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Parody Perfected

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SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

“Weird Al” Yankovic will bring his musical bazaar of the bizarre to the Performing Arts Center in Oxnard for a Tuesday night laugh riot and rock show, filled with his extensive repertoire of hilarious parodies plus lots of originals.

Some of Yankovic’s more amusing efforts include “My Bologna,” “Another One Rides the Bus,” “Eat It,” “Smells Like Nirvana” and “The Saga Begins” done to the tune of “American Pie.” The formula is simple: Other people write the songs, then Yankovic makes them funny.

Yankovic, once the odd man out, is definitely in these days. During the past 20 years he has carved a niche for himself as rock’s supreme parodist with 10 albums, including the latest, “Running With Scissors,” plus a couple of Grammys. The frizzy-haired funny man has sold more comedy albums than anyone--not bad for an accordion player who started out by sending tapes to the nationally syndicated Dr. Demento radio show.

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“Weird Al” surveyed current weirdness during a recent phone interview.

Has “Running With Scissors” made you a rich rock star yet?

I’m comfortable. I tour pretty much whenever an album comes out. We’ve been on the road since last summer, except for a break between Thanksgiving and Groundhog Day.

Before you became “Weird Al,” tell me a “Just Al” story.

OK. One day when I was sitting around the house, my dad told me “Alfred, if you ever feel unhappy or depressed, just eat a piece of watermelon because it’s the happy fruit . . . “

What is your musical background?

I took three years of accordion.

Back in your days at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, what was the local scene like?

Back then, we were doing the coffeehouse scene and people were doing a lot of Dan Fogelberg covers. When they saw me playing an accordion and my partner playing bongos, well, we sort of stood out.

Spike Jones, Tom Lehrer, Alan Sherman, the Firesign Theatre--are you following in their footsteps?

I’m trying my best. It’s very flattering to be placed in that lineage, since these people are all my heroes.

Where does Dr. Demento come in?

I owe my musical career to him. Who else would play a homemade tape on his national radio show sent to him from a 15-year-old kid, recorded on a 39-cent tape in his bedroom? My life would’ve surely been different without him. I have a degree in architecture, but by the time I was done in school, I decided architecture was probably not right for me.

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How do you decide which songs to parody?

There’s no set rules for parodies. A song has to be very popular, with a lot of MTV exposure and radio airplay, some solid hooks, plus I have to be able to come up with a clever-enough idea for it.

So you sit around and watch MTV and listen to the radio?

Well, it’s not like I wouldn’t anyway. But now I can sit around and watch MTV and say, “Hey, I’m working.”

What’s the general band reaction to your parodies?

These days, it’s a lot easier to get permission. Most of them think it’s cool, sort of a badge of honor to be the subject of a “Weird Al” parody.

But you also have a lot of originals--what’s the story on them?

They’re like the parodies except that I have to start from scratch. I can do a song in a style of a band, yet it won’t be a parody. I don’t know where these things come from.

This may be a strange question for you, but what was your strangest gig?

I did a promotion for KROQ in Los Angeles, and the winner of the promotion got to have me play at their place of business. The winner worked at a rest home, so I played for a lot of geriatric patients. I remember I was screaming “Smells Like Nirvana” in this old man’s face who clearly didn’t get it.

Apart from captive geriatric patients, who goes to a “Weird Al” gig?

It boggles my mind to see how diverse the audience is at the shows. We get everyone from embryos to dead people, little kids to grandparents.

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So during the show, do you change more often than Diana Ross?

There are a lot of costume changes. One person said I change costumes more than Cher. The live show is a pretty elaborate production. There’s film clips shown on a screen, plus all the stuff onstage, and I have the same band I’ve had since the beginning. It’s a high-energy, two-hour rock ‘n’ roll show.

Did winning Grammys change things for you?

Well, I was very happy to win, and I suppose now I can say “Grammy-winning ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic.”

Are we going to see another “Weird Al” movie, maybe UHF II?

That would be nice, however no major studio seems interested in doing that. They’d have to pay Michael Richards or someone like that.

What advice would you give aspiring weirdos?

Well, boys and girls, this is very dangerous, so don’t try this at home.

DETAILS

“Weird Al” Yankovic at the Performing Arts Center, 800 Hobson Way, Oxnard, 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, $30 or $25; 486-2424.

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Tom and Becky Lowe’s eclectic series of little-known but stellar players continues with Englishman singer/songwriter Jez Lowe, who will play Tuesday night at the Ojai Valley Woman’s Club. Lowe, a low-budget guy and a guitar act, also plays harmonica and cittern, a stringed instrument invented during the Renaissance.

The son of a coal miner from County Durham in northeast England, Lowe isn’t afraid to poke fun at himself as a hick from the hinterlands, but he has become one of the noted folkies in England. Many of Lowe’s songs deal with the common folk, particularly the struggles of the coal miners and their attempts to cope with modernization and the demise of the good ol’ days.

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In addition to being the home of all those bummed-out miners, Lowe’s area of England was a hotbed of folk music when he began his career more than 20 years ago. Originally, he began covering traditional English folk songs--the sort that have been off the charts for a few hundred years--before he began writing his own.

According to the artist, “What got me into traditional songs to begin with were the beautiful melodies and the economy of language, saying what you want to say in as few words as possible.”

Lowe should know the way to the gig--this will be his fourth appearance in Ojai.

DETAILS

Jez Lowe at the Ojai Valley Woman’s Club, 441 E. Ojai Ave., 7:30 p.m. Tuesday; $10 in advance or $12 at the door; 646-5163.

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Third Eye Blind will bring all those well-crafted rock songs to the venerable Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara for a Wednesday night gig. The Bay Area band hit it big--really big--with its self-titled debut disc in 1997.

The album sold 4 million copies and contained five hit singles, including “Semi-Charmed Life,” the most played radio song of 1997. The band’s success brought it the opportunity to tour with the Rolling Stones and U2, among others.

Its new album, “Blue,” should turn out equally green for the band, as singer/songwriter Stephan Jenkins remains a guy who knows what a catchy rock song should sound like.

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“Anyway” was the first single, but several others, including “Deep Inside You,” are equally memorable. Third Eye Blind is a band at its creative peak.

This is the first Arlington show in a while. Ani DiFranco will be there April 17.

DETAILS

Third Eye Blind at the Arlington Theatre, 1317 State St., Santa Barbara, 8 p.m. Wednesday; $25; 963-4408.

Bill Locey can be reached by e-mail at blocey@pacbell.net.

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