Woohoo!  It's official, the next Weird Al national tour has begun.   The first concert booked is in Costa Mesa, California at the Pacific Amphitheater on August 13th, 2010.   Go to http://tixx1.artistarena.com/weirdal/ to sign up for the special internet pre-sale to get early access to purchasing tickets.

We here at Yank Blog, Inc would like to wish a very happy birthday to Stephen Jay, the best bass guitarist in Weird Al's band.

Happy Birthday buddy!

"I’ve just signed a production deal with Cartoon Network."  –Weird Al Yankovic

WHOA!!!  Al just broke news of a new project he's working on over at his blog:

http://alyankovic.wordpress.com/2010/01/25/this-thing-im-doing/

How cool is that? Although I was really hoping for an action-packed documentary about Winston Churchill starring Jackie Chan.  Oh well, perhaps someday.

Oh, and Al also very casually drops a subtle hint about [MESSAGE REDACTED BY ALIENS].   Wow!!!  I can hardly wait!

This Saturday (Jan 23rd), Weird Al talks with that guy he's always with.  You know who I'm talking about.  Yeah THAT guy... AGAIN!  You'd think they would have talked about everything there is to talk about by now.  But NOOOOO.  What?  No I'm not jealous... shut up! Well if you're in the area then head on over to Cobb's Comedy Club and watch them talk about... um... stuff.  Then Al will introduce a showing of UHF at midnight at the Clay Theatre.  Nice!

http://www.cobbscomedyclub.com/calendar.html#weirdal

Not sure how long this will last, but in honor of Charles Nelson Reilly's birthday on January 13th, you can insert yourself into the JibJab video for free over at http://sendables.jibjab.com/sendables/203322/weird_al_charles_nelson_reilly

Looks you still have to pay $4.99 to download it and save it on your computer at which point you can burn it to DVD or put it on your iPod, or whatever.  But you can still share the creation for free via email, Facebook, your blogs, etc.  Spiffy!

Just a reminder to catch the Biography channel tonight (Tues Jan 5) for William Shatner's Raw Nerve at 10pm Eastern.  Also, just before that, they are showing the one hour Biography special on Al.  So tune in 9pm Eastern for the whole thing.

Here's another TV alert.  If you get the Biography Channel, then make sure to watch William Shatner's Raw Nerve on Tuesday January 5 at 10pm ET for a half-hour interview with Weird Al.

Host William Shatner sits down with Grammy Award-winning artist Weird Al Yankovic. Shatner talks to Weird Al about his early days as a DJ on college radio and his turnabout from architecture student to parodying famous hits. Yankovic discusses the tragic death of his parents, his concerns about the environment and the oddities of being in the music industry.

[ Biography ]

Hey kiddies, watch "Web Soup" on G4 tonight at 7pm Eastern for "The Golden Download Awards" episode.

Host Chris Hardwick highlights the best of the best and worst viral videos that the internet has to offer, and provides humorous impromptu commentary, themed segments to showcase certain video styles, surprise guests and recurring characters.

Weird Al is going to be one of the surprise guests (shhhhhh!).  If you don't get to catch it tonight, it will re-air multiple times.  Just check your tv listings

Signed "Weird Al" Yankovic Guitar Hero 5 and His New Hits CD!

Prize: One winner, see details!
Exceptions: See official rules for eligibility
Number of winners allowed: 1
Ends: Sunday January 3rd 2010

Comedy and music legend "Weird Al" Yankovic hosted a Game with Fame session this week on Xbox LIVE. Even if you missed your chance to participate, you can still enter to win a sweet Xbox LIVE prize pack including: an Xbox 360 console, autographed copy of Guitar Hero® 5 (used in the session) and a copy of his new album!

You need to register at the site first to enter the contest.

Weird Al will be ham for the holidays

Interview from the A.V. Club on the upcoming RiffTrax LIVE: Christmas Shorts-Stravaganza event, the Essential Weird Al Yankovic compilation, his past Christmas songs, and his holiday plans in general.  Al mentions "There's the yearly bobbing for pork, of course."  Well, since Al is vegetarian, I'm guessing it's some sort of tofu pork... maybe it's called TOFORK.   If there's no such thing, I have the perfect slogan for this new product: "TOFORK: It's exactly as tasty as it sounds."   Where's my royalties?