Lights, Camera, Accordion!: Eye-Popping Photographs of "Weird Al" Yankovic, 1981-2006
As featured in Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, The A.V. Club, Consequence, Mashable, Mental Floss, Book Riot and more!

“Weird Al” Yankovic continues as one of our most beloved comedians, actors, and musicians. A skilled accordion player and lyricist, the California native not only crafts meticulous parodies, but also creates hilarious originals and pop culture-themed polkas. Now in his fifth decade of recording and performing, Al has maintained a career that has outlasted many of the artists that he has lampooned.

Since 1980, Al’s drummer Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz has been by his side, photographing and documenting his career. Jon has taken more than 20,000 images of Al in his element: on tour, in the studio, on video sets, and backstage.

Lights, Camera, Accordion! presents over 300 images of Al, culled from Jon’s personal collection of color photography, all restored from the original negatives. This exhaustive volume represents the 25 years that Jon shot Al on 35mm color film, from 1981 to 2006, before switching to digital photography. Jon additionally provides previously unheard stories and anecdotes throughout.

From “Eat It” and “Like a Surgeon” to later classics such as “Smells Like Nirvana,” “Amish Paradise,” and the Star Wars parody “The Saga Begins,” Lights, Camera, Accordion! showcases a body of work that spans ten albums, five Grammys, and nearly 2,000 concerts to millions of fans – and is packed with the weirdness and fun that always surrounds the undisputed king of comedic music.

1141902585
Lights, Camera, Accordion!: Eye-Popping Photographs of "Weird Al" Yankovic, 1981-2006
As featured in Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, The A.V. Club, Consequence, Mashable, Mental Floss, Book Riot and more!

“Weird Al” Yankovic continues as one of our most beloved comedians, actors, and musicians. A skilled accordion player and lyricist, the California native not only crafts meticulous parodies, but also creates hilarious originals and pop culture-themed polkas. Now in his fifth decade of recording and performing, Al has maintained a career that has outlasted many of the artists that he has lampooned.

Since 1980, Al’s drummer Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz has been by his side, photographing and documenting his career. Jon has taken more than 20,000 images of Al in his element: on tour, in the studio, on video sets, and backstage.

Lights, Camera, Accordion! presents over 300 images of Al, culled from Jon’s personal collection of color photography, all restored from the original negatives. This exhaustive volume represents the 25 years that Jon shot Al on 35mm color film, from 1981 to 2006, before switching to digital photography. Jon additionally provides previously unheard stories and anecdotes throughout.

From “Eat It” and “Like a Surgeon” to later classics such as “Smells Like Nirvana,” “Amish Paradise,” and the Star Wars parody “The Saga Begins,” Lights, Camera, Accordion! showcases a body of work that spans ten albums, five Grammys, and nearly 2,000 concerts to millions of fans – and is packed with the weirdness and fun that always surrounds the undisputed king of comedic music.

40.0 In Stock
Lights, Camera, Accordion!: Eye-Popping Photographs of

Lights, Camera, Accordion!: Eye-Popping Photographs of "Weird Al" Yankovic, 1981-2006

Lights, Camera, Accordion!: Eye-Popping Photographs of

Lights, Camera, Accordion!: Eye-Popping Photographs of "Weird Al" Yankovic, 1981-2006

Overview

As featured in Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, The A.V. Club, Consequence, Mashable, Mental Floss, Book Riot and more!

“Weird Al” Yankovic continues as one of our most beloved comedians, actors, and musicians. A skilled accordion player and lyricist, the California native not only crafts meticulous parodies, but also creates hilarious originals and pop culture-themed polkas. Now in his fifth decade of recording and performing, Al has maintained a career that has outlasted many of the artists that he has lampooned.

Since 1980, Al’s drummer Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz has been by his side, photographing and documenting his career. Jon has taken more than 20,000 images of Al in his element: on tour, in the studio, on video sets, and backstage.

Lights, Camera, Accordion! presents over 300 images of Al, culled from Jon’s personal collection of color photography, all restored from the original negatives. This exhaustive volume represents the 25 years that Jon shot Al on 35mm color film, from 1981 to 2006, before switching to digital photography. Jon additionally provides previously unheard stories and anecdotes throughout.

From “Eat It” and “Like a Surgeon” to later classics such as “Smells Like Nirvana,” “Amish Paradise,” and the Star Wars parody “The Saga Begins,” Lights, Camera, Accordion! showcases a body of work that spans ten albums, five Grammys, and nearly 2,000 concerts to millions of fans – and is packed with the weirdness and fun that always surrounds the undisputed king of comedic music.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781948221627
Publisher: 1984 Publishing
Publication date: 11/15/2022
Pages: 256
Sales rank: 167,734
Product dimensions: 9.10(w) x 12.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz has been the drummer with "Weird Al" Yankovic since 1980 and is seen and heard on all of Weird Al's albums, videos, and concert and television performances. He is also the group's archivist with an unmatched collection of photos, memorabilia, and audio & video releases from around the world. Bermuda authored the best-selling 2020 book Black & White & Weird All Over which features his black-and-white photos of Weird Al, and his photography is included in the film Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.

