The Music Men

When I was in elementary school, I lived caddy-corner across the streetish from a schoolmate, Eugene Kersh. One year, after my mom had gone back to work as a teacher, my sister and I would hang out at his house after school until mom got home. The two things I remember most about these afternoons are: 1) that he had a Doberman who liked to catch popcorn in his mouth, so we spent a lot of time tossing kernels at the dog, and 2) the day that Eugene told me he had this very funny record I needed to hear, and it was the single "Eat It."

I was hooked. As soon as I saved up my money, I bought "Weird Al in 3D." And subsequently every album (except for "The Food Album" and "Polka Party") that Weird Al ever produced from 1984 until now. I have been to five "Weird Al" Yankovic concerts in my adult life, two of them by myself! I love his shows. I love the mixture of older people, families, and college guys. I love his music. I think that he is a brilliant writer, and he's obviously hanging around a lot longer than the artists he parodies.

So, when I found out that he was going to be wrapping up his Alpocolypse tour in San Antonio this month, I was keen to go. Too bad we don't live nearer to Tulsa, because that is actually *the* last stop of the tour, and it includes a 25th anniversary celebration of the movie "UHF," which was filmed in Tulsa. James suggested that it might be worth it to drive up there for that.

James, who has no interest in Weird Al, that I know of, is game for a weekend trip that will involve seeing a really terrible old movie and going to a concert (which I have to say I can't imagine not liking) for an artist of whom he knows but of whom he has not historically been a fan. Why? Because he loves me.

When I was in college, I would rush home from my afternoon classes to watch "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?" I felt pretty stupid, that those little kids knew more geography than I did, but I got better as time went on. Mostly, I wanted to hear the house band, Rockapella. I would sit right by the television to closely listen so that I could transcribe the theme song's lyrics, back in 1992 before the internet was necessarily an in-home thing for all people.

In 1998, when I realized that Rockapella was still together and that they were touring, I was ecstatic! I bought a bunch of their albums and listened to them religiously, then I went to my very first concert in Redding, California. Somehow, they were even better live.

The next three years of fandom were an interesting, fun, harrowing experience that I won't go in to now. Those of you who have known me all of these years know what happened, in as much as anyone can really know what happened. The highlights of all of that were twofold: 1) The awesome friends I made through traveling to concerts and the Yahoo! message boards, and 2) My sister's and my inclusion in both the concert video that PBS released in 2001 and the live CD that came out that same year. (Generally, I dislike hecklers; in this case, it happened to work.)

Eventually, in order to save something that was important, I sold all of the CDs, stopped going to concerts, and that was that.

This morning, I found out that Rockapella is going to be in Austin at the beginning of December. The concert is on a night that James typically has blacked out, but he immediately said he'd go with me. I have a male friend who said that he doesn't think men have it within them to like a cappella music. And maybe they don't. But James wants to take me to this concert because he saw how important it is to me. As in, when I saw the notification pop up in my Facebook feed, I started crying. I didn't think they were going to be in this area for this tour. But they are. And I'm going. With my family.

I'm excited about spending an extended weekend with my family, going to the State Fair, attending the Weird Al weekend, and meeting James' niece. I'm looking forward to dinner and a concert in December, too; I'm hoping they play some Christmas music. But primarily, I am grateful for my life and for my amazing husband. I have never been to one of "his" concerts. I hope I get the chance to be as gracious about his interests and passions as he has been with mine. I am so thrilled finally to be "home."