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'Weird' Al talks parody in the 21st century: this week on The Green Room

"Weird Al" Yankovic stops by the National Cherry Festival on Sunday.

“Weird Al” Yankovic has been making people laugh for more than 30 years.

On Sunday, he’s stopping by Traverse City with his “Mandatory Fun” Tour.

Hear how he came up with the idea for his song Foil, which parodies the pop song Royals by Lorde.

"Foil just kind of struck me because I thought of this kind of dramatic turn that song could take, going from basically an endorsement of aluminum foil to a full-on conspiracy theory manifesto," Yankovic says.

Yankovic says writing parodies in a more varied music culture is challenging, compared to his early days in the 1980s.

"I think there was more of a monoculture back then, and MTV certainly fed into that," Yankovic says. "Nowadays, because of the internet, everyone's attention is scattered into a thousand different directions.

Mardi Jo Link (right) with Bev, another member of the "Drummond Girls."
Credit Mardi Jo Link
Mardi Jo Link (right) with Bev, another member of the "Drummond Girls."

Also in this week's show, Michigan author Mardi Jo Link talks about her new memoir, The Drummond Girls.

The book focuses on the special, 25-year friendship formed among a group of eight women.

"Each one of us kind of has this little role in the group," Link says. "If we were all the same, you know, I don't think we'd need each other as much."

The Drummond Girls comes out July 14th, and Mardi Jo Link will be signing copies at Horizon Brooks in Traverse City, on July 18th.

Kate Botello is a host and producer at Classical IPR.