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Weird Al's
Stupid Club* -
Weird Al's Stupid Group** An Experiment in Artificial Stupidity--We also feature GENUINE Stupididdy *The Original and still the WORST! **New and Improved! Now with more downy softness! |
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Cartunedude at King’s Island Concert
Drums are BAD.
| Well, as promised, here's the account of what
happened exactly one year ago today (ahh, the memories...) Message 15939 of 15979 5/29/01 5:52 pm Al at King's Island 5-29-00After the Columbus concert, "the gang" and I decided to go to at least one more concert. As we kept a watchful eye on WA.com, we noticed a lot happening in May: AlCon 2000, the Cleveland concert, and the King's Island concert. It was a tough decision, as I'd never been to an AlCon, and now I could take my "newly converted Al fans" with me. But, we could only do that or a concert. Given the choice, a concert seemed more logical. But... which one? My aunt said the KI concert would be more convenient, since it fell ON Memorial Day, and we all had that day off. Plus, it's at an amusement park, and that would be a "fun" idea. So, KI it was... My aunt phoned in the day tickets went on sale, and netted us third row seats yet again! (We had 3rd row seats at the Columbus show) That must be our "27"... So, the big day was upon us. I brought some Al CDs of mine that the rest of the bunch doesn't have, and we listened to them all the way down to KI. As we drove down "the long and winding interstate," we tried to spot the tour bus. But, no such luck. We also tried looking for it upon arrival at KI. Again, no sign. And now for a day at the park... That day, I actually rode some rides, which is highly unusal, as I HARDLY EVER go to amusement parks! I did actually enjoy it, though. We all kinda scattered about the park (my aunt and uncle went their way, while my cousin and I went ours), but would meet up periodically. We went on a variety of rides, but the most fun and notable ride was this log ride that my cousin and I rode 3 times!! The first time around, I lost my hat! But, the ride was so fun, we just HAD to go on again, and the second time, we noticed a boat marked #27. We didn't get in this time around, but I did get my hat back after this ride. We got back in line for a third time, and my cousin decided we should let a few people ahead of us, that way maybe we'd get the boat. Fortunately, kid genius let the right amount of people ahead of us, and we got to sit in the coveted boat! He exclaimed that if we got to sit in boat #27, we'd meet Al! We really enjoyed the last go around, especially since we got to ride the coveted #27! After that, we went over to (what we thought was) another log ride that we saw from a train ride (that goes around the whole park). Turns out the line we were in was the line for a white water rafting ride! Unfortunately, we didn't find out until we reached the end of the line, and couldn't turn back at that point. So, we went on it, and got completely DRENCHED. In fact my hat didn't dry until the next day, and that was after it was put in the dryer. Throughout the day, we saw some fellow Al fans who said "Weird Al! Yeah!" after seeing the Pentiums shirt I was wearing. I saw one guy who had a big piece of cardboard over his shirt that said something to the effect of "Weird Al rules!" (with a little handheld sign to match). Later on, we met up for dinner, and had about an hour before show time. After we ate, my uncle and I spotted Jim with two friends of his. My uncle said "Hey, Jim!" but apparently he didn't hear, and my uncle didn't want to call too much attention, so he didn't say anything further. Message 15940 of 15979 King's Island, part 2 5/29/01 5:57 pm After dinner, my aunt went to the car to get the "famous" plastic red scissors, and our Hawaiian shirts (actually, my uncle and I were the only ones wearing Hawaiian shirts; my cousin wore a silver shirt [which he calls the "Disco ball/Pentiums" shirt], and my aunt wore "Hawaiian shoes" [canvas tie-shoes with a hawaiian print]). We went over to the concert area, and the scissors caught some attention. I overheard people muttering "Oh, look! Scissors for touring with scissors!" and stuff like that. The opening act came on, and did about 6 songs. I was actually quite surprised that it was a "serious" opening act, and not a comedic act... 27 minutes later, "Fun Zone" started playing. Everyone was dancing to it. After that, they skipped the usual video montage, and went right in to "Gump" . Al comes out almost RUNNING. As he starts singing "Gump", we couldn't even hear him! Apparently, his mic wasn't on or something. This wasn't fixed until about the second verse. Al appeared not to notice, as he kept right on going. This was really the only "major catastrophe" that night (Well, aside from almost falling off the stage during Pentiums...) This