I am already flattered to head to the United States. I am going to Florida next week to see five additional shows of the Weird Al Yankovic The Unfortunate Return of the Ridiculously Self-Indulgent Ill-Advised Vanity Tour. (Almost) no cover songs, a new list of songs every night. I already loved my short trip to the tour’s first three dates in April.

Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz is the drummer of Weird Al Yankovic since very early stages of his career. However, since that time in 1980, he is not only leading the rhythmic part of the band, but also some sort of “archivist”: Bermuda owns tons of pictures and videos of all the years working and touring with the five-time Grammy Award winner. After a first photo book, Black & White & Weird All Over: The Lost Photographs of “Weird Al” Yankovic ’83 – ’86, Schwarz is about to release a new set of illustrations and stories about the remarkable career and collaboration: Lights, Camera, Accordion!: Eye-Popping Photographs of “Weird Al” Yankovic, 1981–2006 will be available from 15th November 2022. I felt gifted to have a chat with Jon about touring with Al – and the new book.
Flyctory.com meets Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz
FLYC: Jon, in 1980, you ran into a guy named Alfred Matthew Yankovic. What would have been your life alike if his wouldn’t have happened – or you declined to join his band?
Bermuda: I’m sure I’d still be playing drums, but I don’t know if I would have enjoyed the kind of success and longevity with a band that I’ve had with Al. I was in the right place at the right time that night and I’m glad we met.
FLYC: Would you have been more tempted to decline to join his band if you knew that you will still be his drummer 42 years later?
Bermuda: I don’t think it would have mattered. I certainly didn’t have any idea that there might be a lengthy future with Al, but I’m glad it has worked out!

FLYC: You are just about to finish a long tour with Al, lasting from April to October 2022. How easy was it for you to motivate being abroad for such a long time?
Bermuda: This tour has been our longest ever without any breaks, and we weren’t sure how we’d feel with so much time away from home. But with the end in sight, I realize how quickly the time has passed. It doesn’t seem like 6 months at all.
FLYC: An additional challenge to the The Unfortunate Return of the Ridiculously Self-Indulgent Ill-Advised Vanity Tour this year was Covid-19. Several band and crew members have been infected during the tour, some shows had to be postponed. How difficult has that been for you?
Bermuda: Fortunately the crew stayed ‘negative’ during the tour, but Al, Jim, Ruben and eventually I tested positive. There were no serious symptoms, but testing positive changed how the shows were handled, and when Al tested positive for Covid we did postpone four shows (they’ve been rescheduled for February, 2023.) When I tested positive, I had a drummer friend come in and play some shows. I felt bad that the band had to work with a drummer they hadn’t played with before, but he was prepared and did a great job. And no shows were cancelled so it all worked out.

FLYC: You were also ill and had to be replaced for a couple of shows. You learned for so many years to play the drums like drummers in other bands – but how difficult is it for other drummers to sound like Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz?
Bermuda: I’m not sure I have an identifiable sound, because it’s my job to sound like so many other drummers. But nothing I play is very difficult, the real challenge in doing the show lies with the arrangements and vocal cues from Al.
FLYC: The band’s guitar player, Jim “Kimo” West, even had to play some shows from outside the venue, being isolated in a small studio-alike scenery. How was that for you when someone was “missing” – and has that been an option for you as well?
Bermuda: It was surprisingly easy to play the show without being able to see Jim – or him being able to see us. When Ruben tested positive, we were able to do the shows without him or a substitute player. But by the time I tested positive in late-August, there was no longer a plan to have the player perform from an isolated place. A sub has to be called in.
FLYC: When Al is suggesting a new song, cover or original, is there something which makes it especially hard for you to get around with it as a drummer?
Bermuda: Most of the original songs are easy for me, but the parodies became increasingly challenging especially with advances in production and sound design. I learned to create sounds, and I think I became quite good at it. All of the drum and percussion parts on all of the albums are done by me, and I’m especially proud of my work on the parodies on the last several albums.
FLYC: On this tour (i.e. only originals) – and maybe in general as well, which are your favorite songs and least favorite songs of your repertoire?
Bermuda: They’re kind of all the same to me, because I like playing the drums. I guess if I had to pick my least favorite, it would be You Don’t Love Me Anymore. I don’t play drums on that.
