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Meeting Al!

Last night I got one of the thrills of my life when I got to meet Weird Al Yankovic backstage after his show here in Minneapolis! I've been an Al fan since I first heard the Weird Al In 3-D album in 1984 and I've been a big fan ever since. I only have two artists' full libraries on my iPhone, The Beatles and Al. So yeah, I'm a fan.

Not only did I get to see him perform live (my fifth time seeing him), but I got to give him and his drummer Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz copies of my "Meeting Al" piece:

Both Al and Jon were awesome and I can't thank them enough for allowing me and my friend Natalie to meet them. I want to say a special thanks to Jon, who could not have been kinder or friendlier, for responding to Natalie's e-mail about possibly meeting the king of parody. Jon suprised me by saying "he doesn't know you're here, he's gonna love this". I was really honored to be able to give them both print copies of my piece.

Just before Jon snapped a photo of the three of us Al turned to me and told me I should send my piece to someone at Gallery 1988, where he had just done a show. "Your work is as good as anything I saw there", he said. I remember nothing after that. Just white noise. Those words will be burned in my brain forever.

Al and Jon were kind enough to chat with Natalie and I for a few minutes while other meet-and-greeters waited and I can't thank them enough for making the experience a memorable one.

What a great night.

Here are Natalie and I before the show. Me with my print and Natalie dressed as the "dental hygienist with a spatula tattooed on her arm" from The Weird Al Show Theme:

The only photo I took during the show. This was during their encore, while they performed The Saga Begins with members of the 501st in costume on stage with them:

The backstage pass:

Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, Al's drummer (he's been with Al since the beginning) and all around nice guy:

Meeting Al!

Here's Al signing copies of my "Meeting Al" print for me and Natalie.

Thanks again to Al & Jon and thanks to you for reading!

-Otis

"Meeting Al"

This is a personal piece featuring 13 characters from Weird Al Yankovic albums and Al himself. I'll be seeing Al perform live in Minneapolis on May 3rd. It will be my fifth time seeing him live and I can't wait!

Drawn and colored in Photoshop CS4 on a Wacom Cintiq 21UX.

-Otis

UPDATE: Many thanks to Al himself for tweeting about my piece! I hope all of you Al fans who visit my site via his Twitter feed enjoy my work.

People on Twitter and Facebook have been asking who each character is...well, some are "official" Al characters that are named in songs or appear in "UHF" and some are my own interpretations of certain songs or album titles. The only non-Al characters are the bouncer and the two ladies hanging onto Al. But all in all, there are 13 characters from each of Al's 13 albums. They go from left to right, oldest to newest album, ending with Al himself re-enacting the attitude of "This Is The Life", the theme song to "Johnny Dangerously".

GarageBand For iPad

I don't use this blog for reviews very much anymore. Having a Ustream webcast has provided me a forum for exressing my views in a more direct way and in less time than it takes to write a blog post. But I just had to take some time to give a short, written review of Apple's GarageBand for iPad, which debuted earlier this week, and works with both iPad2 as well as the original iPad.

Four years ago, GarageBand was the application that turned me from a PC into a Mac.

At the time, I was looking to get back into music, having been in a few bands in high school and dabbled in four track recording for a bit while in one of them (a real four track, with audio tape and everything, kiddos). I hadn't been involved in music at all during the intervening years and was amazed at how much computers had been integrated into the process and how home recording and composing was made so much easier with the aid of PCs.

I tried out a number of PC-based music recording/composing apps, but when I saw GarageBand for the first time via my (then) wife's Mac, I knew that I was seeing something special. GarageBand was (and is) an amazing tool for desktop music creation. It can be used by professionals and hobbyists alike and it was the program that turned me into a Mac user. After Photoshop, it was my favorite computer progrm to use.

Flash foward a few years and I've become completely Mac'd out. And many of you know that I was an early proponent and adopter of the iPad. I've had one since they came out last year, have used it every day since for multiple purposes and have never regretted getting one. And yes, I stood in line yesterday to upgrade to iPad2.

And I'm already loving iPad2 (it's slimmer, faster and being able to shoot and edit video on a tablet device is wonderful). But truth be told, the best thing that Apple put out this week was not their second generation tablet, but their first generation of GarageBand for that tablet.

Simply put, GarageBand is the most amazing iPad app I've ever used. The combination of music recoding/editing, the touch capabilities and the new "smart" instruments makes the GarageBand/iPad combo something very special. I've bought and used a number of non-Apple music creation and recording apps over the last year and marvelled at the news ways that musicians and hobbyists have to create their music. But GaragBand beats them all. It's not even a close contest.

I spent 2 or 3 hours last night with GarageBand creating some songs and it was the most pleasurable time I've ever spent using the iPad. If I had this when I was in high school, I never would have stopped making music over the years. The simplicity and accessibilty of the app's tools make music creation an amazingly satisfying experience, one that I never had dealing with cords, amps and audiotape.

GarageBand almost makes music-making too simple. One could argue that it allows amateurs and non-musicians the ability to do what only trained musicians could do before. That's a valid point. But it also allows people with experience to quickly "sketch" musical ideas that can later be expanded upon with real world instruments. It allows for musical experimentation on the go.  Sketchbook Pro for iPad allowed for me to always have a digital sketchbook with me for drawing, and now I have a portable music studio for doing the same with music.

Well done, Apple.

Go HERE to watch the video guided tour of GarageBand for iPAd (as well as other apps).

-Otis

Marley & Me

This is a digital commission featuring the buyer's son playing guitar with Bob Marley.

The original line art measures 7 1/2 x 14 inches and was drawn on Bristol using Micron pens. The final artwork was colored in Photoshop CS4 using a Wacom Cintiq 21UX.

You can watch a recording of me coloring (some of) this piece on my Ustream channel HERE.

Go HERE to learn more about commissioning original or digital artwork from me!

-Otis

Digital Commission: Metallica

 This is a digital commission featuring the band Metallica.

The original line art measures 7 1/2 x 14 inches and was drawn on Bristol using Micron pens. The final artwork was colored in Photoshop CS4 (with a small assist from After Effects CS4) using a Wacom Cintiq 21UX.

You can watch a recording of me coloring (most of) this piece on my Ustream channel HERE.

Go HERE to learn more about commissioning original or digital artwork from me!

-Otis

Get On Your Boots

 For me, when it comes to music, there are The Beatles and then everyone else.

But at the top of the "Everyone Else" list is U2.  I haven't really warmed to any of their albums since Rattle & Hum.  Although I did enjoy Achtung Baby and some of their singles have been great, I definitely prefer the decade or so when Dave was hot for delay.

That being said, they're coming out with a new album in a couple of months called No Line On The Horizon and they've posted the first single online for everyone to taste test.  And I have to say . . . I really like the sound of this one.

Go give it a listen. 

-Otis

The Words & Pictures Podcast Episode 2

Episode 2: The Holiday Show is now online!

Go get it!

-Otis

A Tribute To John Williams

This is awesome:

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Hat tip to Spencer.

Check out Moosebutter's website for more a capella awesomeness.

-Otis

Smells Like Old Guy Spirit

Hey Gen Xers . . . wanna feel old?

Time for your prune juice, my friends.

-Otis

Snoopy Flying Ace

Coming in 2010:

As soon as I saw this, I immediately became 5 years old again, spinning this 45:

Speaking of Peanuts, you can now view the last 50 years of the strip for free online.

And you should.

-Otis