Errors-To: owner-tmbg-digest@tmbg.org Reply-To: tmbg-digest@tmbg.org Sender: owner-tmbg-digest@tmbg.org Precedence: bulk From: owner-tmbg-digest@tmbg.org To: tmbg-digest@tmbg.org Subject: tmbg-list Digest #2-253 tmbg-list Digest, Volume 2, Number 253 Monday, 16 September 1996 Today's Topics: TMBG at the House of Blues RE: New Box Set RE: hELLO Re: tmbg-list Digest #2-251 Re: bells n stuff Re: cub,flans (woo hoo!) Re: TMBG at the House of Blues Re: Re: bells n stuff + Oasis + UWA pink album Re: tmbg-list Digest #2-251 Re: TMBG at the House of Blues [Fwd: Showroom Announcements!] No One Knows My Plan, jive baby! Calling Fransburgh.....! Administrivia: For all administrative issues, such as change of address, withdrawal from the list, etc., send a message to the following address: tmbg-digest-request@tmbg.org --------------------------------------------------------------------- The views expressed herein are those of the individual authors. --------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: TMBG at the House of Blues From: garit@juno.com (Larry Santiago) Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 02:10:01 EDT I'll definitely be at the House of Blues show, and I'll try to tape it too. Security's kinda tight there so it's quite risky, but what the hey. It will be an excellent show, as I've never seem Them in non-Theater venue. Here's a little article found in BAM Magazine concerning Their appearance at the House of Blues in Hollywood next Thursday, 9/19/96: "They Might Be Giants: House of Blues, Hollywood - Guitarist/vocalist John Flansburgh and accordion player/vocalist John Linnell-collectively known as They Might Be Giants-write poppy, light-hearted material (End of the Tour is light-hearted?) that's all over the musical map. From cockamamie waltzes and smaltzy polkas to offkilter surf ballads, they seem to cover it all. Plus, their twisted and devilishly humorous lyrics will keep you laughing, even if they don't always make a whole lotta sense. With or without a band, They Might Be Giants are always a hoot. And one of the funniest stunts they usually pull is when they ask the audience to shout out cover-tune requests and then they attempt to play them. (Edgar Winter's 'Frankenstein'? Sure, no problem!) So, get out your pocket protectors, lab coats, and/or slide rules 'cause it's revenge of the nerds time! And don't worry, you'll have plenty of good company." By Pat Lewis Well, this seems to be a positive article about Them, but the author couldn't help mentioning at least 5 or 6 words relating to the word "funny" in this brief piece. Comments? Questions? Concerns? "This is my current signature quote. Isn't it neat?" - Larry Santiago ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Sep 96 09:58:09 UT From: "Martin Baker" Subject: RE: New Box Set > > I just heard from Daniel in the Netherlands, that the Bar-None > albums & videos have been reissued by Elektra. Perhaps Elektra owns the > rights to the European market? Is there a cross-lisencing agreement > between Bar-None and Elektra? Yes, you're right. And this leads to some subtle differences between the US and UK (European) copies. I believe that Elektra bought the UK rights to the Bar/None stuff right after "Birdhouse"/"Flood"s success. For example the copy of "Lincoln" I have says (P) 1988 TMB Productions, (c) 1991 WEA Elektra Entertainment. There is a subtle difference between this copy and the US Sleeve (which I've seen on Mr. Me's home page). The US Copy does not identify the album title/group on the front cover (correct ?) whereas the UK cover has "They Might Be Giants" in block red at the top, and just below it aligned to the left is "Lincoln" in white. Both the "Pink" album and "Lincoln" got released by Elektra in the UK and as far as I know are still available in this form. Although strangely enough, the album you all know as "Misc. T" was handled by the independent label One Little Indian who issued it under the title of "Don't Lets Start" with completely different artwork. I'm currently trying to find out for a friend whether this has been deleted or not - it certainly isn't very visible in our record shops, which makes me doubt that O.L.I. will be that bothered about issuing the Restless 73 tracker over here. Still, if they don't release the Restless 2CD set over here I know a shop in the UK that does very well priced US imports - I'll be getting my copy from him. He also does mail order within the UK so if any UK fans have trouble finding a copy in '97 then mail me. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Sep 96 10:11:41 UT From: "Martin Baker" Subject: RE: hELLO >>>Every so often, I start mumbling on the list that the FAQ should be >>>automatically mailed to every new subscriber, but nobody ever seems >>>to think it's a good idea. Your idea of sending pointers to the FAQ >>>to new subscribers seems valid enough - maybe it'll catch on...? >>> >>>m@t As far as I am aware I haven't read any dissenting views to this idea - on the other hand I haven't seen anything that suggests that it will be introduced in the future. Hence, let me put out this gambit of - Does anyone *OBJECT* to the FAQ being either posted in full or listed as an URL in the new subscriber info. Of course, it would be good to hear the opinion of John Relph, Jonathan and Leo who may well have a dead good reason why one or the other is a particularly bad idea. