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 #3-110 tmbg-list Digest, Volume 3, Number 110 Monday, 21 April 1997 Today's Topics: Re: TMBG: Istanbul!! TMBG: Drama! Suspense! A dead Rabbit! Yes, it's the Great TMBG Saga! pt. 1 Re: TMBG: Baltimore show TMBG: World's Address Remix TMBG: Baa Baa Baa TMBG! TMBG: president/act NONTMBG: KELLEY KENT PLEASE READ Re: TMBG: Drama! Suspense! A dead Rabbit! Yes, Re: TMBG: Istanbul!! TMBG: Pheonix THEN review TMBG: Replacements, James Re: TMBG: Istanbul!! Sorta-TMBG: ATTENTION : Christine(c@c.au) MAIL ME Non-TMBG:I am not Allison..*Sigh* TMBG: Tranquility Bass TMBG: State Songs? TMBG: WMC, blowhager's, another they day TMBG: TMBG Revolution! TMBG: Almost-non-tmbg TMBG: tmbg: kit-kat acoustic break TMBG: tmbg: on kit-kat Re: TMBG: tmbg: on kit-kat TMBG: Adventure! Romance! A really big Stick! The Great TMBG Saga, pt. 2 Administrivia: If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing send mail to tmbg-digest-request@tmbg.org for instructions on how to be automatically removed. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The views expressed herein are those of the individual authors. --------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: GenLand18@aol.com Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 03:24:59 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970420032458_-2070553606@emout16.mail.aol.com> Subject: Re: TMBG: Istanbul!! << I am just curious as to who did Istanbul first.. was it TMBG or the 4 Lads? I am getting dissapointed all over, first I find out NYC wasnt THEIRS and now possibly Istanbul!! Say it aint so!! >> Yes, these two songs are covers. I think TMBG said in an interview once that "the songs everyone likes by us are the ones we didn't write." Or something to that effect. I'm not sure where they said it...it was probably in a Conan O'Brien inteview a few years back. Oh, well.....still love those guys to death.... :) SuperGEEK, **Leslie** "Stare into the subliminal for as long as you can" -- TMBG "You will find the organic mind inferior" -- Servotron "I do the best imitation of myself" -- Ben Folds Five ------------------------------ From: Christi587@aol.com Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 03:35:27 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970420033525_1187820956@emout01.mail.aol.com> Subject: TMBG: Drama! Suspense! A dead Rabbit! Yes, it's the Great TMBG Saga! pt. 1 Well, I know you are all just dying to hear about the last two days of my life, so here they are. (This is Friday's story-- it's too late to type everything, so you'll hear about Saturday later after I've slept) The Players: Christy, the OMLT Goddess Jon, the college Player with his own car Vera, the TMBG neophyte Moose, the short one (no, no, sorry, Moose, stop kicking me!) Minor players: Jon's car, the aging, rusty Rabbit decorated with TMBG stickers Mr. Matt James Vera's daddy Assorted TMBG fans, hospital staff, and bouncers TMBG! (Just kidding... they're pretty important to the story, I suppose) Our Story: Friday, 3:15 pm: Jon arrives at Thomas Jefferson HS to pick up Christy. Moose and Vera stay at school to wait another hour until Vera's daddy arrives (for complicated reasons). After a short stop at Christy's house to pick up TMBG tunes for the car, the two begin the journey to Western Maryland College, planning to pick up tickets for all at the door, get good spaces in line, and wait for the remaining Players to arrive. 4:00 pm: Jon and Christy come across rush-hour traffic on I-95. Boredom is alleviated by aformetioned TMBG tunes and by picking out "penis cars"-- y'know, those cars that stupid macho guys drive because they're insecure. For instance, cars with enormous wheels, or any given Camero. 