FLYC: The reason why we do this interview also is that you are releasing a book with behind-the-scenes photos of Weird Al’s career. What did you make become the “photographer” and archivist of the band?
Bermuda: I had been taking photos since I was about 15, and always took a lot of pictures of the people around me, my bands, vacations, the dogs… everything! I also kept memorabilia of the things I did in school, with bands, etc. So by the time I met Al in 1980, I was already ‘documenting’ the events in my life and I did the same with him. Of course I didn’t know that the collection of photos and other materials would continue to grow, and that they might have some value to Al and the fans. I’m glad I kept everything, and I know Al’s glad as well.

FLYC: It is already the second photo book of you about your band life. The first one was name Black & White & Weird – and has been a great success in 2020. How was it like for you two years ago, when you saw the pre-sales and sales figures of that first photo book?
Bermuda: Of course I was pleased to see the book sell so well, but the reaction from the fans was very satisfying as well – they loved it! The book is officially sold-out now, only a handful of copies remain with Amazon and some other sellers. I don’t know if there’ll be a re-print, or maybe it will be released on Kindle?
FLYC: Do you have a favorite story or picture in this book?
Bermuda: There are as many memories for me, and all of them are good! It’s impossible to pick one (or many) favorite shots, but Al deserves the credit for being so easily photographable. I just held the camera and pressed the shutter at the right time. I really enjoyed being able to give some information about the video shoots, such as locations and a little info about some of the people in the videos. I could have written a lot more, but we wanted to keep the text short to help feature the photos.
FLYC: One key difference between Black & White & Weird and the new book, Lights, Camera, Accordion is that your new book will have color photos. Why did you go for these ones this time?
Bermuda: The black and white photos were special because most of them had never been seen before. They were also shot in a fairly short period from 1983-86. But those were the only black and white shots of Al that I had taken, everything else was color and taken over a 25-year period. There were a LOT of great photos, and several of them have been seen online and in print, but not in the quality that they appear in the new book. Some of the photos are just stunning compared to previous versions that are out there. And of course there are a ton of photos that haven’t been seen before, so this book is a must-have for fans.

FLYC: The book will be a 250 page hardcover book. How did you select all the pictures in it? And how did you select a “dramaturgy” in which you want to order the pictures?
Bermuda: Obviously I wanted shots that were interesting, but it was a difficult process choosing a realistic number of shots. I was able to select about 800 photos, which was way more than we needed. But I still needed some help cutting that by more than half, so I sent them to Al, Jim, Steve, Ruben, and Al’s manager, hoping they could help eliminate some. They liked just about all of them, and the final count was 794, which didn’t help much. Fortunately, the publisher’s editor Shane Lewis helped narrow that down to just over 300, which was the number we were shooting for. Shane also decided on the order of the photos, which was somewhat by date, but mostly grouped by whatever was happening in each shot. I think he did a great job!
FLYC: This book is majorly focusing to the “early-to-middle” years of the Weird Al career and your band story. Does that mean that there are many photo books to come in the future?
Bermuda: There are certainly a lot of digital photos that cross over into the period of the book’s film photos, and include plenty of recent and current photos. There are more than enough for an additional book (or two!) but there hasn’t been any discussion about that yet.

FLYC: When you think of the 2022 tour, which picture would describe the tour best?
Bermuda: It’s hard to sum-up a tour in just one photo, but we usually take a group shot that includes everyone on the tour, and that’s always a great memory.
FLYC: Last, but not least: you finish the tour on 29th October 2022 at Carnegie Hall, New York City. Some three weeks later, your book will be released. What are you looking forward to most when all the work is done and you have some time to relax?
Bermuda: The holidays come up soon after I get home, so there’ll be preparation for gifts, cards, family get-togethers, etc. It will probably be two months later in January before I can really relax, but then we’re on tour again in February!
Drum pictures by Kamal Asar (Instagram: leftyphoto), picture with Weird Al: artist material. Lower picture: Flyctory.com
Pre-Order Lights, Camera, Accordion at Amazon
Amazon US:

|
Amazon Germany:
|
Amazon Germany link is an affiliate one.
