In which I go to see Weird Al (for the 5th time) and then see his bandmates

How many times can a person see Weird Al in concert? Not enough. This is my 5th time. We bought tickets for Katie and Christian as a Christmas present. 

Us and Grumpy Christian

Weird Al takes the stage

The Vanity tour was fun, even though and because it was not highly produced like his other tours. This was just Al and the band playing what they wanted to play (not the parodies, except for Yoda/Saga Begins, and the medley near the end of the show) and sitting on stools and talking in between songs. I recognized all the deep cuts, and even sang along to a few of them. Al did a cover song during the encore, which pleased Jim to no end: Squeezebox by the Who. Jim is a huge Who fan and the comments Al made before playing it (I'm going to play it as God intended--with an accordion) made Jim smile. We had so much fun that Jim and I are going to see Weird Al when he performs in Clear Lake, Iowa in June. We'll take Matt since he wanted to go to the Utah show, but isn't able to go because we're bringing him home the week before. 

The night after the Al concert, Jim and I went to the Amsterdam in St. Paul (no, mother, we have not taken up drinking alcohol, thank you for asking. *eye roll*) to see Al's bandmates, Jim "Kimo" West and Stephen Jay. Their show is called the Parallel Universe tour and it's just the two of them (most of the time only one of them is on stage at a time) playing whatever they want to play. 

First up was Jim "Kimo" West, playing Hawaiian slack key guitar. Beautiful and relaxing music. Funny story: during the intermission, I got up to use the ladies' room and almost physically ran into Jim. Like almost bumped into him. He was getting himself a beer and when I recognized who he was, he stuck out his hand and we had a nice conversation about his music. He was friendly, willing to talk to a fan while probably eager to get back to the green room and drink his drink. 

Stephen Jay hung around (well, they both did) after the concert and talked to fans. Jim was impressed with Stephen's personable nature, asking us our names and where we're from. We talked bass guitar, and he consented to a photo. 

One more note: Weird Al used to be the act I've seen the most times, but after the show at the Amsterdam, I've now seen Stephen Jay and Jim "Kimo" West in concert more than I've seen anyone else.

Really, mom, we haven't become alcoholics; the reason we go to bars is because that's where the music we want to hear is played. The bars do serve Diet Cokes too, you know.