4:15 pm: Traffic drags on. Suddenly, the car in front of the Rabbit stops short. Christy, noticing that the car seems to be approaching rather too fast for her liking, screams something incomprehensible. Jon cannot stop fast enough, so they crash into the back of her car at about 10 mph, (although it seems much faster at the time) with a loud crunch. A root beer bottle flies majestically through the air, hitting Jon's windshield and creating a spider pattern on the glass. "Hi!" it seems to say, "This could have been your head!" The two cars pull over. Fortunately, no one is hurt, although Christy feels a little sore where the seat belt had been around her hips. An oldish lady gets out of her vehicle--some flavor of Big American Car--which has nary a scratch. Jon and the lady survey damages and decide there's no point in exchanging insurance info. The lady drives away happily, leaving Jon and Christy on the side of a busy interstate at rush hour in a Rabbit with a crushed bumper and a broken radiator. "Well," says Jon, "I guess we'll just have to drive slowly." 4:30 pm: Jon begins driving slowly. Somewhere, Moose and Vera are driving in Vera's daddy's minivan at a normal rate, causing Christy to worry that they will get there first and find no tickets awaiting them. Christy unhappily notes that she expects some big bruises from the seatbelt, because her tummy still hurts. 5:00 pm: Jon and Christy, in a somewhat sedate mood and now somewhere on I-270, notice that the Rabbit has begun spewing ugly white smoke. They pull over into, appropriately, a church graveyard. Jon tries to open the hood and discovers it is crushed shut somehow. Christy notices that not only has the pain in her waist not gone away yet, it has intensified. The two sit uncomfortably in the car, waiting for the engine to cool down and thinking various thoughts of impending doom. 5:30 pm: The Rabbit begins producing enough smoke to bear a vague resemblance to one of those trick cars in spy movies. Jon pulls over into a 7-11 parking lot in Taylorsville, MD, as Christy begins to feel stabbing abdominal pains. Jon manages to pry open the hood and adds water to the radiator. Christy remains in the car, cringing in pain. By this point, her whimpers of discomfort have turned into what sounds like someone giving birth. Jon recommends that she see a doctor, and after much hemming and hawing ("uhh... medical attention, TMBG... medical attention, TMBG... it's really a toss-up"), Christy acquiesces. Jon calls for an ambulance from the 7-11 phone, while Christy waits inside, passing the time by thinking of all the different things that could be wrong with her and wondering if any of them are fatal. 5:45 pm: An EMS and an ambulance arrive at the 7-11 within 2 minutes of each other. Christy tells her story to the EMS, who then has his ambulance buddies wheel out the stretcher with one of those back boards. Christy is mortified. "You've been in a car accident," says the EMS. "We have to keep you imobilized on the board until we're sure there aren't any back injuries." Christy restrains herself from yelling "IT'S MY STOMACH, STUPID, NOT MY BACK!!!" She lies down on the board and gets strapped in about 80 billion ways. She is stuffed into the back of ambulance while Jon, avec some items from the dead car, gets in front. The dead Rabbit remains in the parking lot of the 7-11. 6:00 pm: The EMS puts Christy's neck in a brace and tapes foam blocks around her head. He attatches a very loud oxygen mask for no discernible reason. Now that Christy cannot hear a thing, he is free to ask her all sorts of questions, including her age, address, whether she has any allergies, and whether she is taking any medication. "Umm... does Sudafed count?" says Christy, nasally. The EMS and another ambulance guy switch places. The new guy asks Christy the exact same questions the EMS had just asked. This does not instill Christy with a great deal of confidence. The rest of the ambulance ride is slightly bumpier than expected. Christy calmly passes the time by staring at the fluorescent lights and worrying neurotically about everything in the entire universe. Meanwhile, the ambulance driver tells Jon about his experiences with weed. Meanwhile, the Moose-and-Vera party arrives at the college and wonders where the hell Christy and Jon are. 6:30 pm: Christy's stretcher is removed from the back of the ambulance and wheeled through the hospital emergency room doors. She is strapped flat on her back and cannot move her neck, so she is forced to stare straight up. She sees a lot of fluorescent lighting, again. Jon appears briefly in her peripheral vision and then vanishes. After approximately forever, Christy is pushed into a little curtain-ed alcove and several nurses come and ask her the same questions the two EMS's had already asked. One of them brings her a hospital bracelet and says she's going to call Christy's parents, because she is a minor. This scares Christy more than her abdominal pain. After another forever or so, a doctor arrives and takes the foam blocks off Christy's head. She asks if Christy is experiencing any neck or back pain. Christy, somewhat exasperated, says no. The doctor removes the neck brace and unstraps and removes the board. She asks some more questions that are vaguely related to Christy's abdominal pain and then leaves. Christy is not pleased. 