Weird Al Yankovic's parents found dead.

[TheMightyFavog]

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/04/10/news/top_stories/19_55_164_9_04.txt?id=19_55_164_9_04

FALLBROOK ---- The elderly parents of parody recording star "Weird Al" Yankovic were found dead of apparent carbon monoxide poisoning Friday in their modest Fallbrook home.

An investigator from the county medical examiner's office identified the couple as Nick and Mary Yankovic and said they lived in the house at 226 Foxfire Lane.

A blaze had been in a fireplace in the hillside house when three family members discovered the couple about 1 p.m., said sheriff's Sgt. Conrad Grayson, a fire investigator.

"The house was full of smoke when they opened the door," Grayson said. "We examined the fireplace. They were burning wood. They (family) had found the flue closed. They opened it."

[Bunny]

1. You wanna fix your subject line?

It's a little misleading. Thanks.

On edit, it's a dupe in any case. My condolences to Weird Al - he seems like a great guy. This is a tragedy for him and his family.

[TheMightyFavog]

2. Yeah, just caught that when it came up

fixed now.

I've had a couple, so forgive me.

[Bunny]

4. I've had a couple myself!

I'd :toast: but it seems a little macabre, under the circumstances.

[Occulus]

19. Dedicate a toast to his parents.

I tend to dislike his comedy a bit, but he does make a lot of people laugh, and we need more laughter here, rather than tears.

They did something right. Here's to his parents. :toast:

[TeeYiYi]

3. Maybe you should fix your headline . . . ?

TYY

[belle]

5. Oh, how terrible.

Poor guy.

[patricia92243]

6. Do they think they committed suicide or were just careless because they...

were elderly and maybe confused.

[belle]

8. Unless they were very ill or something, I'd say probably an accident.

Funny, I was just rereading "Short Friday," the Isaac Bashevis Singer story where exactly that happens. A couple suffocates in their sleep because they forget to open the flue. It's sort of bittersweet because both of their biggest fears was that one would die before the other. "Lovely and pleasant were they in their lives, and in death they were not divided." But poor Al--how devastating.

[Khephra]

7. My sympathies to the family

It's hard when one parent dies, but to have both of them die at one time....

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

11. How sad

My condolences to his family.

When I was a high school sophomore in 1978 two of my schoolmates died of carbon monoxide poisoning in the guy's car at El Dorado Lake. She was in my class; he was a junior. They hadn't been dating very long. They were last seen at a Quik Trip the night before and were found dead in the car at about 4:00 the next afternoon with the car still running. We never knew if they committed suicide or they were "parking" with the car running and his car had exhaust problems.

[Skittles]

16. when I was in high school in the seventies

the same thing happened to a classmate of mine. His best friend, with whom he had grown up, had been killed in a traffic accident a couple months before - I guess we will never know if it was an accident or not.

[WhereIsMyFreedom]

9. My condolences to Al

Weird Al is one of my favorite artists. I'm really saddened to hear about this tragedy. ;(

[PassingFair]

10. My heart goes out to Al

Such a good boy. And you KNOW he loved his parents. Makes me want to cry...

[latebloomer]

12. my 12-year-old son LOVES Al!

He has an entire CD memorized.

I'm not sure I want to tell him about this.

[drumwolf]

14. Don't. There's no need to.

Your son doesn't need to know about Al's parents. As tragic as it was, at least it wasn't Al himself and his parents had already lived very long lives. He'll take some time out to mourn as he should and hopefully he'll return to making more records afterwards. In the meantime, I'm sending out my condolences to him.

I grew up listening to Weird Al and I really do think the guy has a genuine knack for songwriting and for witty satire.

[Systematic Chaos]

13. Aw, man....

I am a serious Weird Al fan. I think he's been getting better and better the longer he stays at his game. Even as the quality of popular music continues to plummet his parodies become more and more enjoyable and his original tracks are just incredible.

Anyone here familair with the song off the Poodle Hat CD called "Genius in France"? It's gotta be the finest tribute to Frank Zappa I think I've ever heard. If I didn't know any better I'd swear Zappa wrote it and Yankovic got the rights to perform it on his album.

Goddammit this sucks. :(

[OneBlueSky]

15. from everything I've heard, Weird Al may be . . .

one of the genuinely nicest guys in the entertainment business . . . so sad that this should happen to someone with such an upbeat and optimistic outlook . . . condolences to Al and his family . . .

[minkyboodle]

17. That's really sad

I always liked Weird Al (UHF is a great movie). My condolences to him and his family.
Scott

[Kool Kitty]

18. This is such a shame.

Weird Al is one of my faves. I saw him perform a couple years ago, and it was one of the best shows I ever saw. My heart goes out to him.

[theHandpuppet]

20. This serves as a reminder...

... to install carbon monoxide detectors in your home! They don't cost any more than a smoke alarm and they DO save lives. My own parents' lives were saved by their detector when a malfunctioning gas heater filled their house with CM. Buy one (or more) for yourselves, buy them for your parents... for the cost of a trip to the movies or a pizza you can buy some peace of mind. Don't put it off til tomorrow, because tomorrow might be too late.

(Oh, and don't buy it from that GOP-enabler Home Depot... try CostCo or Lowe's instead. )

[Algorem]

21. Really bad.What sad song should he parody at the funeral?

http://www.wierdal.com

[R Hickey]

22. Fireplaces are dangerous when people don't know what a flue does

I knew of a young couple who moved into a quaint old Wisconsin farmhouse with a cozy fireplace. The first night there, the pair built a fire. Then, since they didn't know any better, they left the chimney-flue wide open and went upstairs to bed.

Warning - After you start a fire in a fireplace, you are supposed to partially close the flue. If you don't partially close the flue, and your chimney has soot built up in it, then your fireplace's gasses may get too hot, and start a "chimney fire." Often a chimney fire will burn down the house.

The young Wisconsin couple did not know that they were supposed to partially close the flue. So after going to bed, they awoke choking in a dark smoke-filled bedroom. The pair barely escaped with their lives. The house burned right to the ground. Firemen got there too late to save anything.

[cheezus]

23. I'm supposed to be going to his concert monday nite

he played the sat night show in mankato. No word on a cancellation. I hope he postpones.