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 09:58:10 -0400 From: Evan Chakroff Subject: Re: tmbg-list Digest #2-251 >> That's what mine is, except on mine the year is 1986, I can't find >> anywhere where it says 1987. Also, it is Restless / Bar/None instead of >> just Restless, but maybe that's what you meant. >> > Jacqueline > > I think you'll find that it says 1987 on the CD face itself...at >least, I HOPE you will. :) > > Mike > Mine says 1986 on the back of the case, 1987 on the CD itself and 1987 in the copyright info on the lyrics sheet. So, was there ever an Elektra-released self-titled in the US? Is it still available? ------------------------------ From: Brooksie2@aol.com Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 12:52:17 -0400 Subject: Re: bells n stuff >However, I'm not sure how to fit in the part about disorganization, because church doesn't really >tell you that you're disorganized. Also, church bells are a lot less sudden that these bells seem to >be. People plan to go to church, they don't just hear the bells and suddenly remember. Disorganized... Organized religion. Church bells are supposedly the call to the faithful. It might be a stretch, but it's a thought. Love, Brooks. ------------------------------ From: Brooksie2@aol.com Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 12:55:08 -0400 Subject: Re: cub,flans (woo hoo!) >Interestingly at the end he played the Factory Showroom version of New York City. I was listening to that interview when it was broadcast, and by the time they began the intorduction to "New York City," it was after Midnight and I was tired and working on homework. The introduction, before they said the name of the band, had me freaking out, thinking to myself, "that has to be cub... it has to be. If they've covered 'New York City' I'll be the happiest girl in the world." Imagine TMBG covering a song that you have been obsessively in love with for a year and a half, and you'll probably understand what I was feeling at the time. (My friends can attest... Everytime it snowed last winter, I walked the streets of Manhattan singing, "It's snowing, it's snowing, oh, god, I hate this weather..." And it snowed a lot last winter.) >He couldn't understand some of the lines so he said he changed a few or added some lines, so it is >a little different although I'm not sure exactly which lines they were. I think the one about >Dylan was changed. "Katz's Deli" was added to the long list of NYC places, because supposedly the original place was not in NYC, but rather was in Toronto(?). And I've gathered that Flans had a tremendous amount of trouble understanding the line "Empire State where King Kong lives." I'm starting a campaign to get the line changed back to the originial. After all, everybody knows that King Kong lives at the Empire State, not Dylan! If anyone is going to the upcoming Mercury Lounge show, I'll be there, wearing a bright orange cub shirt, most likely holding a king kong figure of some sort. I saw cub a couple of weeks ago, and I got a chance to talk to Lisa and Lisa G. after the show. I thought about asking them about TMBG covering NYC, but I forgot. Ah well. There will be other opportunities, I'm sure. >Cub had another album with 24 songs on it for $11.99 too. aka Bettie-Cola. There's also the new one, Box of Hair. Ah. Love that cub... Brooks. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 13:37:59 +0000 From: Jonah Subject: Re: TMBG at the House of Blues Larry Santiago wrote: > Here's a little article found in BAM Magazine concerning Their appearance > at the House of Blues in Hollywood next Thursday, 9/19/96: > > "They Might Be Giants: House of Blues, Hollywood - Guitarist/vocalist > John Flansburgh and accordion player/vocalist John Linnell-collectively > known as They Might Be Giants-write poppy, light-hearted material (End of > the Tour is light-hearted?) that's all over the musical map. From > cockamamie waltzes and smaltzy polkas to offkilter surf ballads, they > seem to cover it all. Plus, their twisted and devilishly humorous lyrics > will keep you laughing, even if they don't always make a whole lotta > sense. With or without a band, They Might Be Giants are always a hoot. > And one of the funniest stunts they usually pull is when they ask the > audience to shout out cover-tune requests and then they attempt to play > them. (Edgar Winter's 'Frankenstein'? Sure, no problem!) So, get out > your pocket protectors, lab coats, and/or slide rules 'cause it's revenge > of the nerds time! And don't worry, you'll have plenty of good company." > By Pat Lewis > > Well, this seems to be a positive article about Them, but the author > couldn't help mentioning at least 5 or 6 words relating to the word > "funny" in this brief piece. > > Comments? Questions? Concerns? I'm sorry. I guess that's considered positive press, but whoever wrote that obviously knew next to nothing about Them. Light-hearted? A band who sings more songs on death than almost any other subject? Nonsensical lyrics? That guy should just go to the tmbg.org interp archive. Nerds? No thank you. This is what all the people who have heard nothing but Istanbul and Particle Man think about TMBG. They've got a bad enough reputation for being a silly band after that power rangers and tiny toons stuff(BTW, I love tiny toons!). Just once, I want to hear a less light TMBG song get sopme air play. Maybe Metal detector. That would be nice. -- "I could never sleep my way to the top 'cause my alarm clock always wakes me right up."