Let Me Be Clear About This

Hey there. How’s it goin’? Me? Oh, I’m fine, thanks.

Anyway…

There’s some misinformation that’s been floating around the Internet (how unusual!) and I hoped it would dissipate quickly, but it only seems to be picking up steam. So before it gets much worse, please allow me to set the record straight.

I did a print interview recently where I talked about how I only had one more album left on my current record contract, and how after that I would be weighing my options. I talked about how at that point I might be more inclined to focus on digital distribution, since theoretically that would allow my releases to be more timely and topical. I talked about how quickly the industry is evolving, and how perhaps it might not even make sense to continue releasing conventional albums at that point. In fairness, my quotes in the article seemed pretty accurate. But the headline screamed, “WEIRD AL SAYS HIS NEXT ALBUM WILL BE HIS LAST!” Well, um… no, I didn’t. That’s inaccurate, and extremely misleading, and has caused more than a few fans to freak out. But I guess “WEIRD AL IS CAREFULLY WEIGHING HIS OPTIONS AND ISN’T ENTIRELY SURE WHAT HE’S DOING AFTER HIS NEXT ALBUM!” isn’t quite as catchy, headline-wise. So again, to be clear… if you were led to believe that I’m planning on retiring anytime soon, I’m not (sorry, haters). I truly love what I do, and if I ever stop working, it won’t be of my own free will.

Okay… what else?

I’m on the road right now. This is the tail end of the Alpocalypse Tour, and it’s going great. If you haven’t seen it yet, I behoove you to get yourself to a show – all the summer dates are listed at weirdal.com. We’ll be doing the final dates sometime in the fall, and of course we’ll be sure to list those on my website as soon as they’re confirmed.

Also, I’m extremely excited that HarperCollins is releasing my second children’s picture book – My New Teacher and Me! – on June 25. Wes Hargis did the artwork (as he did for my first book, When I Grow Up) and it’s really wonderful. If you have a kid – or just like to pretend you have a kid – I think you’ll enjoy this book.

And speaking of the book… I’m doing a 7-city book-signing tour at the end of this month! If you live anywhere near Minneapolis, Houston, Milwaukee, Chicago, Cincinnati, Raleigh or Los Angeles, I’d love to see you at one of these book stores. And if you CAN’T make it, but still want a personally autographed copy of the book… guess what? We have the technology! Just contact any of those bookstores before the event, and they’ll arrange to make that happen for you! And if you want a copy of the book WITHOUT my lousy autograph… well, I’m sure Amazon or any other fine online retailer would be happy to sell you one! After the 25th, I’ll bet you could even walk into an actual bookstore and buy a copy! So many options!

The new album? It’s coming along extremely well. I’m about half done with it, and I’m really excited with the tracks so far. So if I’m dismembered in a freak accident next week, at least they’ll be able to release a nice EP. (Can’t wait to see what kind of headlines they’ll make out of THAT!)

Okay, that’s it for now. Thanks for letting me ramble. Hope to see you on the road and/or at the bookstore!

xo,
Al