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Just the other day, I was trying to get my kids to eat. I tried all the usual nonsense about starving children in Africa and staying healthy. Who should come to the rescue but Weird Al Yankovic on You Tube. His adaptation of Michael Jackson's hit song "Beat It" did the job. Thank you Michael Jackson for the tune. Thank you Weird Al for the words.

Visitors to MTV’s new online music video site can listen to songs with plenty of crass and vulgar lyrics, but may be surprised to find that certain other language had once been deemed too nasty for broadcast — that is, the names of the file-sharing sites Morpheus, Grokster, Limewire and Kazaa, all of which have been the bane of the music industry. The foul-mouthed musician swept up by MTV’s speech code is Weird Al Yankovic, whose lyrics to “Don’t Download This Song,” a tongue-in-cheek complaint about file-sharing first released in 2006 included those so-called offensive terms. (Since then, two of...

Twenty-four hours, seven continents, 150 bands and 2 billion viewers. Global warming is a big problem that needs big solutions. Live Earth was the big concert intended to raise awareness. But is pop music really a solution? Skeptics doubt it. Said one: "Everybody's known about that problem for years. ... I would only organize this if I could get onstage and announce concrete environmental measures from the American presidential candidates, Congress or major corporations. They haven't got those guarantees. So it's just an enormous pop concert." The source of that quote: Bob Geldof, organizer of Live Aid and Live 8....

If your name is Al Gore and you're trying to get the word out on global warming, Melissa Etheridge is a good friend to have. Now the owner of an Oscar for I Need to Wake Up - which she composed for the former vice president's 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth - the Grammy-winning singer/songwriter is among many artistes slated for the Gore-initiated worldwide event Live Earth: The Concerts for a Climate in Crisis Saturday, July 7. One of the stars who will be onstage at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., Etheridge may have been the first celebrity to...

Hey, Chicagoans, how would you like to live in the Miami of the Midwest? All you gotta do is stay put! Climate-wise, in 50 years, maybe less, Chicago could be what Miami is now -- minus the proximity to Havana, of course, and minus the fact a good part of South Florida might be under water. Forget January snowball fights in Grant Park. How about spring-break water skiing on Lake Michigan? How about Christmas margaritas outdoors? By now, you've heard of global warming. I'm guessing the only people who don't think the condition is real and largely man-created are right-wing...

Here's one convenient truth for anyone worried about heating bills: 2006 was the warmest ever recorded in the United States. The oddly balmy December pushed the year to a new heat record, according to the National Climatic Data Center. That's good news for homeowners, who saw their energy needs cut by 13.5 percent, the center said. But it's bad news for people who worry about global warming, like Al Gore. The former vice president's movie "An Inconvenient Truth," released last year, warns that the poles are melting, rainfall is being disrupted and hurricanes are increasing. "This new information represents another...

Dear Close, Personal Friend of Al, In case you haven't heard, Al will once again be taking over the airwaves of VH-1 with his pirate satellite broadcasting transmitter! "AL-TV" will premiere tomorrow (Friday, Dec. 15) at 8 PM Eastern (check your local listings!) on VH-1. Al will be showcasing many of the videos from "Straight Outta Lynwood," as well as "interviewing" some of his "friends" in the "music industry!" Don't even consider the POSSIBILITY of missing it!

Weird Al has a new album out and he has a couple of songs that are really great. One of the better ones (IMHO)is Don't Download This Song. Very funny. The other is White and Nerdy, which, I believe, has already been posted. This to is one of his best ever. Weird Al rules!!!

Global warming truth may be incovenient, but film is convincing There is a quandary that faces most professional critics in which they see, hear or read a piece of work and it doesn't make them feel good. But they feel they must recommend it. Al Gore's crusade to stop the effects of global warming in "An Inconvenient Truth" is just such a case for me. I walked out of the theater feeling physically drained, yet wanting to let my car remain idle and walk home. But I recommend this film without reservation to any and everyone. If you have any...