-They Might Be Giants Jonah ------------------------------ From: KdsInThHal@aol.com Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 14:07:47 -0400 Subject: Re: Re: bells n stuff + Oasis + UWA >>As odd as it sounds, I read the lyrics to this song and I was instantly thinking "Pavlov" nevermind, they wouldn't do it twice, but then there is the Snowball in Hell/Sleeping in the Flowers thing...<< Don't Let's Forget about She Was A Hotel Detective and (She Was A) Hotel Detective! -sarah :) http://members.aol.com/kdsinthhal/site.html ------------------------------ From: KdsInThHal@aol.com Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 14:07:42 -0400 Subject: pink album now, I have to add my 2 cents. I bought my copy of the pink album last july, and it's the original version (so I think...): it's Bar None/Restless; says 1986 on the back cover; and 5 snowmen on the cd and it says 1987. So I assume it's the original. I've never seen the newer one. >> I think you'll find that it says 1987 on the CD face itself...at least, I HOPE you will. :)<< And in the liner notes, following the lyrics to RSWA, it says: "All songs written by Linnell/Flansburgh p & c1987 They Might Be Giants..." -sarah :) http://members.aol.com/kdsinthhal/site.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 14:07:11 -0400 (EDT) From: "Mike Rose, from Totonot" Subject: Re: tmbg-list Digest #2-251 > > Mine says 1986 on the back of the case, 1987 on the CD itself and 1987 in > the copyright info on the lyrics sheet. > > So, was there ever an Elektra-released self-titled in the US? Is it still > available? > I am only aware at this point of a Canadian Elektra CD pressing of the self titled album done in 1990, which was what I described in a previous post. I guess all of you out there in the US will have to check and see which pressings you all have. In case you care, I've got the Bar/None pressing from 1987, as described above. Mike ------------------------------ Subject: Re: TMBG at the House of Blues From: superuprecht@juno.com (Ruprecht the Ass) Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 14:08:16 EDT On Sun, 15 Sep 1996 13:37:59 +0000 Jonah writes: >rangers and tiny toons stuff(BTW, I love tiny toons!). Just once, I >want to hear a less light TMBG song get sopme air play. Maybe Metal >detector. That would be nice. Don't worry. For those of you who listen to the radio, this is what you will hear: "And that was the band that was touring with Hootie, They May Be Giants, with their hit single, Metal Detector, off their second LP "Factory Showroom". Where have these guys been for the last six years?" Or something like the same. ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' =========================a spooky man named Ike========================= The Web: http://www.inca.de/user/ruprecht/ The E-mail: Ruprecht@tmbg.org The Annoying Quote: "Madness is all in the mind" =================I wish that I could jump out of my .sig================ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 17:46:47 -0700 From: Ruprecht Organization: Representatives of the People of Here Subject: [Fwd: Showroom Announcements!] This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------54687215F41 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I thought you might like to know- --------------54687215F41 Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Path: msunews!uwm.edu!nntp.primenet.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!cpk-news-feed1.bbnplanet.com!news.cc.ucf.edu!NewsWatcher!user From: dcm80229@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu (Derek Miner) Newsgroups: alt.music.tmbg Subject: Showroom Announcements! Date: 13 Sep 1996 01:32:34 GMT Organization: MinerWerks Lines: 68 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 132.170.24.94 Howdy, Giant-heads... Here are some details about the new TMBG disc and big ol' Elektra's plans about it, right out of the August 31 Billboard: TMBG Banks On Loyal Following Offbeat Elektra Act to Tour With Hootie By Drew Wheeler (excerpts) ... To further the unlikely mainstreaming of these energetic rock dadaists, They Might Be Giants are set to open for mega-stars Hootie & The Blowfish on tour. "That's the weird scene that we've entered into now," says They Might Be Giants co-founder John Linnell with a laugh. John Flansburgh, the