Earlier this year,
Jamie and I hurried down to Hollywood to see Weird Al get his star on the Walk
of Fame. I'd never done that before, and there are few for whom I'd take that
sort of time.
The reason for this
was evident when we accidentally went the week before and saw Jennifer Garner
get her star right next to where his would be. (I had gotten the date wrong.)
As we drove away, the person speaking at the event said, "Jennifer Garner
is better than all of us." No joke, those were the woman's exact words.
What I have always
loved about Weird Al is that he's outside all that Hollywood bullshit. Beyond
being just a satirist, he's always provided an alternative to what we're told
is supposed to be important, while not playing into the childish "conform
to nonconformity" either. He's shown that it's okay to be different, to be
smart, to be "weird." While much of that may seem obvious, it wasn't
obvious to many as I was growing up.
In the '80s,just
knowing how to run a computer got you labeled as a nerd and unworthy of
popularity. God forbid you should be creative and interested in intellectual
pursuits. Even being into Weird Al's music was considered lowbrow. It's a much
different, and much better world today; one where differences are more
celebrated and intelligence is a bit more appreciated.
But Al got me through
a lot of lonely times, despite being seemingly nothing more than a comedian
copying other people's music. It was simply the image of "being weird and
oddball and different is okay" that was so important to me. So for that I
can't think of anyone better to have gotten this star. I'll be sure to step all
over it in the coming years.
No comments:
Post a Comment