Dear Readers, I've received so many messages about my review of Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" that, frankly, I don't see how the Answer Man can process them. I could print a dozen or a hundred, but that would lead us into an endless loop. Many are supportive. More are opposed to the movie and just about everything in it, and are written by people who have not seen the movie and will not see it for a variety of reasons, including the theory that it is "liberal propaganda." What I fail to understand is why global warming should be...

When there is a new outrage, I have to download some of my existing outrages, to make room. -- Al Gore CANNES, France -- What he wants you to know is that he has not made a political film. Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" tries to move outside politics and focus on the facts of global warming. Gore says those facts are established, the returns are in, there is almost unanimous scientific agreement about them, and we may have about 10 years before the earth reaches a tipping point from which it cannot recover. He has been traveling the world...

"Party in your library with the accordion-playing Clown Prince of Mock 'n Roll—"Weird Al"

Washington, DC-- In a major Washington policy address this Thursday, former Vice President Al Gore will accuse the Bush Administration of intentionally misleading the American people by continuing to falsely claim a connection between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. He will charge that Bush and Cheney have "institutionalized dishonesty as an essential element of their policy process." Gore will also urge the broadcast media to further resist Administration efforts to manipulate and intimidate them, to fearlessly report the fact that there is no Al Qaeda/Saddam collaborative relationship, as the 9/11 Commission staff report has concluded. Gore will also discuss the...

Demonstrating that libertarianism has appeal in Hollywood, Ruprecht lists as out-of-the-closet libertarians: Kurt Russell, Penn and Teller, Clint Eastwood, Drew Carey, John Larroquette, Howard Stern (who briefly sought the LP ticket for NY guv), Tommy Chong ("Although he may be a one-issue type person."), P.J. O'Rourke, Russell Means, [TV movie producer] Aaron Russo, and possibly Bill Maher ("I used to enjoy [Politically Incorrect] at the beginning, but then it got so Left, it got so weighted heavily against ..."). Not all libertarians places a high value on attracting celebrities. One Region 63 attendee marveled that actors comment on political matters...

An Amish man is facing drug charges in Southern Iowa as of Friday.Marvin Nisley 28, of rural Wayne County, was arrested last month on charges of trafficking in Meth and possession of marijuana. Wayne County Sheriff Keith Davis said authorities were suprised when they were asked by the Amish to investigate. The Amish usually take care of their own problems within the community. Davis said that those efforts had failed.Nisley was out of jail on bond. A court hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.

Alfred Matthew Yankovic, better known as Weird Al, has an original song on his new album, "Poodle Hat," that slams the U.S.'s good friends the French. Brought to my attention by an attentive LCR reader, the song, "Genius in France," was written as a tribute to Frank Zappa. Dweezil Zappa plays guitar on the track. The song lyrics make fun of France's tendency to lionize people such as Jerry Lewis and Michael Moore. Here's a sampling: "I'm not the brightest crayon in the box Everyone says I'm dumber than a bag of rocks I barely even know how to put...

NEW YORK - Eminem may poke fun at himself in videos, but he doesn't want "Weird Al" Yankovic doing it. Eminem won't give Yankovic permission to shoot a video for his new song, "Couch Potato," a parody of Eminem's Oscar-winning tune "Lose Yourself," Yankovic said. "The only reason I could glean was that making a Weird Al music video would detract from his legacy as a serious hip-hop artist," Yankovic said Thursday. "It's very disappointing. This could have been my best video ever."

A radio station thought to be backed by the Central Intelligence Agency has been broadcasting a gangsta rap parody of Saddam Hussein to Iraq.The radio has a Saddam impersonator comedically rapping out a massage in English and Arabic to the tune of Coolio's hit 'Gangsta's Paradise.'Against the background of studio laughter, the singer proclaims he had the devil by his side but now the game is up.'If you don't like me, I kill you. I am Saddam,' he sings in an English segment.'Bush wanna kick me, I don't know why, and if I call him, he does me goodbye.