First of all, we hope everyone's enjoying Al's brand new single, "Whatever You Like," a parody of...wait for it, wait for it...T.I.'s current number-one hit "Whatever You Like." If you haven't heard it yet, be sure to download it off iTunes during this first week of release so it can (knock on wood) chart on Billboard's "Hot 100."

Meanwhile, we are rapidly approaching October 10, the last day of voting in the Plain Dealer's annual Rock Hall readers poll. Last year Al won the write-in vote in a "landslide," so let's try for two years in a row!

Click here to take the survey now:
http://www.cleveland.com/rockhall/survey_2009

And as promised, we're continuing our week of linking to some noteworthy Al articles online.

Today's offering is sort of a now-classic piece of Al-related writing. It's actually not an article per se but rather a letter published in the New York Times in June from a man in Cairo whose son learned about American culture, satire, and yes, even freedom by listening to Al's music.

Click here to read the letter: Thanks, Weird Al, You Model American

Here's a little, but important, excerpt:

"So already, thanks to Weird Al, my son has latched onto a great American freedom—the one to poke fun at whomever, especially ourselves. For a kid, it’s a great place to start....Weird Al’s antics, his 'Christmas at Ground Zero' or 'White and Nerdy' couldn’t have happened in a society that didn’t encourage diversity, tolerance, and compromise....[Nikolas] knows Weird Al became who he is by daring to be different."

But why should that matter? Since when does the Rock Hall look at how an artist has influenced future generations, right?

Voting ends October 10, folks! Vote for Al now!