Weird Al Yankovic
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| Name: | "Weird" Al Yankovic |
| Also Known As: | Weird Al |
| Occupation: | musician |
| Medium: | music |
| Works: | parody songs and music videos |
| Official Website(s): | http://www.weirdal.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22Weird_Al%22_Yankovic |
| Fan Website(s): | Al-oholics Anonymous
|
| On Fanlore: | Related pages |
Weird Al writes songs and creates music videos that are often either about fannish subjects (such as "Yoda") or about life experiences that may be relevant to some fans (such as "White and Nerdy"[1] or "Don't Download This Song"[2]).
Newcomers to the world of Filk might be familiar with some of Weird Al's works and be able to relate that way.
Weird Al does not participate in the community of fan convention filk culture, so he is not considered a filker by all, despite the subjects of many of his songs. He also produces and distributes his music through major record labels, which is also uncommon for filk.
A major transformative work based off of Weird Al's "White and Nerdy" is Talitha78's vid of Psych: [1]
Fan Works
Newsletters
Fandom Spaces
Conventions
Alcon 98: Alcon 98 was the first ever weird Al convention! It was set up and run entirely by fans who had met on a yahoo group online, and it was a MAJOR success. Activities at Alcon included a Look-AL-like contest, a lip sync contest, and a general costume contest. Some of Al’s old shirts were auctioned off for charity, and fans set up booths to sell handmade merch and rare collectibles. The guest of honor was Bermuda (Al’s drummer), but he brought Al along too (unbeknownst to the con organizers)! The con went on to have two more iterations (ALCON 2000 and ALCON III) before dying off, unfortunately. If you want to learn more, Dysequilibrium has made a really good documentary about it![3]
Forums/Websites
The WOWAY forums: the World of Weird Al Yankovic forums (WOWAY for short) is a general forum for weird Al fans that’s been running for well over 20 years now. While it’s pretty dead nowadays, it’s still up and you can still read all the discussions! Everyone from fans to Al’s band (Bermuda especially) to Al’s college buddies have shown up on the forums, and reading through them can be a really fun experience.[4]
We Got It All On UHF: This website is probably the last remaining “active” Weird Al fansite from back in the day. It’s run by one of the WOWAY mods, Dave Rossi (who also uses the screen name Elvis). Dave is undoubtedly the biggest big name weird Al fan. He has tattoos of all the band members, a GIANT collection of Weird Al tchotchkes and oddities, and co-hosts a Weird Al podcast, one that’s had weird Al on several times. He’s been on TV with Al, as well.[5]
Resource
References
- ^ "White & Nerdy" parodies nerd culture and lifestyle, including the POV character excitedly obtaining a copy of the Star Wars Holiday Special. Viewable here on YouTube ( accessed 27 Nov 2011)
- ^ "Don't Download This Song" parodies the stance of the RIAA and certain artists on filesharing and downloading songs. Viewable here on YouTube ( accessed 27 Nov 2011)
- ^ Weird Al fandom history tidbits for new(er) fans:, Archived version
- ^ Weird Al fandom history tidbits for new(er) fans:, Archived version
- ^ Weird Al fandom history tidbits for new(er) fans:, Archived version