Hi, this is Joe Talentino with I Know Jax,
and here’s another I Know Jax daily video.
Today, we’re going to talk about one of
my all time heroes.
Weird Al Yankovic.
He’s been in showbiz forever, and has been
popular for a long time.
“Like a Surgeon”, “Eat It”, “Smells
Like Nirvana” are some of the classics,
I also remember his movie UHF.
Weird Al is visiting Jacksonville this week.
Like me, he has a common first name, Al is
not anymore special than Joe.
And both of us have strange, foreign last
names.
The similarities don’t stop there.
As a young kid in school Al learned how to
play the accordion, while I started with the
harp.
Don’t ask, that’s a story for another
day.
I quickly gave up the harp, but Al stayed
with the accordion.
He played in coffee houses where they had
amateur nights.
That scene was dominated by mellow Dan Fogelberg
wanna bees.
When Al took the stage he did the theme from
2001 - on the accordion.
That was his early start.
Then came comedy.
Remember the song “My Sharona” by the
Knack, that was Al’s first recording.
“My Bologna”.
Then came “Another One Rides The Bus”.
And Al was still playing the accordion.
His success made him leave his academic career
in architecture, pack up the accordion, get
a band and get into comedic music full time.
Smart move, he’s obviously a smart guy.
I’m not saying we have that in common, I’m
not that smart, but our paths did cross in
a strange way back when I lived in Hollywood
California.
This was when Weird Al still wore glasses
and had lots of curly long hair.
Yep, we were look alikes back in the day.
I was at a backstage party and two girls from
Minnesota were convinced I was Weird Al Yankovic.
I did have the same glasses, and long, curly
hair too.
Don’t laugh, it was the era of big hair
rock bands!
I told the Minnesota girls I wasn’t Weird
Al, I was Joe, but they didn’t believe me.
My friends helped out and told them I was
just trying to be incognito at the party.
The two girls were thrilled to meet a star
in Hollywood, I didn’t have the heart to
try to convince them otherwise.
I think I even signed an autograph on a napkin.
I know, awful.
Luckily for me, or for Weird Al, he got lasik
surgery and changed his looks, so we don’t
look anything alike anymore.
Weird Al Yankovic is performing at the Florida
Theatre with the Mandatory Fun Tour on August
16th at the Florida Theatre.
I would hope showing up at the backstage party
this time wouldn’t lead to the same confusion!
That’s it for today’s video, I’ll be
back with another daily video tomorrow.