Follow Jon “Bermuda” Schwarz Online
Follow Weird Al Yankovic Online

Flyctory.com about Weird Al Yankovic
Here are all postings related to Weird Al Yankovic:
I am loaded with tennis work this week. The time in Newport, Rhode Island, featuring Indian tennis and the induction ...
Is it really New Year's Eve already again? The last day of the year? I am posting this one in ...
A new album by Jim "Kimo" West is always a very special moment for me. The Grammy-winning artist is a ...
Suprise, but no surprise? Stephen Jay already stated that his new album understatement is almost ready around the Dusseldorf show ...
Ten shows within three weeks - I was just so flattered to welcome Weird Al Yankovic and his lovely band ...
Today is a very special day to me: Weird Al Yankovic is playing is first-ever concert in Germany tonight, at ...
In one of my latest Songs Of My Life editions, I introduced you to Amish Paradise by Weird Al Yankovic. Just ...
That day in Tilburg, Netherlands, was some sort of highlight of my Flyctory.com history so far. Almost five years after ...
The last posting of the year - Best Ones 2022 is introducing you to my best experience last years (as ...
While the music market is more and more focusing on singles and even writes weird stories like Taylor Swift's "Top ...
I was quite surprised that finally 15 songs made it into my Songs of the Week as of 16th November 2022 ...
The 7th November 2022 is one of these days I will hardly forget so quickly. In a Weird Al fan ...
During the second week of October 2022, I have been tour-chasing Weird Al Yankovic on five stages of his The ...
Last week, have been traveling through Florida. Four cities, five concerts, one artist: Weird Al Yankovic. The US-American comedy musician ...
Somehow, a sad moment. The last show of Weird Al Yankovic on this trip. Day 5 would take me from ...
Day 3 of my Weird Al Yankovic trip in April 2022 likely had the most relaxed schedule of all. No ...
Which album would suit better this week to be the preview on Flyctory.com than Stephen Jay's Vita Beata? Just in ...
Pough... Pough... Keepsie? Poughkeepsie! I do love my Pittsburgh Penguins trips - like the last one in March 2022. But ...
Sharing my travel experience following Weird Al Yankovic on tour in North America is somehow traditional on Flyctory.com. Even though ...
2020 is about to come to an end - and the last three posting of the years re about to ...
Weird Al Yankovic is not only one of my most favorite artists, who I follow for some twenty years now ...
In addition to the very personal new Songs of My Life category, I feel like having a bit more blogging contents on ...
After his 2015 album Guitar Stories: Slack Key & Beyond, Jim "Kimo" West is back in the virtual record stores with ...
Just in time: one day before Jim "Kimo" West will release his new album More Guitar Stories, I had the opportunity ...
No hockey on Day 3 of my California trip 2020 - the day after the first match of the Pittsburgh ...
Due to my passion for Weird Al Yankovic, I know Jim "Kimo" West for a couple of years now. Kimo ...
As part of my Weird Al and Grass Court Tennis 2019 trip, I already visited two concerts of Weird Al ...
After the transfer Day 1 was haunted by terrible weather and Day 2 the expected long road trip to New ...
String Attached - the 2019 tour of Weird Al Yankovic is backed up by (local) symphonic orchestras. I traveled into Gilford, ...
After transferring to Connecticut on the first day, the second day of my "Weird Al & Grass Court Tennis" trip ...
After I did my very first trip report on Flyctory.com about following Weird Al Yankovic on his "Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised ...
Day 4, back to Atlanta, heading to where the trip started... and to my final concert of this trip. The ...
Saturday, 14th April, has not been regarded as the most thrilling day of this trip anyway. Travelling from the very ...
So long awaited... Time for the first concert of my trip to the Weird Al Tour 2018! Tried to start ...
My first flyctory.com Trip Report leads me to Georgia and Tennessee. Starting from Cologne airport, my key aim of that ...
Flyctory Obscura
Flyctory Obscura-tagged reviews represent weird, unique, entertaining places of all kind:
After I featured the museum at KISS World in Las Vegas already, it is time to also take you to ...
New York City is full of iconic and strange places. Undoubtedly, the Museum of Sex in Manhattan is one of ...
Having a hike with alpacas? This kind of free time activity becomes more and more popular, in Germany. Organizers argue ...