show, like many other outdoor-type shows, was cut short; only about an hour and a half. Cut from this show were Eddie Vedder, OMM, Bedrock Anthem, and LAS. Al did a lot more audience interaction this time around. During "Dare to be Stupid", while saying "I can't hear you" he walked over to the edge of the stage, and said "I'm talkin' to you, lady!" So, that was kinda cool. Also, as I mentioned earlier, during Pentiums, he walked over to the edge of the stage and sat down. He rested one leg on a speaker, which started wobbling, but luckily, he caught himself in time to climb back on stage (I have a picture of him just before he almost fell). This time, they did the FULL medley! This was the first concert I've been to on this tour that they've performed the FULL medley. The audience seemed to really dig "Fast Food" and "Free Delivery" (which got QUITE an applause...). During Smells Like Nirvana, Nobody received the cup. It hit the fence between the stage and first row. My aunt said that after Yoda, she yelled "HI AL!" and he waved back! Unfortunately, I missed it. OK, the show's over now, but alas, our story is not... Message 15944 of 15980 (Wow! my first three-parter! This is unbelievable...) After the show, my uncle says "I'm gonna give you guys an early birthday present". Then, much to our surprise, he whips out 4 backstage passes! My cousin and I were in a total state of shock! How they pulled this off, AND kept it a secret the whole time STILL baffles me. While gearing up to go backstage, we had a chance to chat a bit with the two people Jim was with earlier that day. They said they have been friends with Jim for years. They asked where we got our cool scissors. My aunt then told them where she got them (coincidentally, that store is no longer in business). As a kind gesture, My cousin offered one of them his scissors. As we head backstage, we proudly display our new passes. The first person we see as we head back is none other than Jim West. We all walked up, gave a formal introduction, and my aunt told him that she was the one who made all those gift baskets. Jim says, "That was you? That was a nice basket you made." He then said for us to meet him over in the main backstage area. Over there, we got a picture in, and my aunt had him autograph her copy of "Coconut Hat." After talking to Jim, we walked over to Steve Jay. We got a few pictures with him, as well as an autograph on my aunt's copy of "Tangled Strings." She talked to him quite a bit. He said he really liked the gift basket, and told us that his wife was going to be in the Columbus Arts Fest (the following weekend). He told us to look her up, and we did just that a few days later... We tried to catch Bermuda, but he was just getting on the bus by the time we got around to him. We never did see Rubén, who remains the only band member we haven't met. Now it was time to see the main man. We tried to stay at the end of the line, so that we'd have more time to talk and stuff. During that time, we also thought of what we'd say when the big moment came. As the line moved up, we were now second in line. My cousin stepped out of the line for a second. Al then saw him, waved said "Hey!" then looked over at us, and said "hey hey hey". That was kinda cool. As the big moment came, it was decided that my aunt go first. As she walked over, Al stands up and hugs her. She said "I only have one thing for you to sign". He replied "What's that?" She then placed her foot on the table, and said "My shoe!" He then replied "Nice shoes!" We took two pictures of this. My cousin was up next. He had Al sign his ticket and pass, then got a picture in. I was up next. I actually SAID a few things this time around. I said "I've been a fan since the Alapalooza days...You're my absolute favorite musician," to which he replied, "Thank you." I then said, "Meeting you last summer was the high point of my life!" to which he chuckled. He autographed the enlarged picture of us in Toledo (a Christmas present from my aunt, God love her), and the Goldmine issue featuring him. Then I asked for a quick picture. After the picture, we shook hands, and I said "You're cool!" To which he laughed. Next was my uncle. When he first walked up, he said "I love you, man!" :\ He then proceeded by saying something like he's glad (my cousin) is into (Al's) music, and not "that other crap." He got a picture in, then we all decided to leave, and not overstay our welcome. Well, that's really about it. This ended up being our last TWS concert. While I wish we could've seen another concert, at least this one ended on a positive note. Man, I can't wait until the next tour...
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The Nadir and the Zenith of Stupid. Stupid
is as Stupid does. Quasar Stupid! Copyright 2001 Betsy Manning. Copyrights for contributions revert to the
authors.
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