Weird Al Yankovic's Blog
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The Essential Me
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Internet Leaks!
One week from today (Tuesday, August 25), my 5-track digital EP “Internet Leaks” will be officially released. It’ll be on iTunes, Amazon… you know, all the usual places.
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve already heard 4/5 of the songs on it: My T.I. parody “Whatever You Like,” my Doors pastiche “Craigslist,” my Jungle Cruise homage “Skipper Dan” and my Charles Nelson Reilly tribute “CNR.”The fifth and final track from “Internet Leaks” is called “Ringtone.” It will be released the same day as the EP – Tuesday the 25th. The video for it was done by the guys behind Current TV’s hilarious show “SuperNews” – and it will world-premiere this Friday night as part of a half-hour special show that I’m co-hosting with SuperNews creator Josh Faure-Brac. For more info on the show and where you can see it, go here.If you’ve been holding out on buying these tracks individually up until now, you can pick all five up in one fell swoop on Tuesday. Who knows, maybe “Internet Leaks” will even chart like a “real” album!The songs on “Internet Leaks” will all show up again on my next full album release, whenever that is (I’m assuming next year sometime, but there’s no way to be sure). Some people may say, “Why should I buy the ‘Internet Leaks’ tracks now when they’re going to be on your next album anyway?” Well, if all you’re interested in is the physical CD, and you don’t mind waiting a year or so… you probably SHOULDN’T buy the tracks now. Nobody’s forcing you to buy the songs twice - I just wanted to make the tracks available so everybody could enjoy them as early as possible.By the way, if you DO purchase “Internet Leaks” now, you’ll be able to take advantage of iTunes’ “Complete My Album” function when the full album becomes available. You’ll be able to painlessly add the missing tracks, and the full purchase price of “Internet Leaks” will be deducted from the cost of the album.While I’m thinking of it, HUGE thanks go out to Liam Lynch, Divya Srinivasan and the folks at JibJab, who made the videos for “Craigslist,” “Skipper Dan” and “CNR,” respectively. If you haven’t seen those videos yet, check them out on my YouTube page. Or if YouTube won’t let you watch them for some crazy reason, try here.In other news… “Al’s Brain” finished up a successful run at the Orange County Fair – a quarter of a million people so far have seen my 3-D movie, and the reviews have been fantastic. If you live in the Western Washington area, be sure to look for it at the Puyallup Fair next month!And last week, I passed the “one million followers” threshold on Twitter. (Did Ashton Kutcher beat me to it? I haven’t really been paying attention.) Anyway, I’ve really been enjoying Twitter… in an obsessive-compulsive kind of way. If you’re not following me there already, check it out – I’m at twitter.com/alyankovic.Other than that, I’ve been enjoying the summer with my family, and I’ve had a great time reading everybody’s tweets, posts and comments. Thanks so much for all the kind words about the new songs and videos!Al -
Craaaaaaaigslist!
My new single “Craigslist” is out today. In case you haven’t heard it yet (SPOILER ALERT!) it’s an original song in the style of The Doors about… well… Craigslist.To explain some of the pictures that I’ve been tweeting… last month I drove up to Sausalito to visit a recording studio owned by Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads, Modern Lovers)… where I recorded the keyboard parts for “Craigslist” with original Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek! It was quite a thrill and an honor to work with Ray. We spent that afternoon eating Mounds bars and guacamole and listening to Ray tell stories about his recent South American tour – it was amazing.Anyway, back to present day… As I always implore you, if you’re at all inclined to buy this single, please do it this week – it’d be so cool to get this thing to chart. We came THIS CLOSE to getting “Whatever You Like” on the Billboard chart (and I’m certain we would have done it if our release date hadn’t been bungled)… but since this new single is available at all the digital retailers simultaneously, I think it’s got a real shot. And by the way, I just checked – none of my “original” songs have ever cracked the Billboard Hot 100. So if enough people (legally) download “Craigslist” – and it actually charts next week – well, that would be a career first and a real personal accomplishment for me. (Maybe someday people will even stop asking, “Hey, did you ever think about writing your own songs?”) Anyway, if you’ve got a buck and change just lying around somewhere not doing anything – please consider giving it to iTunes or one of those other fine Internet portals that sells mp3s.And of course the “Craigslist” video is out as well. Liam Lynch did an amazing job directing it. We wanted to create something which looked like the kind of typical low-budget music video that The Doors themselves might have made in the 60’s – lots of random, psychedelic stock footage… and me in leather pants trying to look like a smoldering, damaged poet. You can buy it on iTunes, or just watch it for free on YouTube… heck, you can even watch it in HD!And oh yeah, I’m doing a live chat on Twitter and Ustream just a little bit later today. I’ll be on from 5PM to 6PM Pacific time (8PM to 9PM Eastern). You can watch the broadcast just by clicking on this Ustream link… you don’t have to sign up for anything or do anything. BUT… if you want to participate and ask questions, you have to be signed up on Twitter. Just tweet me a question with the hashtag #WeirdAl at the end of it. That way it’ll show up on my screen – and perhaps I’ll answer it! We’ll see how this goes today… if my head doesn’t explode by the end of it, maybe I’ll do these broadcasts for the rest of the Internet Leak releases as well.Okay, I’m done promoting myself now. Thanks for listening!Al -
New single & video soon!
June 16 is almost here! This Tuesday, the first of four brand new originals songs will be released digitally (available at iTunes and… you know, all the usual places). The name of the song is “Craigslist.”There will be a music video for “Craigslist” as well, also released on Tuesday. It was shot by my friend Liam Lynch (who directed “Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny” and “Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic” and is also responsible for those wonderful Lynchland podcasts). It’s a live-action video – my first since “White & Nerdy.” But lower your expectations – “White & Nerdy” had a huge budget, and “Craigslist” had a miniscule one. We shot it in Liam’s garage. I’m not even kidding. As it turns out, though, the “low budget” vibe happens to dovetail well with the concept of the video, so don’t worry, it all works out fine.If you just can’t wait till the 16th to see this thing, AOL will be doing a world premiere of the “Craigslist” video tomorrow. (Unless they change their minds at the last minute and pull the plug on it like they did with “White & Nerdy.”) So check with AOL for all the details on the sneak peek!BTW, also on Tuesday the 16th I’ll be doing a live online chat via Twitter and Ustream. I’ll be answering your questions from 5PM to 6PM Pacific time (8PM to 9PM Eastern). Details to come… but in the meantime, make sure you’re following me!Oh, and in case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the promo clip for AlsBrain.com.Hope you like the new song & video!Al