7:00 pm: A nurse returns and makes Christy swallow some advil and some rather disgusting mylanta. Christy is not pleased. However, the nurse thoughfully brings her some ginger ale. Christy notices her stomach isn't hurting as much as before. The doctor returns and tells Christy she will have to have some x-rays of her back taken. Christy is not pleased. She wonders when the hospital staff will realize that her stomach is not located in her spine. 7:30 pm. By now, Christy has had 10 different x-rays of her back taken and has had to perform that most horrifying of hospital rituals involving a cup and the bathroom. She is not pleased. The doctor returns to ask some rather personal questions ("When was your last menstrual period?" "How should I know? I don't use it." "Sexually active?" "Well, not with other p... I mean, no!"). Christy is not pleased. A nurse returns to report that Christy's dad has heard about the accident. Christy is not pleased. She is still in pain. She decides her best course of action at this point would be to fall asleep. 8:30 pm: Christy wakes up with a dull ache in the tummy, but no more stabbing pain. It takes her several minutes to realize that, really, she feels fine now, although somewhat weak. Yet another nurse comes in to tell Christy that she has a phone call. It turns out to be Jon, who tells Christy that he has walked the mile or so from the hospital to the college (and that he actually bumped into TMBG's tour manager, Mike, along the way, and they spoke briefly). He says he has found Moose and Vera, who have been informed of Christy's predicament. They have procured tickets and a good position in the crowd, says Jon, and are now enjoying the aural delights of the Gravel Pit, the opening band. Christy cringes at the loud, rather dull music in the background. Jon says that the nurse has told him Christy will be discharged soon, so if she is feeling well, she should get a cab to the college and she might very well make it in time to see TMBG. Christy phones her dad quickly to reassure him about a billion times that, yes, she is feeling OK now, and yes, she still plans on getting to the concert. The doctor gives Christy her discharge papers and a prescription for a muscle relaxer, telling her that her pain was probably muscular and all she could do was take some ibuprofen if it still hurt. Christy is not sure whether she should be pleased or not. "I spent two hours getting x-rayed and poked at, and all they can do is tell me to take some advil?" she thinks. "Then again, I'm not dead. I guess that's good." Christy decides that she is pleased, and sets off for her show. 8:45 pm: Christy phones a cab and arrives at the college gym. She buys a ticket and finds her compatriates milling around in a distinct absence of music. She deduces that TMBG have not yet taken the stage. After some initial hugs and questioning by the rest of the party, the evening proceeds as planned: TMBG plays some pretty music. Mr. Matt James shows up to say hi and appears later in the big fat conga line. Lots of TMBG fans produce lots of noise and sweat. Christy's tummy holds up surprisingly well to the moderate moshing. Christy procures a set list after the show, which she will now share with you all: ------- SEXXY POLK (Christy & co. were positioned in the second row, right in front of the confetti canon, so they received a face full of confetti) ACTUAL SPIDER/BIRD SLEEP SPIRAL (Christy made hand puppets in the spotlight on the audience) SING (This is a mystery, because They did not play HCISLAG?) FAKER/REPLACE (Flans before Counterfeit Faker: "Who here likes country music?" mild applause... "Then this song is for all 16 of you!") OLDER/SPY ENSOR (at about half speed) SHOE (Linnell: "Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to the glockenspiel!"