Weird Al and Michelle Branch Are Not Coming to Yardfest

Campus mailing lists were sent into a misguided flurry of excitement over the prank announcements that Weird Al Yankovich and Michelle Branch will be Yardfest Artists this coming April 18.

Students received at least two faux advertisements. One prank e-mail went out at 10:02 p.m. over Eliot House's e-mail list, proclaiming that Weird Al Yankovich would be an artist at this year's Yardfest. Yankovich is the author of the smash hit “White and Nerdy,” a parody of Chamillionaire’s “Ridin.”

The creator of the Yankovich e-mail, Paul B. VanKoughnett '12, also sent out a similar e-mail announcing Michelle Branch's presence at Yardfest. In the e-mail Branch was noted to be “a zero-time Grammy award winner,” who is “kind-of-well-known for her hit singles.”

As funny as these announcements may be, they are untrue. The College Events Board vice-chair, Stephen Anastos Jr. '11, and Crimson editor Synne D. Chapman '11, who is the director of the Harvard Concert Commission, confirmed that there are only three artists performing at this year’s Yardfest.

“Yes, the e-mails about additional Yardfest artists were pranks.” Chapman said in an e-mail, “Patrick Park, Wale, and Kid Cudi will be performing at Yardfest, and that is our complete and final lineup. We're really excited about the artists we have, and from what we've heard, so is the rest of campus.”

Maybe next year, Harvard.

Photo courtesy of Matt Glover/Creative Commons.