“Weird Al” Yankovic is a comedian and actor who is known for his music parodies and original songs that make light of popular culture. He has sold more than 12 million albums, performed nearly 2,000 live shows, and earned five Grammy Awards. Al’s most recent LP, Mandatory Fun, went to #1 on the Billboard 200, the first comedy album to do so since 1963. His biopic, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, starring Daniel Radcliffe, will be released in Fall, 2022.

Drew Carey is an actor, comedian, and game show host. Carey starred in his own sitcom, The Drew Carey Show, and was the host of the U.S. version of the improv comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway? He has hosted the game show The Price Is Right since 2007, which is currently the highest-rated program in daytime television.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1: Debut

My photographic journey with Weird Al begins here. I had recently pounded on his accordion case while he performed “Another One Rides the Bus” live on the Dr. Demento Show, and the next time we saw each other to record “Happy Birthday” on January 19, 1981, there I was with camera in hand. Al and Frank “From the Bank” Sanchez came to my brother Richard “Bopcat” Bennett’s house, and the recording began with Frank on bass and Richard on guitar. We watched as Al bounced down (combined) tracks on his 4-channel Portastudio cassette recorder, and that’s when I took my very first photo of Al! It’s the top image on page 12.

“Happy Birthday” and three other songs were released as a 7-inch 45 on the Placebo label, which came to be known as the Placebo EP. Only 1,000 copies were pressed and it’s among the rarest of Al’s physical recordings. The records arrived in white sleeves with a stack of unfolded covers and plastic sleeves. Al and Dr. Demento brought everything to my apartment (with the orange flowered wallpaper also on page 12) and the three of us folded and inserted until late in the evening. (The good Doctor’s watch says 10:20 and we weren’t done yet!)

There were a handful of gigs in 1981, and in the photo with the brown walls (page 13) you’ll see Al and me with Mark Harris (bass) and Tommy “Rocko” Vavrick (guitar) who played Paul and John in a Beatles tribute band. They performed five nights with us at Knott’s Berry Farm in October of that year, and when asked if they’d like to continue being in the band, they both declined. To be fair, none of us could have known that just five months later we’d be in the studio with Rick Derringer producing an album!

There wasn’t a record deal yet, but that didn’t stop us from going into the famous Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles on March 14, 1982 and recording songs that became the first album. Steve Jay was on bass, and Rick played guitar and tried to keep Al’s hands off the mixing board. In December, a contract with Scotti Brothers Records had been signed. Jim West had already joined the band and two more tracks were recorded including a new parody “Ricky” as the lead single and video.

The eponymous album was released May 3, 1983, followed by a short tour as part of Dr. Demento’s live show. Al, Jim, Steve, myself, Dr. Demento and manager Jay Levey drove around in a station wagon and a U-Haul truck, all sharing the driving duties – except for Al, who wasn’t old enough yet to be insured for a rental vehicle! When we played The Bottom Line in New York City, Rick Derringer joined us on stage for a few songs and Tress MacNeille also came out to sing “Ricky” live with the band. After the tour, the “I Love Rocky Road” video was shot and the single released.

Additional performances followed over the summer, including Summerfest in Milwaukee, Six Flags near St. Louis, and a Rocky Road ice-cream eating contest built around three nights at The Bottom Line. At that time, we would perform snippets of mostly unreleased songs in a ‘food’ medley: “Spameater” (“Maneater”), “Take Me to the Liver” (“Take Me to the River”), “We Got the Beef” (“We Got the Beat”), “Whole Lotta Lunch” (“Whole Lotta Love”)... you get the idea. Another staple of the medley was a short version of “Eat It,” performed nine months before it would appear as a single.

In December we returned to The Bottom Line to open for Flo & Eddie for three nights including New Year’s Eve (page 42) where I shot the first of many pictures of Al facing me with the audience behind him.

– Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Debut
Chapter 2: In 3-D
Chapter 3: That Stupid Year
Chapter 4: Polka Party/Even Worse/UHF
Chapter 5: Off The Deep End
Chapter 6: Alapalooza
Chapter 7: Bad Hair Day
Chapter 8: Running With Scissors
Chapter 9: Poodle Hat
Chapter 10: Straight Outta Lynwood
From the B&N Reads Blog
Page 1 of

Customer Reviews