for weeks (or decades, as it turns out).

So how crazy is it that tomorrow I am bringing things full circle by taking my boys to see Weird Al, too?! (and did you know that Weird Al is 51?)

Honestly, once I got over my childhood fascination, I hadn't thought much about Weird Al, but then just the other week Owen mentioned hearing Chamillionaire's "Riding Dirty" (did I mention they discovered the radio?) and informed me that it was "trying to be like 'White and Nerdy'." And then, as fate would have it, I found out Weird Al was coming to the State Fair. And so it goes.

I have to say that I'm kind of excited to see what they think, even though, just as I once only wanted to hear "Eat It," they are mostly just waiting for "White and Nerdy." And it will be late, so they might fall asleep, but I'll be sure to wake them up for it.