10 most interesting people hitting Indy this spring

1. "Weird Al" Yankovic

• Claim to fame: The most successful comedy musician of all time, writing and performing both parodies ("Tacky," "Yoda") and style pastiches ("Dare to Be Stupid"). Also co-wrote and starred in the cult classic "UHF" (1989).

• Current project: Touring in support of last year's "Mandatory Fun," winner of the Best Comedy Album Grammy in February (his fourth) and his first chart-topping album in a 30-plus-year career.

• Worth repeating: "How can you get bored if the audience is cheering and laughing at something you're doing?"

• See him: 7:30 p.m. May 28, Murat Theatre at Old National Centre, 502 N. New Jersey St., sold out, livenation.com, (317) 231-0000.

2. Stewart Copeland

• Claim to fame: As drummer for the Police, Virginia native Copeland sold 75 million albums worldwide.

• Current project: Touring with pianist Jon Kimura Parker, Stewart is performing chamber music in a program billed as "Off the Score." The show, which visits Butler University on March 27, features Copeland's compositions as well as Parker's suite based on Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring."

• Worth repeating: "Making music has gotten easier; selling it has gotten harder. Making music has been democratized, but the market is in the hands of fascists."

• See him: 8 p.m. March 27, Clowes Hall, 4602 Sunset Ave., $30 to $40, Ticketmaster.com, (800) 745-3000.

3. Sufjan Stevens

• Claim to fame: Indie-rock musician Stevens recorded the critically hailed album "Illinoise" in 2005. With lyrics inspired by people, places and events in Illinois history, the album spanned pop, classical, jazz and Broadway styles.

• Current project: On tour to promote "Carrie & Lowell," an album set for release on March 31.

• Worth repeating: "Audacity is central to everything I do. A lot of times I think my work is about just seeing if I can get away with it."

• See him: 7:30 p.m. April 18, Murat Theatre in Old National Centre, 502 N. New Jersey St., $30 to $75, LiveNation.com, (800) 745-3000.

4. Macy Gray

• Claim to fame: Ohio native Gray reached the Top 5 of Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart with 1999 single "I Try." The song received a Grammy Award in the category of best female pop vocal performance and was nominated in the categories of record of the year and song of the year.

• Current project: On tour to promote 2014 album "The Way."

• Worth repeating: "Whatever your image is, it's probably not you. But it affords you the freedom to live up to it."

• See her: 8 p.m. April 18, Madame Walker Theatre Center, 617 Indiana Ave., $35 to $50, WalkerTheatre.org, (317) 236-2099.

5. Adam Savage & Jamie Hyneman

• Claim to fame: Since 2003 special-effects experts Adam Savage and Indiana University alumnus Jamie Hyneman have hosted "MythBusters" on the Discovery Channel.

• Current project: A tour titled "Jamie & Adam Unleashed" will visit Old National Centre on April 19. The event is billed as an "unexpected evening of on-stage experiments, audience participation, rocking video and behind-the-scenes stories."

• Worth repeating: "I am someone who doesn't socialize much, talk much, don't care to be on camera, and I don't do well handling more than one thing at a time. And yet my job for the last 11 years has been to do exactly those things. Go figure." — Hyneman.

• See them: 7:30 p.m. April 19, Murat Theatre in Old National Centre, 502 N. New Jersey St., $29.50 to $59.50, LiveNation.com, (800) 745-3000.

6. Loretta Lynn

• Claim to fame: A member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Kentucky native Lynn recorded landmark songs "You're Lookin' at Country," "Fist City" and "The Pill." In 1980, a film adaptation of Lynn's autobiography "Coal Miner's Daughter" earned an Academy Award for lead actress Sissy Spacek.

• Current project: In addition to playing concert dates, 82-year-old Lynn oversees Loretta Lynn's Ranch & Family Campground in Hurricane Mills, Tenn. In 2014, she collected a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Americana Music Association's Honors & Awards Show.

• Worth repeating: "When I first came to Nashville, people called us 'hillbilly singers' and hardly gave country music any respect. We lived in old cars and dirty hotels, and we ate when we could."

• See her: 8 p.m. April 24, the Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts, 1 Center Green, Carmel, $45 to $125, TheCenterPresents.com, (317) 660-3373.

7. Jeff Tweedy

• Claim to fame: Illinois native Tweedy co-founded iconic alt-country band Uncle Tupelo, which was active from 1987 to 1994. He then established Wilco, a band known for the albums "Being There," "Summerteeth" and "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot." In 1997, Wilco and English musician Billy Bragg wrote music to accompany "lost" lyrics by Woody Guthrie. The project resulted in the albums "Mermaid Avenue" and "Mermaid Avenue Vol. II."

• Current project: Wilco's 20th anniversary tour includes a May 7 show at Old National Centre.

• Worth repeating: "I've been obsessed with seeing life through music. My records, my relationship with records, my relationship with rock stars, everything that surrounds it has been really one of the only ways that I ever started to understand the world."

• See him: 7:30 p.m. May 7, Murat Theatre in Old National Centre, 502 N. New Jersey St., $29.50 to $49.50, LiveNation.com, (800) 745-3000.

8. George Clinton

• Claim to fame: A Rock and Roll Hall of Famer thanks to his work with Parliament-Funkadelic, Clinton blasted through the 1970s with signature tunes "Flash Light," "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)" and "Up for the Down Stroke."

• Current project: On tour to promote Funkadelic's 2014 album, "First Ya Gotta Shake the Gate."

• Worth repeating: "There's stuff that doesn't make sense to most people, but it makes sense to me."

• See him: 9 p.m. May 14, the Vogue, 6259 N. College Ave., $35 to $40, Ticketfly.com, (317) 259-7029.

9. Nick Offerman & Megan Mullally

• Claim to fame: Illinois native Offerman portrayed Ron Swanson across seven seasons of "Parks and Recreation." Mullally portrayed Karen Walker across eight seasons of "Will & Grace."

• Current project: This husband-and-wife team are on tour, presenting a stage show of music and comedy.

• Worth repeating: "I like making people laugh without expending much effort. I've learned to try to be funny in silence. That's a good way to do it." — Offerman.

• See them: 7:30 p.m. May 16, Murat Theatre in Old National Centre, 502 N. New Jersey St., $39.50, LiveNation.com, (800) 745-3000.

10. Lana Del Rey

• Claim to fame: Singer-songwriter Del Rey racked up 4.4 million sales of 2012 album "Born to Die," good for No. 5 on that year's list of top-selling recordings worldwide.

• Current project: On tour to promote 2014 album "Ultraviolence."

• Worth repeating: "I want one of two things: I either want to tell it exactly like the way it was, or I want to envision the future the way I hope it will become. I'm either documenting something, or I'm dreaming."

• See her: 7:30 p.m. May 28, Klipsch Music Center, 12880 E. 146th St., $24 to $78.50, LiveNation.com, (800) 745-3000.

Channing King contributed to this report.

Call Star reporter David Lindquist at (317) 444-6404. Follow him on Twitter: @317Lindquist.