... Dan was almost ready to show off and hit the glock from behind his back, but then he realized it wasn't the right part in the song, so he pretended very obviously that he was just scratching his back with the mallet) PARTICLE PET/LATIN--->NO ONE! (Flans, in reference to Christy, et al, who were pinned next to the railing by the crowd: "Hey! I see some people down there with They Might Be Giants t-shirts on who aren't conga-ing! We want *everyone* to conga!") GTR (enter "pass the dude"-- Christy got kicked in the face by one of the "dudes", so she cussed him out... it felt sooo good) (In a little box:) Bass solo | | \/ JF + DH vs. GM + JL (end box) TWIST TURN (ha ha! Twist... turn... get it? Anyway.) XTC/EXQ TIL | | \/ Thank You Thing (John and John babbled "Thank you for coming out to the show" faster and faster, so it ended up "thankyouforcomingoutshow, thankyouforcomoutshow, thankyoucomoutshow, thankyoucomout, thankyou, thankyou, thankyou..." ------ ISTANBUL (Grahm appeared alone on stage for the intro, and Johns and Dan walked out slowly with their heads down while he was playing... they hid behind Grahm until his solo was done, then sprinted to their respctive instuments... it was terribly adorable) DIG ---> WAVE (the goodbye wave to the audience) ------ So our story ends happily. Sort of. Jon and Vera are able to coax some college staff bouncer-type people into selling them their "TMBG Staff" shirts for ten bucks. Christy, Vera, Moose, and Jon are all driven home by Vera's daddy because Jon's car (remember? back in the 7-11 parking lot?) refuses to start after Jon tries several times to jump-start it from Vera's minivan. The car's fate remains indeterminate right now. Christy's stomach is fine now, and she still hasn't figured out exactly why. Her back is a bit sore from all the moshers (notice the irony dripping off your screen). Christy's parents were surprisingly non-insane when she got home, so she went to bed at 2 am, knowing that another TMBG concert awaited her the next day. (...But that is a story for another e-mail.) --Christy ------------------------------ Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19970420095959.006c0748@pop.erols.com> Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 09:59:59 -0400 From: Claudia Maria Poblete Subject: Re: TMBG: Baltimore show [Unknown MIME type or encoding, contents not processed] ------------------------------ Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19970420114507.00720dd4@mailhost2.planet.net> Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 11:45:07 -0400 From: Perry lee Subject: TMBG: World's Address Remix Is it me, or does the opening part sound like it's from the game Sonic the Hedgehog, right out of the Chemical zone? It's what i always think about when it plays. zink brand new 5 disc and i'm exploding |Whee...|Simultaneous events don't happen...|Whee...| |Wooo...|...We are isolated temporally. |Wooo...| ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 12:11:06 -0500 From: "Big.Bad.Robbie.G." Subject: TMBG: Baa Baa Baa TMBG! Message-Id: Allright folks, this is excitement to the extreme. Starting tommorw, I will double my TMBG concert experience in only four days. FOUR DAYS! WOOHOO! That's three concerts in four days! Well, kind of 2 1/2 concerts, as one of them is a Violent Femmes Concert where they're opening. On the other two, Gravel Pit is opening, and I haven't heard any bad things about them, so that will make 4 bands who I've seen open for them who weren't bad. Well Anyway, the concerts I'm going to are Calvin College, Muskingham (or something like that) college, and St. Joeseph's. (The VF one) It hasn't really hit me that I'll be seeing them tommorow, probabaly because I'm flying halfway accross the country to see them. I hope then when I report back on friday, my story will be a wee bit happier than some of the other reports recently. I hope that Linny doesn't bleed, I hope that they play early stuff (They'll need a crane... please! Just once!) and I hope that the crowd is a good mix of fans in the front row and concert goers in the back, that way, I'll have no moshing and only good people around me. ___ _ _ _ ___ _ _ _ _ _ _ | . \ ___ | |_ ___ _ _ _| |_ | | / _> _ _ ___ | |_ <_>| || | | || | | // . \| . \/ ._>| '_> | | | |_ _ | <_/\| '_><_> || . \| || || | | || | |_\_\\___/|___/\___.