HOORAY FOR THE JOY-GIVERS! We always need more smiles, music and laughter. This fun series salutes those seriously unsolemn people, places and things that bring joy to the world. Starting during the pandemic, an oft joy-challenged time, readers are introduced to present-day joy-givers and reminded of cherished joy-givers of the past. Each salute will have online links to add more opportunities for happiness in the comfort of your socially-distanced home. Many installments of the series will include a salutary food or drink recipe to add another element of pleasure.
The “SHIELD THE JOYOUS” shields, which will be given to those honored or to their family, are inspired from a passage in “The Book of Common Prayer” (1662). Prayers are lifted to “tend the sick, give rest to the weary, bless the dying…and shield the joyous.” Joy-givers are precious. Let us preserve them, protect them, treasure them, smile with them, laugh with them, tap our toes with them and give them A ROUND OF APPLAUSE.
PLEASE GIVE A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC
Alfred “Weird Al” Matthew Yankovic was born and raised in California, which is no surprise. Some comedian once said, “America is like a rug and a giant lifted up the East Coast and all the nuts rolled to California.” I’m writing this from Alabama, and we have a few nuts of our own, but truly California has us beat. “Weird Al” is a proud nut and determined to take his joy-giving nuttiness constantly to new heights.
“Weird Al” played accordion as a teenager- no surprise there either- we are just lucky it wasn’t the bagpipes. Just imagine “Eat It,” his hit parody of Michael Jackson’s song, “Beat It,” played with bagpipes like a sackful of silly, honking ducks.
“Weird Al” Yankovic is a singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, satirist, actor, music video director and author. He has recorded 150 joy-giving music parodies and comedy songs, played 1,000-plus LIVE concerts, internationally, and won five Grammys and racked up 11 nominations. He’s sold more than 13 million records- more than any recording comedy star- with some of those going platinum.
Here’s are some favorite “Weird Al” songs for your weird-but-fun listening pleasure:
- “MY BOLOGNA”— which is a parody of The Knacks’ “My Sharona” that then-student disc jockey Al recorded in a men’s room at Cal Poly- the only space available to him
- “ANOTHER ONE RIDES THE BUS”— Perfect for your elementary school-age kids too young to watch Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” highlighted in the bio-film “Bohemian Rhapsody.” It’s “Weird Al” playing his squeeze box and getting squeezed as more and more riders get on the bus—every 6 year old needs this silliness.
- “RICKY”— is “Weird Al” spoofing Ricky Ricardo with an outrageous Cuban accent and singing his words to the theme music of “I Love Lucy.” The actress playing “Lucy” steals the show.
- “I LOVE ROCKY ROAD”— is an ode to the ice cream flavor sung to the music of “I Love Rock and Roll,” which most of us connect to Joan Jett, but it was first recorded by The Arrows in 1975.
- “LIKE A SURGEON”— Seems readymade by Madonna for “Weird Al” to parody her “Like a Virgin” mega-hit; “Weird Al’s” version is on his aptly named album, “Dare to Be Stupid”
- “I WANT A NEW DUCK”— is the quacktastic parody of Huey Lewis and The News’ “I Want A New Drug.”
- “YODA”— If you are a “Star Wars” fan, and I’m told there are several, you’ll dig this take-off of The Kinks’ classic, “Lola;” Y-O-D-A, yo-ho-duh.
- “LASAGNA”—“Weird Al,” a vegetarian who doesn’t smoke or drink, has lots of hits about food; this one is an earworm of Richie Valen’s, tasty, 1950s, Mexican song, “La Bamba,” which was remade by Los Lobos in 1987. The next time you’re zapping some Italian dish in self-quarantine, just try a bit of “La-la-la-laa-lasagna” and then try getting it out of your ear.
- “WORD CRIMES”— This is fur minutes of witty grammar-shaming by “Weird Al,” a self-professed grammar nerd; he’s possibly more of a “word Nazi” than my delightful, DELIGHTFUL and relentless editor, Wendy Sack—writers and editors across the globe have forwarded the music vid to friends, family and bedraggled clients.
FREE YOUTUBE ROUND-UP OF “WEIRD AL” FUN: “Trapped in the Drive-Thru” perfect for the pandemic and no dine-in (11 minutes); “Polka Face,” on this “Weird Al” plays accordion which he has since high school. Did I mention he’s been weird for six decades? Last week he celebrated his 61st birthday, (5 minutes); “Weird Al Goes Beyond Insanity while Eating Spicy Wings” (23 minutes); it’s like dining at home with your craziest fun uncle.
WEIRD-BUT-SOME PEOPLE-PLEASING FOOD COMBINATIONS TO SALUTE “WEIRD AL”—I usually share a recipe honoring the “joy-giver,” but “Weird Al” deserves this smorgasbord of weird, some think delicious, concoctions:
–MACARONI AND CHEESE + KETCHUP— Yeah, I know, gag a maggot, but here in the South where mac-and-cheese shows up on café menus as a veggie, I’ve seen people I used to respect make this atrocity and seem to enjoy it.
–CHUNK CHEESE + PEANUT BUTTER— Yes, just writing this made my stomach cramp.
–COLD MEATBALLS + CHOCOLATE SAUCE— I’m guessing this was invented by some stoner under the influence.
–HOT DOG + JELLY + FRUIT LOOPS CEREAL— This comes by way of Whacked Out Weiner, the hot dog people who deserve their own “joy-giver” ROUND OF APPLAUSE.
–HAAGEN DAS VANILLA ICE CREAM + SOY SAUCE— Three words: “Crazy Rich Asians”
–PIZZA + NUTELLA—This weirdness came from Reader’s Digest and wasn’t in its “Laughter is the Best Medicine” section; I would eat yummy Nutella on my hat, but with this in mind, maybe eat the pizza and then shovel in the Nutella, separately.
Please give A ROUND OF APPLAUSE for “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC, “The Best-Selling Comedy Recording Star of ALL TIME!”
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