"Weird Al" Yankovic concert in Raleigh was FRENETIC!

I'm writing this on Friday afternoon.  It was on Wednesday night that Kristen, Chad, Marissa and I saw "Weird Al" Yankovic and his band in concert as part of his Alpocalypse 2013 tour!  I'm still coming down from the high and I think everyone else is too (especially Marissa who was bouncing off the walls so hard during class at school yesterday that she reportedly had to be sedated with Valium).  And after seeing Al live for the seventh time I have to say: this was easily the best show I've seen him perform yet!  Weird Al and his band were positivalutely ablaze with energy and sheer fun.  They were electrified and enthused as I've never seen any performers in a live concert!  This is a man who obviously loves his work and that comes across very well.  I've also never seen an audience so "into it" as they were at this show :-)

So... wanna hear about it?  Of course ya do!!

Al stormed the stage at 8 on the dot with the "Polkaface" medley from the Alpocalypse album.  They did another number and then the stage went dark while Al and the band (John "Bermuda" Schwartz, Jim West, Ruben Valtierra, and Steven Jay) did the first of their many costume changes.  The intermittent periods are filled with various Al videos, such as his "interviews" with celebrities like Eminem and Umma Thurman, his recent "5-Second Films" series and the "Weird" trailer that FunnyOrDie.com released a few years ago.  There was even the "Dirt" documentary!

"A garage band from Seattle.
Well it sure beats raising cattle."

When the lights came up it was Al in his Kurt Cobain outfit as he and the band did "Smells Like Nirvana" from the Off the Deep End album.  Al gargled water from a red Solo cup during that part of the song then spat it upward and threw the cup into the audience.  The crowd sang along after the "...how do the words to it go" while Al feigned forgetfulness.  This song's video is one of the better ones that Al has produced and the live performance does a fabulous job conveying that same crazy spirit.

From there it was a series of many of Al's more recent works, such as "Skipper Dan", "Party at the CIA" (a parody of Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA") and "Canadian Idiot" (Al's parody of "American Idiot" by Green Day).  Al and the band were dressed in their finest secret agent finery for "Party at the CIA" and Al was perfectly resplendent in a red-and-white maple-leaf motifed jacket for "Canadian Idiot" (the climax of which saw red and white streamers violently fired into the air above the audience).  My favorite of this set was when Al did "CNR": his White Stripes style parody about Charles Nelson Reilly.  I had a picture of Reilly loaded up on my iPad and was holding it aloft and waving it as Al sang!  Alas he didn't see me but later it turned out to be a good thing that I did that (find out why later).

"You're absolutely perfect. Don't speak now you might spoil it.
Your eyes are even blue-er than the water in my toilet."

Then Al hurried back for another costume change while we were treated to more video clips and when he came out it was with a song that truly has become one of the most anticipated of his live shows: "Wanna B Ur Lover".  It's a style parody of the kind of music that Prince/The Artist Formerly Known As Prince/whatever is known for.  This song is from 2003's Poodle Hat album and when he does it live Al comes out in a Prince-esque outfit while carousing among the crowd and serenading ladies in the audience (unfortunately we were close to the front but he didn't come down our side of the auditorium... and Marissa was seated right on the aisle!  Lord only knows what that girl would have done if Al had chosen to sing that to her :-P)

I'm just gonna post a couple more pictures of Al doing "Wanna B Ur Lover" even though they can't do the live performance any true justice :-)

Is Al channeling Gene Simmons??

"Anyone ever tell you you've got Yugoslavian hands?"

"Grab yourself an egg and beat it!"

Following another costume change/video intermission (one of these was "Wheel of Fish" from Weird Al's movie UHF and of course the whole audience had to scream "STOOPID!!  YOU SO STOOPID!!" along with Kuni), Al and his band did "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies" then a medley of some of his other songs, like "Whatever You Like", "Ode to a Superhero" (Al's parody of Billy Joel's "Piano Man") and of course no "Weird Al" Yankovic concert would be complete without Al putting on the red Michael Jackson jacket and going into "Eat It"!  Hey, that's the song which not only fired his career into the outer stratosphere, it's what for many of us was the very first Weird Al song we ever heard... and we're still tuned into him almost thirty years later (but more about that in just a bit :-)

"As I walk through the valley where I harvest my grain..."