|_| |_| |___|<_> `____/|_| <___||___/|_||_||_| |_||_| "It smells like..." "Socks?" "No, fire and brimstone." ------------------------------ From: mjames@cs3100.loyola.edu (Matthew James) Message-Id: <9704201613.AA04517@cs3100.loyola.edu> Subject: TMBG: president/act Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 12:13:32 -0400 (EDT) Hi all, I too was at the Baltimore and Western MD College shows. Both were good, Western MD was more of a Factory Showroom tour (with an opening band) while Baltimore was a Then show with TMBG '89 opening for TMBG '97. The BAltimore show was a lot better even without the completely excellent encores that they didn't do which would tear the soul right out of any TMBG fan. As far as I can remember the first encore alone contained, She's an Angel, Nothing's Gonna Change my Clothes, and the Famous Polka (a concert within itself!!!), the second had Exquisit5e Dead Guy (oooh the puppets) and 2 other songs I can't remember. Mismirilda said that Linnell said that the actual president during the time of writing of #3 was Wilson when in fact Linnell said Warren G. Harding. I don't think there was another act after TMBG, although I could be wrong and that would actually make sense. My friend asked a bouncer guy if anyone was playing aferwards and he said "no". This is completely unprecedented, though, never in the history of concerts has one ever ended so early as 10pm. I mean, I've gone to some concerts where they don't still until 10pm or later! But they did play the best TMBG song ever RHYTHM SECTION WANT AD!!! whoo hooo. Basically, with that encore, they would have played close to every completely excellent TMBG song ever made (ok a couple exceptions like End of the Tour). Another thing was that Bohager's was not setup very well, they had these big stupid poles in the way. Well it was one of the best concerts anyway and we did see Linnell and Dan drive off at the end. /Matt -- upcoming concerts: TMBG-Western MD College,Westminster, MD 4/18 TMBG-Bohager's Bar & Grill, Baltimore, MD 4/19 "No room for big hearts like her in this city"-Carlito's Way Member of the ARM since '96 (let's give 'em hell) * ------------------------------------------------------------------- Matt James polk@tmbg.org Matt.James.K.Polk@tmbg.org mjames@envy.loyola.edu Loyola College, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America "Cracking toast, Gromit!" New, Official Bruce Campbell Gazette page: http://www.bcgazette.com ------------------------------ From: Yoel97@aol.com Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 12:13:19 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970420121318_251243899@emout15.mail.aol.com> Subject: NONTMBG: KELLEY KENT PLEASE READ Kelley, Unfortunately, yet another delay. I got the tapes back yesterday, because "Not enough postage attached". I am truly sorry. GROAN. Now I lost the $1.25 postage I attached b/c they canceled it and I have to add more (I'll go to the post office to get the official weight). Also, I live in NY where there has been much rain this week, and....your addresss is now smeared. So, I need that again, and I'll get the tapes out to you RIGHT AWAY. Please forgive me, Joel ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 13:07:44 -0400 From: Don Glasgow Subject: Re: TMBG: Drama! Suspense! A dead Rabbit! Yes, Message-id: <3.0.32.19970420130744.006e5668@ic3.ithaca.edu> WoW!! What a story!! What's up with the car now!? -Don At 03:35 AM 4/20/97 -0400, you wrote: >Well, I know you are all just dying to hear about the last two days of my >life, so here they are. (This is Friday's story-- it's too late to type >everything, so you'll hear about Saturday later after I've slept) > >The Players: >Christy, the OMLT Goddess >Jon, the college Player with his own car >Vera, the TMBG neophyte >Moose, the short one (no, no, sorry, Moose, stop kicking me!) > >Minor players: >Jon's car, the aging, rusty Rabbit decorated with TMBG stickers >Mr. Matt James >Vera's daddy >Assorted TMBG fans, hospital staff, and bouncers >TMBG! (Just kidding... they're