The Pixies and Weird Al

On November 4, indie-music-snob-mega-site (and I use the term most affectionately) Pitchfork reported:

At a December 8 benefit show at the Echoplex in L.A., "Weird Al" Yankovic will sing a Pixies song with members of the Pixies. This will obviously be an incredible thing to see.

Yankovic will sing the Doolittle jam "I Bleed". But maybe if we bug him enough, he'll subject a Pixies song or two to the "Weird Al" treatment. "Here Comes Your Spam"? "This Monkey's Gone to 7-11"? This needs to happen.

The show is one of two benefits, taking place December 8-9 at the Echoplex and the Echo, to raise money for Winston’s Village , which supports the family of Winston Bertrand, a nine-month-old baby born with lymphatic and venous malformations, two rare and life-threatening conditions.

Pixies frontman Black Francis will host the events. He'll perform solo as well as with members of the Pixies (including Flea filling in on bass!) and with the Grand Duchy, his duo with wife Violet Clark. The December 8 show will also feature performances from members of Love and Rockets and She Wants Revenge, as well as Michael Penn and the 88.

The next night, Francis will host an evening of comedy. The bill includes Tim and Eric, Bob Odenkirk, Brian Posehn, and Pixies drummer David Lovering. Francis will perform on both nights, which raises the absolutely intriguing possibility of a Black Francis stand-up comedy set.

Well, it actually happened. Kim Deal wasn’t there (she was in London) but guests included OK Go , Flea, Tenacious D, and Bauhaus's David J.

Here’s the proof…

Weird Al on “I Bleed” (and by the way Bob, is that the same gold, sparkly Les Paul that Joey Santiago is playing??)




Here’s Flea playing on “Where is my Mind?”




And here’s Tenacious D sitting in on “Oh My Golly!”


It’s funny because FOT’s Pat and Bob have been swapping email reminiscences about a Pixies show that we saw in 1988 at The Rat in Boston. Just one more piece of evidence about how shit-kicking cool I used to be.

Oh, and something I just noticed as I re-read this post...the Pitchfork report mentions in passing that among the comedians performing on the second night of the benefit is Pixies drummer David Lovering. Wha?

So I did some research using something called "Google" and discovered that Lovering became a magician sometime after the Pixies broke up in 1993. "I couldn't top the Pixies so I went into magic full-on and became a professional magician."

Even more, he developed a brand of magic he calls "Scientific Phenomenalism" in which he combined magic with a lifelong fascination with science.

I know, right? Me and David Lovering could TOTALLY hang out right? Turns out that he has a degree in electrical engineering and had a job building lasers before joining the Pixies. Right? Why haven't we been hanging out all this time? Anyway, his website is here and while I'm posting videos, here's one of his too...