other leader of They Might Be Giants, penned the album's single "S-E-X-X-Y," a dance-funk groove that suggests the artist formerly known as Prince dogged by a hyperactive Motown string section. The group is set to perform the song on HBO's "The Larry Sanders Show" in late September, for broadcast later in the fall. ... In an unprecedented low-tech turn, the song "I Can Hear You" was recorded on the first audio format ever - a 19th-century Edison cylinder. "We were invited by the people at the Edison Historical Society to come and do a demonstration and recording there," says Linnell. ... Despite TMBG's internal changes [adding a band], Elektra sees the group as a stable unit. "They've done very well over a long period of time," says Steve Kleinberg, senior VP of marketing for the label. "We thing they're very much a 'career band.' Based on what kind of success we have a radio and how extensive the touring is, and what that might do for sales, potentially, we could have a very big record with them." ... They Might Be Giants tour as headliners Sept. 5-28 and join Hootie & the Blowfish Oct. 4-Nov. 2. Additional TMBG headlining dates will follow in November. With the album's October release coming in the middle of the tour, "we're looking to position this at retail very aggressively," says Kleinberg. "We're considering rolling them out into some stores when they're out on the road and doing some in-store appearances. And we're always doing things with radio, whether it's performances or on-air appearances." ... On the Internet, Elektra will be posting information about the new album on its World Wide Web site (http://www.elektra.com). The Elektra site is linked to They Might Be Giants' soon-to-be-opened Web site (http://www.tmbg.com). "That's perfect for these guys and their for their fans," says [Marcia] Edelstein [senior director of marketing and product manager for Elektra], "We should be including some bits from the new album on the site, and hopefully they'll be doing some online things with us." At present, there is no scheduled video shoot for "S-E-X-X-Y." "We're hoping to do a video very shortly," says Kleinberg, "We're looking to get a little bit of feedback from the marketplace, from radio. Videos are an awful lot of money, and any record company at this point is trying to be more prudent about what we push buttons on. And frankly, the band should be as well, because they pay for a portion of it. ... Says Elektra's Kleinberg, "Their albums have had varying success rates with 'Flood' being the biggest of them all. We think that the potential audience base is enormous because between their lyrics and their music, we think the songs are quite good. And good songs appeal to a lot of people." Three albums remain on TMBG's contract with the label. --------------54687215F41-- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 21:24:43 -0500 (EST) From: Queen Sneepy Subject: No One Knows My Plan, jive baby! So there's this address to which you can send stuff and it returns it in JIVE! It is too funny, and so I got this idea of sending them TMBG lyrics and seeing how they came back...so here, for all of you kiddy-kiddies, is "No One Knows My Plan", in jive. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Stefanie Elliott "More thinking. We are well challenged my small friend." smelliot@falstaff.ucs.indiana.edu -The Tick **StarWars*DNRC*Medievalist*X-Phile*Punk*MiSTie #14672*MacUser*Comics*Reader** ---------- Forwarded message ---------- In mah' prison cell ah' dink dese wo'ds I wuz careless, ah' can see dat now. I must be silent, must contain mah' secret smile. What it is, Mama! I wanna tell ya', ya' mah' mirro', ya' mah' iron bars. When ah' made some shadow on mah' window shade, Dey called da damn honky pigs and testified But dey're likes de sucka's chained down in de cave, In de allego'y uh de sucka's in de cave by de Greek guy. Slap mah fro! No one understaneds, no one knows mah' plan. 'S coo', bruh. Why de dancin', shoutin'? Why de shrieks uh pain, de lovely beat? Why de smell uh burnin' autumn leaves? In mah' prison cell ah' bide mah' time, Always dinkin', always busy cookin' down an angle, Wo'kin' on de tiny blueprint uh de angle, Sketchin' out da damn burnin' autumn leaves. No one dig its, no one knows mah' plan. 'S coo', bruh. I must be silent, must contain mah' secret smile. What it is, Mama! I wanna tell ya', ya' mah' mirro', ya' mah' iron bars. No one dig its, no one knows mah' plan. 'S coo', bruh. ========= greetin' JIBE at da Department uh Computa' Science, University uh Zurich ------------------------------ From: KdsInThHal@aol.com Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 22:55:45 -0400 Subject: Calling Fransburgh.....! Hey Fran, I forgot your email address (bad me, I know), so sorry to mail the list about this, *but,* are you ready to do the TMBG article copilation thing yet? 'cuz my contributions are sitting here waiting. :) Just wondering! -sarah :) http://members.aol.com/kdsinthhal/site.html ------------------------------ End of tmbg-list Digest #2-253 ******************************