 "Eat It" wrapped up the medley then it was another costume change... and when the lights came up there was Al "looking plain" in Old Order Mennonite garb.  Of course it was time for "Amish Paradise"!  Some consider this to have been Weird Al's best music video ever (from what many already believe is his best album, Bad Hair Day from 1996) and the first several seconds of it synced up perfectly with Al's on-stage persona.  This is one of his songs that the audience really "gets into": everything from waving the hands to some people even whipping out black hats.  Who'da thought that a song about Amish would be such a hit crowd pleaser?

HE is the Lizard King!

(Who would have also thought that a live concert would feature the word "uvula" not once but twice?!  Only at a Weird Al show... :-)

Another costume change and then it was Al looking like Jim Morrison and all the rest of the band as members of The Doors for "Craigslist".  This was originally part of Al's "Internet Leaks" series from the summer of 2009 and then appeared on Alpocalypse.  It has become one of my favorite songs of his for some reason or another.  Instead of "the Coffee Bean" Al changed the lyrics so that they were about a Raleigh-area cafe.  He did that at the Charlotte concert we attended in October 2011 as well.  Gotta love when an artist goes for the local flavor like that :-)

(As an aside, I finally understand what the Indians and car wreck scenes in the "Craigslist" video are about.  Chad told me about Morrison having seen a car crash on an Indian reservation when he was very young and how it affected him.  It's not a big thing but that level of detail is something that makes Al not only entertaining but educational as well!)

Donny Osmond and Minesweeper. Only at a Weird Al concert!

Another costume change: Al in a peacock getup while various members of the band wore likewise outrageous outfits (Ruben Valtierra with a beehive on his head, Jim West wearing cheese etc.) for "Perform This Way": Al's parody of "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga.  It woulda been kinda cool if Al had wrapped his intestines around himself while being set on fire but I guess there's only so much that can be done without the CGI effects of a music video, huh?  Maybe someday he can wear raw meat and throw chunks of it at the audience!  Hey I'd fight for some of that :-)

After "Perform This Way" it was another brief intermission and several seconds later it was "White and Nerdy" time!  Al's rendition of Chamillionaire's "Ridin'" is another of Al's recent songs that became an instant classic  Al arrived on stage riding a Segway while a crazy montage of clips played on the screen behind him.  We'd forgotten about how much Donny Osmond was in the music video... and there's even MORE of him in the concert edition!!  Another song that the audience can't help but get themselves involved in :-)

Al and the band had performed a hefty number of their tunes for our pleasure, but of course they weren't going to let the evening end without "Fat": Al's parody of Michael Jackson's "Bad".  I've heard that it took Al four hours to get into makeup and costume for the music video in 1988.  The live concert version takes him something like forty seconds!  Is this guy a show-business beast or what?

Considering that it's "Fat", here's Al in an extra-wide photo...

"You know I'm FAT, I'm FAT, you know it!"

Then Al introduced the band members and thanked the audience and said "Good night Raleigh!"

But as any veteran of a Weird Al concert knows: this is NOT the end of the show...

A few minutes later Ruben came on dressed as Darth Sidious from the Star Wars movies.  He played a spooky organ interlude as a Tusken Raider, several Stormtroopers, Boba Fett, Chewbacca and Darth Vader himself (all courtesy of the 501st Legion) paraded onto the stage.  They were followed by Al and the remaining band members dressed as Jedi Knights.  And so it was that Al did "The Saga Begins": a parody of "American Pie" so spot-on that Don McLean complained that for awhile he was singing Al's song instead of his own!

There was one final song to perform.  Not just a "song", but a transcendental experience unlike any other.  You see, "Yoda" is far more than a Star Wars-inspired parody of "Lola" by the Kinks.  It is several minutes' worth of communion with the inner geek we all share.  The culmination of which is the very, very strange, wildly surreal and unbelievably coordinated "Yoda Chat" that Al and his band go into.  How it began and how the guys practice it will likely always be a total mystery but the Alpocalypse 2013 version is certainly the longest Yoda Chant they have done in all my years of attending Weird Al concerts!