When I visited Vienna in June 2024, I wanted to spot a wide range of the city's attractions. Among them ...
There is a sheer countless list of reasons why one might want to visit New York City. The spirit of ...
67 kilometers alongside the Belgian Coast, serving 67 stations - the Kusttram ("Coastal tram line") is regarded to be the ...
The Ride NYC is a very fancy combination of exploring New York City - at least regarding their marketing. They ...
During my most recent trip to Utrecht, I unfortunately did not have too much time to explore the city. Apart ...
Going back from Las Vegas to Los Angeles after the New Year's Eve celebrations, my wife and I opted to ...
Japanese culture sometimes feels very different from Central European one. Thus, I loved to be in Tokyo in September 2023 ...
There is a lot of stuff to see and experience in Las Vegas. The temple for hard rock fans in ...
The Selfkant is truly a remarkable municipality in the very West of the Federal Republic of Germany. The border to ...
East Belgium hosts a very iconic building constructed by the domestic pacifist and author Robert Garcet. The Tower of Eben-Ezer ...
When the Faroe Islands opened the Vagatunnilin, the Vagar Tunnel, in 2002, ,it was a revolution in their infrastructure. The almost ...
For the last review in 2023, I opted for the Kruger Street Toy and Train Museum. I happened to run ...
You might not know the company Nissin Foods founded in Osaka and nowadays still based there (and in Tokyo). However, ...
Wacken could be just a normal village on the countryside of the German state of Schleswig-Hostein. However, when you mention the ...
The Presidents Hall of Fame is having quite some fame, even though it is not located very close to the ...
I typically don't review restaurants on Flyctory.com. However, this place is just too special. And it is a highlight for ...
One thing I was looking forward a lot during our recent trip to Japan were vending machines. We did not ...
Being in Japan the first time in October 2023, I also explored some of the rather non-European ways to spend ...
Museums are getting famous for various reasons. The best one is, likely, when they are having a deep and educative, ...
When Swiss International Air Line recently released the seat map of their new Airbus A350 fleet, a real advantage of ...
The Heathrow Express, the Elizabeth Line or the good, old Piccadilly Line - there are many transport options to get ...
Do you feel Santa coming soon already? During the last years, typically in early to mid-September, Nashville started to release ...
I do have to admit that I typically travel to Pittsburgh to visit my beloved Pittsburgh Penguins. However, there are ...
Due to its harbor, Hamburg is a very important place for trading goods of all kinds. Not too surprisingly, there ...
I have to give in, that is not a normal posting. I felt that with any major anniversary for Flyctory.com, ...
All you need is love - even if you don't agree to the Beatles' lyrics, you might agree that love is ...
Shopping Malls are not that frequently presented on Flyctory.com. There are some exceptions like my posting about the Ibn Battuta ...
Germany meets Belgium and Belgium meets the Netherlands. Needless to say that also Germany and the Netherlands touch each other ...
On the week at which I am publishing this review, many people are focusing on Liverpool. They look forward to ...
There are these days in life which you remember. The days you exactly remember what you did on that day ...
Dubrovnik is very often named to be the Pearl of the Adria or the Jewel of the Adria. This is majorly due ...
Duisburg in the Ruhrgebiet might not be on the top of your list when you plan a trip though Germany ...
A tiny bronze guy continuously urinating in the heart of Brussels into a fountain basin regularly makes to into the ...
When you pass North Huntingdon Southeast of Pittsburgh on the US-30, it feels like a very typical American city at ...
If you nowadays look at the map of Cyprus, you won't find any rail-driven vehicles. However, the country did have ...
Without a doubt, the Alter Elbtunnel / Historic Elbe Tunnel is one of the most iconic constructions in the Northern German ...
If you visit Flyctory.com frequently, you typically don't get into contact with arts too often. However, when I recently visited ...
Harry Potter has turned a fictive wizard into a huge franchise. Right next to the place you can spend roughly ...
The Reeperbahn area in Hamburg's borough St. Pauli has undergone quite a significant transformation. Some decades ago, the red light and ...
I love unique places, weird locations - and even mark them by the Flyctory Obscura tag - The more I ...
Even though the Belgian border is less than an hour drive away from where I live, there are not too ...
Many oeople visit the Canary Islands just due to the reliable climate and good weather. However, there are some really ...
