"Smoke inhalation may have killed comedian's parents"

[The Plaque Goblin]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20040410-9999-1mc10ffire.html

Smoke inhalation may have killed comedian's parents

By by Pat Sherman
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
April 10, 2004

FALLBROOK – An elderly couple – the parents of entertainer Weird Al Yankovic – were found dead in their rural one-story ranch house yesterday, possibly of smoke inhalation.

Family members initially found Nick and Mary Yankovic, 85 and 81, respectively, about 1 p.m. inside their home at 226 Foxfire Lane. The couple, married for 54 years, were the parents of Alfred Matthew Yankovic, known for his stage persona, Weird Al, and his musical parodies.

The entertainer, their only child, was scheduled to start a tour in Wisconsin yesterday. He and his agent could not be reached for comment yesterday.

The inside of the Foxfire Lane house was charred and there apparently had been a fire in the fireplace, said sheriff's Sgt. Conrad Grayson, with the bomb and arson unit. The couple appeared to have died of smoke inhalation, Grayson said.

Firefighters and sheriff's deputies were called on a report of smoke in the house. North County Fire paramedics said Nick Yankovic was in a chair in the living room and Mary Yankovic was on the floor in the bathroom.

The couple were well known in the neighborhood. Nick Yankovic was scrupulous about his daily walks. Mary Yankovic sometimes worked in her yard, but Alzheimer's disease kept her indoors most of the time, neighbors said.

Some of the many fan sites devoted to Weird Al Yankovic tell the story of his start in music. He credits his parents for inspiring him with the gift of an accordion at age 7. As a teenager, he wrote a song about his parents's car, "Belvedere Cruisin'."

The couple appeared in their son's videos and movies and on the Saturday morning television program "The Weird Al Show," which was canceled in 1998 after a year.

Nick Yankovic was awarded two Purple Hearts for his service in World War II, where he administered morphine and medicine to wounded soldiers, said Mary Yankovic's sisters, Dorothy Gatej and Lena Fuller.

The sisters live with their brother, Joe Vivald, in a home behind the Yankovics' house. They all have lived in the rural neighborhood for 30 years.

"They're not fancy people, just good people, religious," Fuller said. Neighbors said the couple would be missed.

"They were great people," said Noah Buehman, who lives with his parents across the street from the Yankovics.

"They were really nice. They were always looking out for us. If they saw our dog outside, they wouldn't call the pound," Noah said.

He recalled meeting Weird Al.

Noah's father, John Buehman, said Al Yankovic put his parents in his productions, sending a limousine to take them to the set. To them, he was always Alfred, never Weird Al, he said.

"It was obvious where Alfred got his sense of humor, from his dad," John Buehman said. "He was very proud of his son."

Every day around 6 a.m., Nick Yankovic would set off on his daily walk. He became interested in a construction project up the road, the Buehmans said, and the workers gave him his own yellow construction vest.

"Nick would get up and say, 'What a beautiful day. It's great to be alive,' " John Buehman said.

"And I'd always say, 'Nick, you're going to be alive for a long time.' "

Al Yankovic was born in Lynwood and grew up in Los Angeles. A high school valedictorian, he earned a degree in architecture at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. It was there that the singing accordionist quietly launched his musical career in 1979 with "My Bologna," a musical parody of the hit song "My Sharona" by The Knack.

His subsequent hits included his satirical version of Michael Jackson's "Beat It," which he retooled as a food-happy ditty called "Eat It," and Madonna's "Like a Virgin," which in his hands became "Like a Surgeon."

Weird Al has won three Grammy Awards, the most recent in February for "Poodle Hat," Best Comedy Album.

Staff writers Elizabeth Fitzsimons and Shannon Tangonan and music critic George Varga contributed to this report

[The Region Legion]

Aw, poor Al. Something about it being his parents seems kind of surreal.

[DuncanC]

Eeeagh.

I know there aren't exactly a whole lot of Weird Al fans around here, but that fucking sucks for anyone.

[peet]

Poor Al. Oddly enough in the last two weeks I've been downloading everything he's ever done, 1.5 gigabytes of it including about 35 music videos (sorry Al, if you're reading this). I was actually doing it as a favour for a broadband-less friend (honest!) having only heard one or two songs before and not been that impressed. But, I have to admit, I find quite a lot of it funny, if a bit dated in an 80s-mtv way.

[king mob]

Awww poor bloke, weird Al still cracks me up, his piss take of Teen Spirit is class.

[Pinball]

Weird Al is great. This is such awful news for him, and worse for his parents of course. I was recently poisoned by carbon monoxide from a faulty boiler (now replaced). My main learning from that delightful incident - fill your fucking house with CO & smoke detectors!! Presumably the Yankovic's didn't have these, which is tragic. We already had smoke alarms, but they're no good for CO. Apparently CO poisoning in the home is really common, so be warned...

[Neil]

Terrible shame.

Regards Weird Al himself,  he's certainly done some good stuff and is well worth checking out.

[king mob]

Weird Al is great. This is such awful news for him, and worse for his parents of course. I was recently poisoned by carbon monoxide from a faulty boiler (now replaced). My main learning from that delightful incident - fill your fucking house with CO & smoke detectors!! Presumably the Yankovic's didn't have these, which is tragic. We already had smoke alarms, but they're no good for CO. Apparently CO poisoning in the home is really common, so be warned...

Its amazingly common mainly in house with old people or students as they tend to live in old houses that have dodgy boilers or heaters.
Student housing has to conform to laws but theres a hell of a lot of iffy landlords who still have the dangerous heaters.