pretty important to the story, I suppose) > >Our Story: > >Friday, 3:15 pm: >Jon arrives at Thomas Jefferson HS to pick up Christy. Moose and Vera stay at >school to wait another hour until Vera's daddy arrives (for complicated >reasons). After a short stop at Christy's house to pick up TMBG tunes for the >car, the two begin the journey to Western Maryland College, planning to pick >up tickets for all at the door, get good spaces in line, and wait for the >remaining Players to arrive. > >4:00 pm: >Jon and Christy come across rush-hour traffic on I-95. Boredom is alleviated >by aformetioned TMBG tunes and by picking out "penis cars"-- y'know, those >cars that stupid macho guys drive because they're insecure. For instance, >cars with enormous wheels, or any given Camero. > >4:15 pm: >Traffic drags on. Suddenly, the car in front of the Rabbit stops short. >Christy, noticing that the car seems to be approaching rather too fast for >her liking, screams something incomprehensible. Jon cannot stop fast enough, >so they crash into the back of her car at about 10 mph, (although it seems >much faster at the time) with a loud crunch. A root beer bottle flies >majestically through the air, hitting Jon's windshield and creating a spider >pattern on the glass. "Hi!" it seems to say, "This could have been your >head!" > The two cars pull over. Fortunately, no one is hurt, although Christy feels >a little sore where the seat belt had been around her hips. An oldish lady >gets out of her vehicle--some flavor of Big American Car--which has nary a >scratch. Jon and the lady survey damages and decide there's no point in >exchanging insurance info. The lady drives away happily, leaving Jon and >Christy on the side of a busy interstate at rush hour in a Rabbit with a >crushed bumper and a broken radiator. > "Well," says Jon, "I guess we'll just have to drive slowly." > >4:30 pm: > >Jon begins driving slowly. Somewhere, Moose and Vera are driving in Vera's >daddy's minivan at a normal rate, causing Christy to worry that they will get >there first and find no tickets awaiting them. Christy unhappily notes that >she expects some big bruises from the seatbelt, because her tummy still >hurts. > >5:00 pm: >Jon and Christy, in a somewhat sedate mood and now somewhere on I-270, notice >that the Rabbit has begun spewing ugly white smoke. They pull over into, >appropriately, a church graveyard. Jon tries to open the hood and discovers >it is crushed shut somehow. Christy notices that not only has the pain in her >waist not gone away yet, it has intensified. The two sit uncomfortably in the >car, waiting for the engine to cool down and thinking various thoughts of >impending doom. > >5:30 pm: >The Rabbit begins producing enough smoke to bear a vague resemblance to one >of those trick cars in spy movies. Jon pulls over into a 7-11 parking lot in >Taylorsville, MD, as Christy begins to feel stabbing abdominal pains. Jon >manages to pry open the hood and adds water to the radiator. Christy remains >in the car, cringing in pain. By this point, her whimpers of discomfort have >turned into what sounds like someone giving birth. Jon recommends that she >see a doctor, and after much hemming and hawing ("uhh... medical attention, >TMBG... medical attention, TMBG... it's really a toss-up"), Christy >acquiesces. Jon calls for an ambulance from the 7-11 phone, while Christy >waits inside, passing the time by thinking of all the different things that >could be wrong with her and wondering if any of them are fatal. > >5:45 pm: >An EMS and an ambulance arrive at the 7-11 within 2 minutes of each other. >Christy tells her story to the EMS, who then has his ambulance buddies wheel >out the stretcher with one of those back boards. Christy is mortified. > "You've been in a car accident," says the EMS. "We have to keep you >imobilized on the board until we're sure there aren't any back injuries." > Christy restrains herself from yelling "IT'S MY STOMACH, STUPID, NOT MY >BACK!!!" She lies down on the board and gets strapped in about 80 billion >ways. She is stuffed into the back of ambulance while Jon, avec some items >from the dead car, gets in front. The dead Rabbit remains in the parking lot >of the 7-11. > >6:00 pm: >The EMS puts Christy's neck in a brace