Despite the country as such is rather small (measured by the number of people, not by area), Iceland has some ...
The area around Trier is holding a bunch of records for the oldest buildings and structures in Germany. The rationale ...
You can hardly deny that Superman is truly a US-American hero. While the comic figure and superhero has first been ...
In the early 1990's I visited Malta for the first time, going on a summer vacation with my parents. The ...
A museum about pigs? Indeed, that's something you can do when you are in Stuttgart. Interestingly, the former slaughterhouse is ...
The Covid-19 situation limited my potential to travel between Dubai and Abu Dhabi during the last two years. One place ...
During a trip to the German North Sea shore in later 2021, we also visited the Automobil- & Spielzeugmuseum Nordsee. The ...
Even though the TV series The Dukes of Hazzard just has been aired in the United States between 1979 and 1985, ...
A museum about Law and Justice sounds not really like the most thrilling place out there. However, during the sixth ...
The abandoned settlement part of Al Madam in the East parts of the Emirate of Sharjah has become a hidden ...
Corn Flake, muesli, granola, any kind of flavored and sugared loops and many more - cereals are one of the ...
What do Icelandic people do if there is a public toilet in the heart of their capital, which they don't ...
We all know that Santa Claus is living in Rovaniemi, Finland... Or is he home to Russia? Northern Canada? There ...
What is the shortest flight time between Canada and the European Union? Can you walk from the USA to Russia? ...
Until 2018, you could travel to Italy to visit the world largest labyrinth. The Labirinto Della Masone near Parma is ...
Half of us got one - and most of them love it/him. The philosopher Nietzsche even defined a penis envy ...
More than 5,000 small buckets one next to another in a bunch of aisles within one store. The contents: interlocking ...
Have you ever heard of Surströmming, Hakarl or Spam? Do you mind eating eyes or drinking cow blood? All these ...
If you know the name Carlo Pedersoli by heart, then you are likely ready to head to Berlin since 27th ...
Is that the future of dining? Robots creating your mail and serving them at your table. Which sounds a bit ...
Magnetic levitation is such a fascinating technology - and even though the German Transrapid project is no longer followed, it still ...
Preservatives, artificial flavors, abherents and more - there are countless potential food additives in our everyday nutrition. You might feel ...
A museum with 90 vintage cars and so-called Yountimers might not feel to thrilling. If you add that about half of ...
I am not too much in Harry Potter - but therefor, my wife is compensating my lack of knowledge. After ...
During an October 2020 trip to the East Frisia (Ostfriesland) region, I just could not prevent myself to have a ...
I wouldn't say that I have an intense fear of heights, but I do treat situations, in which I or ...
What is Germany's most popular tourist attractions? According to many popular rankings including TripAdvisor, it is neither the Brandenburg Gate ...
A museum for home computers feels like a technical reflection of my biography. I personally started with an Atari 800 ...
Las Vegas offers entertainment for everybody. One of the places which I love most in the city is definitely the Pinball ...
The city of Venlo in the Netherlands is maybe some sort of perfect illustration of profiting from the Schengen Agreement, ...
I am not too much of a casino person. However, I love being in Las Vegas as it is also ...
My beloved home town Cologne, Germany, is always a bit of crazy - not just during the carnival days. Thus, ...
Not just in regards of the third day of my time in California, but also for the whole trip following ...
Since my recent trips to Singapore and Taiwan latest I know that the true hero of Asian pop culture is ...
Combining a cinema visit with Michelin star-chef created food? Nothing is impossible in the United Arab Emirates! At the last ...
You may know Mönchengladbach (or: Moenchengladbach) for soccer, likely. However, the city hosts one of the most remarkable Star Wars ...
Halls of Fame are very popular in the United States. Finally, there are likely Halls of Fame for almost every ...
When I select the places I want to visit in a city for flyctory.com, there are typically two kinds sights: ...
If you drive the US-61 between Tunica, Mississippi, and Memphis, you just cannot miss the iconic wooden building called Gateway To ...
Motorway service plazas are the most boring places in the world? Not if you are in the United Arab Emirates, ...
Flyctory.com is neither a food-blog nor an advertisement platform for fast food. However, visiting the McDonald's at International Drive, Orlando, ...