Jon Schwartz (drummer) - Later Life

Later Life

Schwartz has played drums for every "Weird Al" Yankovic concert since 1981, except for three shows during the 2003 Poodle Hat Tour; a minor illness prevented him from playing the drums, and bassist Steve Jay's friend and collaborator Pete Gallagher, who was working as a tech on that tour, sat-in on the drums while Schwartz handled the electronics, cues, and vocals from behind the drum riser.

Schwartz is also the official band historian, known for keeping meticulous lists and notes, and has archived an unsurpassed collection of unique retail and promo audio and video products from around the world that feature "Weird Al" Yankovic either as a performer, director, in a cameo appearance, or named or pictured on the product. Schwartz has an unmatched wealth of photos, memorabilia, and details on his career with Yankovic, and is regularly sourced for rare and behind-the-scenes images or other materials and information for TV shows, publications, and audio and video releases having to do with Yankovic.

In between Yankovic projects, Schwartz continues to play with other L.A.-area artists and bands and has worked with Rip Masters, Jim Silvers, Karling Abbeygate, the Black Plate Kings, Ray Campi, Raymond And Scum, ApologetiX (specifically the album Biblical Graffiti, where he played drums on seven of the tracks), Lousy Little Gods, and Idle Hands.

Schwartz has enjoyed a respectable online presence since 1993. Schwartz began designing web sites in 1995, and grew it into a side-business that now includes other graphic design work such as CD layouts and book cover art. He also created The Official "Weird Al" Yankovic Website in 1995, which later became weirdal.com. He continues to maintain it, along with his own site and several others. He is an administrator for the World of "Weird Al" Yankovic Forum, and regularly participates in various drum-related forums (such as the Drumsmith forum) under the name "bermuda".

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