 Then Al and the band said their final goodbyes to the audience and we all got up from our seats happy and content and totally, totally exhilirated from an evening of pure undiluted WEIRDNESS.  And a few seconds later we got a surprise: our friend Eric and his two sons were in the audience behind us!  They had come all the way from Charlotte for the show and he'd wondered if he would see us there.  Turns out that my waving around Charles Nelson Reilly's pic on my iPad during "CNR" was spotted by Eric and he knew where to find us after that.  Gotta love how things turn out like that :-)

But of course, we were NOT going to go home without attempting to meet Weird Al.  Fortunately there was a small line waiting at his tour bus and he graciously spent several minutes greeting his fans and signing autographs!  He signed my copies of When I Grow Up and Weird Al: The Book (Kristen got that for me for Christmas).  Then he let us get photos with him.  Here is life-long best friend Chad and I with Al.  This really meant a lot to me, since Chad is the one who first introduced me to Weird Al's music all the way back in March of 1984!  This was his first Al concert.  Somehow, it seems like there's a sense of completion at long last...

Me, Weird Al, Chad

Is Weird Al putting the moves on MY girlfriend?!?

And there is Weird Al, Kristen and me.  We even got to tell Al about how his music was one of the things that we had in common with each other when we first met and how it has become one of the bigger parts of our relationship!  He seemed rather fond and appreciative of that :-)  Before the show we met a couple and the lady was extremely pregnant.  I told her that my girlfriend thought she looked so beautiful the way she was cradling her unborn child and how wonderful they were to be introducing the kid to Weird Al music already!  Lord willing, that will be Kristen someday and if they coincide we will CERTAINLY take him/her to an Al concert before the decanting takes place!

So the four of us and Eric and his two boys all got to meet Al and tell him and the band that it was a terrific show.  One that if you can, you really should try to see sometime during this tour!  It really was the best and craziest and funniest that I've ever seen Weird Al do in live performance.  It was also the best audience that I'd ever witnessed for an Al show.  Like Kristen and I were discussing yesterday afternoon: this world would have been far less interesting and much poorer if it weren't for "Weird Al" Yankovic running loose in it :-)

Mash here for the official WeirdAl.com website and see if he's coming to a town near you!  Buy tickets and then use them!  You won't regret it :-)

(Thanks to Kristen for taking so many awesome photos of the show!)

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A night of John Williams music with the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra and Michael Krajewski

It all started several weeks ago when Eric Wilson asked if I knew of any concerts featuring the music of John Williams: the composer of music for the Star Wars movies, the Indiana Jones trilogy (soon to be quadrilogy), Jaws, some of the Harry Potter films and too many other things to mention. I told him that I knew Williams sometimes conducted concerts featuring his work but I didn't know of any around here off the top of my head. I did attend a concert of Star Wars music performed by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra at Star Wars Celebration II and I told Eric that it was quite a treat, especially when they played "Duel of the Fates".

As it turned out, Eric was madly doing a Google search for such a concert. And he found one! And lo and behold, there was one scheduled for May 10th!

So long story short, two nights ago Lisa and I, along with Chad Austin and his girlfriend Koren, hooked up with Eric and his wife Kira and their two sons Jake and Ben for dinner at the Red Robin near the new Target store off New Garden Road in Greensboro. And then we headed off to Westover Church to enjoy "The Music of John Williams" performed by the the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Michael Krajewski.

The concert began at 8 p.m. Greensboro Symphony CEO Lisa Crawford took to the stage and welcomed everyone and thanked those who worked to make this concert possible, and she especially made mention of "the 501st Legion" which probably didn't register with a lot of folks in attendance...

Mr. Krajewski noted that 2008 is an Olympic year so it was fitting that the concert started off with the "Olympic Fanfare and Theme", which Williams composed for the 1984 Summer Olympics (and which has subsequently been used for every television broadcast of the Olympics). This was followed with the overture for 1972's The Cowboys (one of John Wayne's later films). And already, we were thrilling to hearing John Williams' music performed by such an amazing orchestra... and a terrific conductor! We all agreed afterward that Michael Krajewski not only did a beautiful job in conducting the concert but he brought a lot of wit and humor to the show as well.

