The Eclectic Mix

Lathropworld day at the State Fair was yesterday. It was also Patrick’s birthday, a happy coincidence that Patrick was thrilled about, no doubt. And then to close out the day for Patrick was a concert by his all-time favorite performer: Weird Al Yankovic.

Everyone has traditions at the fair: foods to eat, things to see and do, and maybe even a specific route or order to take throughout the grounds. And yes, we do too, or we usually have a specific order to do things, settled on about two years ago as the best way to make our way around to do things without having to backtrack or cover more ground than needed.

Yeah. Yesterday was different, for a whole host of reasons. But let’s get to the highlights, shall we?

Ah yes, the obligatory “before” picture, on the bus from the parking lot:

Within minutes of walking in the gate, we come across “Fairchild,” the gopher mascot of the fair. Patrick, always one to hug and pose with an oversized, stuffed mascot, obliged:

But wait…off on the right edge of the picture, there’s a guy with a video camera on a tripod. Wha? Why’s he shooting a video of my kid and the anthropomorphic creature? He looks so familiar…Oh, wait! Let’s get a better picture:

Ah! That, kids, is James Lileks, erstwhile columnist/blogger/video dude from the Strib, and a guy whose work I read and admire on a daily basis. And the video camera? Yeah, he used that to produce this piece: note Patrick around the 44 second mark of the video. I just have to say, though, he looks a lot shorter in person than he does in print.

Moving on, the obligatory “cheese-on-a-stick” picture, a tradition around these parts for six years now (to see them all, you can hit last year’s State Fair entry here):

And no, I have no idea what the guy is doing in the background…They just would not move.

But the main event, at least as far as Patrick goes, was the Weird Al concert last night. The tickets he and I had were unbelievably close, and he just kept saying “you’ve got to be kidding me,” as we kept walking toward the stage. Once seated, he quivered for about 15 minutes, just from the excitement.

So where were the seats? Here’s Patrick and the view from our seats:

For those of you who may not know who Weird Al is, he is a parody and comedy music star who’s been performing since the early 1980’s. His songs are always funny, and you have to admire someone who can perform such a wide variety of music and still put goofy lyrics to pop hits of the day. His live shows incorporate many costume changes, and a lot of energy. And Patrick just loves his stuff.

So as you can see, we were very close to Weird Al, probably 50-60 feet from him at any time during the show. And between telling me that this was “the best birthday ever,” and checking the time to see how long until the concert started, he spent the whole time before the show talking to the fans around us: a younger guy and his girlfriend in front of us, and a late 20s single woman next to him. They talked favorite Weird Al songs, how many albums they have of his, whether they’ve seen his shows before, or the movie…Patrick was in geek heaven, and I was a happy father because of it. In short, my son was in his element.

He and I sang along during almost the whole show. Screamed when our favorite songs played, laughed at the gags, and high-fived each other after almost every song. It was great: good music, a very close view of the artist, that we were sure couldn’t possibly be any better…

Well, until he came off the stage and wandered through the audience during a song:

He passed within about 15 feet from us, right at the end of the row. Patrick was thrilled, because he has now been “that close” to a musical hero.

The rest of the concert was a blast, and could have ended after just about 2 hours with Patrick perfectly contented with the whole show, but then came the encore:

Song one: A parody of Don McLean’s “American Pie,” called “The Saga Begins,” about a young Anakin Skywalker, who would eventually become Darth Vader…Please note all the Star Wars characters in the background…

Song two: “Yoda,” a parody of “Lola” by the kinks. Patrick stood for the whole encore, bouncing up and down, singing along, cheering as loud as he ever gets. And this picture, even though it’s blurry and not terribly clear, is one of my favorites from the night:

This was during “Yoda.” Patrick’s voice was hash from screaming and singing. He’s been standing up for the whole encore by now, and his energy and excitement never waned one bit. That blur on the right is him–moving just as constantly as he had throughout the whole show. Oh, and Al’s the guy on stage with the long dark hair in front there…

It was a hell of a day, and a great evening. A very happy birthday for Patrick. And a great family day at the fair. You can check out a few more pictures at the Flickr site. Or you can see all of these photos in a larger form or even download them for yourself. Enjoy!

See you tomorrow.

It’s State Fair day tomorrow here in Lathropworld, so we’ll be indulging in all of the fried and on-a-stick foods that we care to during the day. Pictures will be forthcoming, but probably not until Thursday night.

Tomorrow is also Patrick’s birthday, a fortuitous happenstance, especially considering that his musical hero, “Weird” Al Yankovic is the headlining performer at the Grandstand tomorrow night. Patrick and I will be partaking of that for his birthday. He’ll be 14. It hardly seems possible at times, and at others, I really have to work hard at remembering what life was like before he came into our lives…Back in the old days of a one-bedroom apartment in St. Paul, and five-bedroom houses in North Dakota. That all was a whole different life ago.

But I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Sure, the girls are an amazing thing to watch–I mean, having twins around you every day is just a fascinating thing to behold. But Patrick–nothing against the girls–is a whole different thing. He has a mind that is turning 24×7, and the thing with him is that you can see it happening. And I just sit back and wait for the next thing to come out of that head. It’s one hell of a kick.

It’s turning into quite a week with him: high school orientation, turning 14, and an evening with Weird Al…If he doesn’t collapse at the end of tomorrow night, I’m pretty sure I will. And somehow, I didn’t take two days off this week. (Well, printers had something to do with that…*Surprise!*)

So to the State Fair tomorrow. I’ve scoped out some discounts and deals already to have them in mind: Library cards will be in tow to get us $2 off per admission!. I go in every year with limited objectives, because it’s all I really need to make it a fun time: pork chop on a stick, a chocolate malt, mini donuts, and a Pronto Pup. Outside of the food, we’ll troll the booths in the grandstand, get the obligatory picture at the cheese on a stick sign, and just wander the grounds, giving everyone a chance to get through their list of must-do items.

This year will be different because I’ll have a 14-year-old along. Wish us luck.

See you tomorrow.