So yeah, it's time. Time to tell a story that is probably the first weird celebrity story ever for me.
August 15, 1992. The one time only August in Arkansas Festival. Lots of music going on, both sides of the river. "Weird Al" Yankovic is set to perform on a Saturday night at 10:30 p.m.
There I am, start of the concert.
See me? I'm waving. I'm wearing the pink liquid dye baseball hat that was one of my favorites, and the T-shirt for my radio program. I have my just-purchased shirt on my shoulder.
Yes, right THERE.
I was so chuffed to be there... because yeah, I was seriously into Weird Al's music. My radio program, Th'XNTRYK Show, was nearly a year old. I, at this point in time, was still confident I'd succeed in my life's goal: to take over for Dr. Demento when he retired. I was seriously into novelty music, and there was (and is) no bigger star in the genre.
Yeah, that was me - different hat, same energy.
It was a great show. Up to that point in my life, it was about the largest stage act I had seen in person, outside of Joe Walsh and Glen Frey when they'd come to town a couple months before. And yes, in 1994, I'd be in attendance for the Rolling Stones' Voodoo Lounge and that was a MUCH bigger concert. But to me, this was a personal bucket list item, and here I am, 18 years old, standing room only on the North Little Rock Rivershore, enjoying the hell out of a concert. I knew every song by heart - except the Snack All Night bit, but hey, I know that bit now.
Someone caught it on video, by the way... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q6AYZczeLA
It was high-energy and I'm a nerdy teenager and yeah, this was incredible. I ended up pulling my newly-purchased Al t-shirt over my show shirt so I had my hands free. We all danced and sang along with the words. I even remember it being the first time I heard the Yoda "yip" ending.
What happened afterward would stick in my head forever... okay, sometimes as one of those crazy party stories you tell when you're sharing that sort of thing...
Show's over. It's well after midnight but, as a teenager with a car and nowhere to be for a while, I stay and hang out with the other nerds. We're hoping to catch a glimpse of Al when his bus pulls out from behind the stage. Instead, one of the roadies comes over to the dwindled-down group of about a dozen of us, and asks if we want to meet Al and he band.
I was second in line. I stood along the side of the tour bus with all the rest of the nerds who had stuck around. The guy ahead of me bounds off the bus with his newly signed t-shirt.
I had so much to say. I wanted to tell Al how he was really giving me a chance at achieving my dreams, and how much I loved the music, and I was looking forward to chatting with the band. So I took the steps up and looked down that aisle.
Al was sitting in the second row back on the left. Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz was another row back on the right. Jim West was behind him, and Steve Jay was on the other side a bit further back. How I remember this? Look, just read on.
I take a deep breath, and what comes out of my mouth is a word salad that even today I could not keep up with in my typing. I blurted out everything I had meant to say, and went on further and told them all about my radio show, and while they're all politely staying quiet while this stream of consciousness emits from my very being, I get to
"and yes, it's a real radio show, and it's called Th'XNTRYK Show, and I even have t-shirts for it"
and without thinking, I pulled the newly-purchased concert shirt over my head. The moment the cloth was free from over my eyes, I saw stunned looks. The silence left from when I stopped speaking just hung there a moment.
Al had become red in the face. He was blushing.
I stood there, new t-shirt still hanging from my left arm, the cockeyed smilieface from my own self-drawn logo bunched up on my chest as I reached up to make sure it was still on.
Al took a breath, and told me
"That's the first time a girl has ever taken her shirt off on my bus."
Another pause, then he reached out and asked me if I'd like my shirt signed. I wordlessly handed it over, and he grinned at me and signed it, then passed it back for the other members of the band to sign. I blurted out a myriad of thanks and nearly fell out of the bus once the shirt had been handed back. When David came out of the bus, I mentioned what had happened. At the time, it was funny, but heck, Weird Al was just a minor star, right?
I do remember sending a letter of thanks later, and for the next few years I would receive advance release CDs at the radio station in my name. But that was it.
I've seen Weird Al and company several times more in concert, and hoped to meet him again and see if he remembered the girl who took her shirt off on his bus. Second concert I went to of his was April 24, 2004 in Tunica. My friend Robert Settles had received comp tickets and passed them along to me. Unfortunately, Al's parents had passed away two weeks before, and he wasn't meeting fans after the concert. My then-husband, Paul, waited with me outside the doors after the show for a good 20 minutes before one of the roadies came out and explained. We understood.
I saw him again in Tunica in 2015, this time bringing along my mom, my kid, and Grav. This was right after Tacky had come out and we had decent seats, and Hunter fell in love immediately. This is my only picture from that show.
Grav got to see him about a month later at Bonaroo, from the pit as a media photographer... his shots were a lot clearer than mine.
We went again... this time, me and Hunter and Grav and my best friend Leif, in Little Rock in September 2019.
The line from that show wrapped around Simmons Arena... and the show did not disappoint. And I got this close to Al...
Well, the pandemic happened, and even when it was over, I wasn't able to go again until last September, when Hunter and I made a trip to Tulsa (and then to the U of A for a visit).
The Tulsa Theater was tight, but we were glad to get seats close in. I was on the aisle, and after all those years, Al and I made contact.
... he stepped on my foot when he came down the aisle. Yeah, that's it.
We had so much fun.
So, when the tour announced Little Rock dates, Hunter asked for tickets as a graduation present. And here we are. We'll go see Weird Al on June 20th - my sixth time, Grav's fifth, Hunter's fourth. It's always an incredible show. We'll be there, on the floor, row 14. I couldn't budget the meet-and-greet, which is an extra charge. Maybe one day we'll be able to make that happen.
I wish I still had the t-shirt. I think it ended up departing with the ex. I've searched the house for 16 years now in spurts and if it was going to resurface, it would have. Until the latter part of my life and the spread of digital photography, I just didn't take pictures much. I would have liked one with Al, but in the end, it's about the memories. This one will be with me til I die.
I just wonder if HE remembers the girl who took off her shirt on the tour bus.
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