After the music from The Cowboys, Krajewski remarked that the next John Williams piece became world famous for only two notes from it, and how since he lived not far from the beach that every time he came near the water he - along with everyone else who has seen the movie - hears those two notes in his head and thinks of sharks. So it was that the orchestra began playing the theme from Jaws, and for emphasis the two giant screens in Westover's sanctuary were displaying that still from the movie where the shark breaks the surface as Brody is tossing chum into the water.

Following the "Theme from Jaws", Mr. Krajewski discussed the history and importance of music in motion pictures, beginning with the live piano that was often played during silent movies. He also related the anecdote about Hugo Friedhofer, the composer for Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat, who was told during production that there would be no need for his music after all because "where would the music be coming from in the middle of the ocean?" Friedhofer told the producer to go ask Hitchcock about "where would the cameras be coming from then?"

The next piece of the evening is one that Krajewski noted is the one that Williams has regarded as his single favorite bit of composition from his long career: the "Flying Theme" from E.T. the Extra-terrestrial. And you know how you gauge how well an orchestra is playing? It's if they succeed in making your eyes well up with tears. Folks, I have to declare that this indeed happened to me during the E.T. music: that particular score has always been very moving for me to hear, and to enjoy it in a live performance was especially overwhelming.

Krajewski then addressed the audience again, and said that there was something he never understood about when George Reeves played Superman on television: it wasn't just the fact that bullets bounced off of him but then he ducked whenever the bad guys threw their empty guns at Superman (I never thought of that before). It was also that nobody - not even Lois Lane "who's supposed to be this ace reporter" Krajewski noted - ever figures out that Clark Kent and Superman are the same person! "I tried this with my wife once," Krajewski told us, and said he tried putting glasses on and passing as a whole different person but "it didn't work".

And with that, the orchestra began playing the "Love Theme" from 1978's Superman. Can you believe it's now been almost 30 years since that movie came out? The screens then showed the Superman-garbed Christopher Reeve, who really did make us believe that a man can fly. This is another piece that I've always enjoyed over the years, and was thrilled that it was included on the program.

Fast-forward twenty-three years, and we came to the next bit of John Williams music: "Hedwig's Theme" from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. A terrific performance in its own right. But then an actress dressed as Hermione Granger casually walked on stage as the music played, before getting chased through the sanctuary by Dolores Umbridge and Argus Filch! A very neat touch, and that was only the beginning...

Now the concert shifted gears dramatically, and the strings section got a chance to shine with what there is little doubt is the most haunting music that John Williams ever composed: the theme from Schindler's List. Mr. Krajewski remarked that this was not only a film that many people doubted Spielberg could pull off (because he was famous for considerably lighter fare about aliens and dinosaurs) but there was also wonder about what Williams would do with such a powerful film also. It didn't get mentioned during the show, but I've heard Williams say in an interview that Schindler's List was the hardest film he ever scored and also the one that moved him the most to work on.

Now, this one, "Theme from Schindler's List", it breaks me hard every time. And you wanna know why? I'm not gonna share the details here 'cuz that's not the point of this post, but at least twice in my life I've encountered Schindler's legacy... including meeting (long before the movie ever came out) one of the Schindlerjuden. And yes, I know that there were some historical liberties taken with the film Schindler's List. But so far as conveying the tragedy of the Holocaust, I still know of no other film that has ever come close. And the score by John Williams, with its Eastern Europe style that is both mournful and brimming with hope... has there ever been a film score so profoundly moving? I honestly don't know if there has been. This is at once John Williams' finest and most definitive piece, and also the one beyond all reckoning with anything else from his repertoire. Just as Schindler's List stands far apart from anything else of modern filmmaking, so too does its musical score. And I don't know if that's ever been said nearly enough. Mr. Krajewski and the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra got extra-hard and well-deserved applause for their performance of this piece.

Then the tone of the show tilted wildly. Eric and I could hardly believe this next one, 'cuz just a few hours earlier he was telling us how he always loved Spielberg's movie 1941: a film that I've always thought has been horribly misunderstood. Well, the next piece of the evening was "March from 1941"! Me and Eric could hardly contain our giggling at getting to hear this performed live. Incidentally, Krajewski told us that in spite of how poorly 1941 fared in contrast to his other films, that Spielberg regards this as his favorite Williams-composed march. As the orchestra played the screen filled with the image of "Wild Bill" Kelso chomping on a cigar. Think about that: John Belushi's huge mug glowering down from the front of a church sanctuary. Definitely a sight that will be forever etched in my gray matter...

Then came the intermission. We took the time to stand up and stretch, and we talked about how good a show it had been already. About ten minutes later the lights dimmed again. Mr. Krajewski took to the podium and without warning, the orchestra launched into the "Raiders March" from Raiders of the Lost Ark! Not long after they started playing, none other than Indiana Jones - complete with bullwhip - crept his way onto the stage and among the musicians. It wasn't long before he hefted aloft the famous golden idol from the South American temple at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Everyone cheered! And I was seriously expecting to witness some half-naked Hovitos chase Indy across the stage. That didn't happen and I didn't see any snakes, either :-) After the piece finished, Krajewski reminded us that a new Indiana Jones movie was about to come out: "I think it's going to be called Indiana Jones and the Search for Medicare", he joked.

The next bit of music is one that most people have never heard of in its entirety but everyone has listened to part of at least once: the theme music for NBC Nightly News. It's actually called "The Mission" and Williams it turns out has always appreciated having it enjoyed in its entirety. It's a very good piece in the classic John Williams style, and maybe someday there will be a broadcast of NBC Nightly News that features this entire score and not so much bad news: an event that John Williams has said would be "a good news day".

Then came the part of the evening that I think it's safe to say was the highlight of the evening: the music that Williams has composed for the Star Wars movies. Krajewski informed everyone that across the span of six movies and almost thirty years, Williams wrote more than 14 hours of original music for George Lucas' epic space opera: "So I hope you went to the restroom during intermission," Krajewski quipped. He then said that in addition to six movies that there might be a seventh Star Wars movie coming out called "The Sith Hits the Fan". Some mild groaning at that one, heh-heh... :-)

The "Main Theme" from ever Star Wars movie was the first bit of saga music to be performed, followed by "The Flag Parade" From Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. "Anakin's Theme" came next, and then the piece that Eric said weeks ago he was most giddy about hearing performed live: "Duel of the Fates". Even without a choral accompaniment, it's plenty powerful. During "Duel of the Fates" an actress in Princess Leia's outfit from Episode IV: A New Hope - complete with hair buns - made an escape across the stage from fully-armored Imperial Stormtroopers, who then engaged in a blaster fight with Rebel soldiers. This was the first appearance by the 501st Legion during the show and judging from the reaction, it was a huge crowd pleaser.

Then came "Imperial March". The Stormtroopers returned to the stage. And then none other than the Dark Lord of the Sith himself, Darth Vader, angrily strode across the stage, stood on the conductor's platform and stared down Michael Krajewski. Vader personally conducted the final strains of "Imperial March". And it must be said: Darth Vader is not only dangerous with a lightsaber, he's pretty adept at conducting an orchestra too!

When Krajewski finally regained his position (because nobody is going to dispute when Darth Vader wants something) he led the orchestra with "Yoda's Theme" from Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and finished the Star Wars portion of the program with "Throne Room" from A New Hope. As "Throne Room" was winding down, a wild assortment of Stormtroopers, Jedi, generic Mandalore Supercommandos, TIE Pilots, Royal Guards, and Imperial Officers arrived for the finale...

But that still was not the end of the show! After Mr. Krajewski had taken a bow, he left and just as quickly returned, and in an encore led the orchestra in a performance of the "Theme from Superman". During the main chords of it a guy in a Superman costume leaped from the stage, ran to the back of the sanctuary and returned with a "damsel in distress" in his arms.

I'd say that between the musical talent of the Greensboro Symphony, the conducting skill and good banter of Michael Krajewski, and the theatrics by the 501st and everyone else, this turned out to be quite a show. I told Lisa on our way home that it was by far one of the best evenings that I'd enjoyed in quite a long time.

'Course, having good friends to share it with certainly went a long way, too! Here we all are after the concert (in front of what Chad and I realized after this pic was taken is the baptistery of Westover Church)...

(left to right: Eric, Jake, Koren, Chad, Ben, Kira, Lisa, me)

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We saw TRANSFORMERS in glorious IMAX at the Exploris!

Yesterday was the premiere of Transformers in the IMAX format. The allure of watching the Autobots and Decepticons hash it out on what I call "the big-a$$ screen" was too much to pass up, so on Tuesday Lisa and I ordered our tickets for last night's 7 p.m. show at the IMAX Theater at Exploris in downtown Raleigh.

But this really is the kind of thing best shared with friends too. So Chad Austin also got him a ticket and we got in touch with Eric Wilson, a really good friend of ours who I hadn't seen in like 15 years. He drove a few hours to Raleigh and we all hooked up at Chad's place about 5 minutes from the Exploris. After a quick bite at the Armadillo Grill, we headed over to the theater.

The best part of going to see Transformers last night, without a doubt, was getting to see Eric's reaction to watching an IMAX movie for the first time in his life. The moment we entered the theater his eyes got as big as saucers when he saw that mammoth screen: it's been a way long time since I've seen utter astonishment like that. And then before a movie starts there's this little presentation that shows off the Exploris IMAX's capabilities, including the 12,000 watts of speakers. As Eric put it, "It's like being at a KISS concert!" I found myself turning to look at Eric quite a bit during the movie and there wasn't a time that he didn't look blown-away by the spectacle of it all. It almost seemed too much, for all of us: Chad said something about how overwhelming the screen was with all that action going on.

Transformers is the kind of movie that screams for the IMAX treatment. It's big, bright and loud! Easily the most 'splosive-sounding IMAX movie that I've ever heard. From the opening scene where we watch the Allspark majestically float through space as Optimus narrates over it, you know this is going to be a massive thing for both eyes and ears to behold. And then a few minutes later we see Blackout's attack on the Air Force base in Qatar and it's never looked so good: the IMAX image is so huge, you see every nuance of Blackout's movement as he works his way across the grounds of the base. That's one of the best things about the IMAX release, we all agreed: you really can make out details better than you can in the regular release.

Everything else in the movie is as magnificent as you can imagine Transformers in IMAX to be: the ground-pounding counter-attack on Scorponok, the "Autobots descent" (maybe the best scene in any movie all summer), and the final battle that goes from Hoover Dam to Mission City. How awesome is Transformers with IMAX-sized sound? Well the entire theater literally vibrated when Megatron awoke and declares "I am... Megatron!"

If you're a fan of Transformers you've probably heard that the IMAX release contains about 2 minutes of extra footage. That's true but none of it involves new material of the Transformers themselves (unless you count the scene where Sam is driving Bumblebee and he picks up his friend Miles just before the lake scene). All of the new footage focus on the humans, but I still enjoyed them. The best of the new stuff is a quick scene where Lennox is trying to persuade the gun-totin' owner of a pawn shop to give him some short-wave radios. A lot of the new material relates to Sector Seven and its long history, like how every President since Hoover - and Simmons names them all usually with their nicknames - has come to look at Megatron. Come to think of it, there's like six new scenes and Simmons is in three of those: curious, that.

Here's Eric, Chad, myself and Lisa (hey, all four of us are bloggers!) with the Transformers stand-up in the lobby of the IMAX Theater at Exploris:

After the show we went to Krispey Kreme for donuts. That's probably going to be worth noting in the months to come as a pretty fun project was conceived in the course of consuming the sweets. So I just wanted to put a marker here for when this thing kind of kicked-off. There'll be more to talk about that come January or so.

So we had a blast last night! And Transformers was definitely worth the drive to watch in IMAX. If there is an IMAX screen fairly close by, by all means do what you can to catch it while it's running: there's no better way to wind down the theatrical run of such a great movie than to see it like this! :-)

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