and tapes foam blocks around her head. >He attatches a very loud oxygen mask for no discernible reason. Now that >Christy cannot hear a thing, he is free to ask her all sorts of questions, >including her age, address, whether she has any allergies, and whether she is >taking any medication. > "Umm... does Sudafed count?" says Christy, nasally. > The EMS and another ambulance guy switch places. The new guy asks Christy >the exact same questions the EMS had just asked. This does not instill >Christy with a great deal of confidence. The rest of the ambulance ride is >slightly bumpier than expected. Christy calmly passes the time by staring at >the fluorescent lights and worrying neurotically about everything in the >entire universe. > Meanwhile, the ambulance driver tells Jon about his experiences with weed. > Meanwhile, the Moose-and-Vera party arrives at the college and wonders where >the hell Christy and Jon are. > >6:30 pm: >Christy's stretcher is removed from the back of the ambulance and wheeled >through the hospital emergency room doors. She is strapped flat on her back >and cannot move her neck, so she is forced to stare straight up. She sees a >lot of fluorescent lighting, again. Jon appears briefly in her peripheral >vision and then vanishes. After approximately forever, Christy is pushed into >a little curtain-ed alcove and several nurses come and ask her the same >questions the two EMS's had already asked. One of them brings her a hospital >bracelet and says she's going to call Christy's parents, because she is a >minor. This scares Christy more than her abdominal pain. > After another forever or so, a doctor arrives and takes the foam blocks off >Christy's head. She asks if Christy is experiencing any neck or back pain. >Christy, somewhat exasperated, says no. The doctor removes the neck brace and >unstraps and removes the board. She asks some more questions that are vaguely >related to Christy's abdominal pain and then leaves. Christy is not pleased. > >7:00 pm: >A nurse returns and makes Christy swallow some advil and some rather >disgusting mylanta. Christy is not pleased. However, the nurse thoughfully >brings her some ginger ale. Christy notices her stomach isn't hurting as much >as before. The doctor returns and tells Christy she will have to have some >x-rays of her back taken. Christy is not pleased. She wonders when the >hospital staff will realize that her stomach is not located in her spine. > >7:30 pm. >By now, Christy has had 10 different x-rays of her back taken and has had to >perform that most horrifying of hospital rituals involving a cup and the >bathroom. She is not pleased. The doctor returns to ask some rather personal >questions ("When was your last menstrual period?" "How should I know? I don't >use it." "Sexually active?" "Well, not with other p... I mean, no!"). Christy >is not pleased. A nurse returns to report that Christy's dad has heard about >the accident. Christy is not pleased. She is still in pain. She decides her >best course of action at this point would be to fall asleep. > >8:30 pm: >Christy wakes up with a dull ache in the tummy, but no more stabbing pain. It >takes her several minutes to realize that, really, she feels fine now, >although somewhat weak. Yet another nurse comes in to tell Christy that she >has a phone call. It turns out to be Jon, who tells Christy that he has >walked the mile or so from the hospital to the college (and that he actually >bumped into TMBG's tour manager, Mike, along the way, and they spoke >briefly). He says he has found Moose and Vera, who have been informed of >Christy's predicament. They have procured tickets and a good position in the >crowd, says Jon, and are now enjoying the aural delights of the Gravel Pit, >the opening band. Christy cringes at the loud, rather dull music in the >background. Jon says that the nurse has told him Christy will be discharged >soon, so if she is feeling well, she should get a cab to the college and she >might very well make it in time to see TMBG. > Christy phones her dad quickly to reassure him about a billion times that, >yes, she is feeling OK now, and yes, she still plans on getting to the >concert. The doctor gives Christy her discharge papers and a prescription for >a muscle relaxer, telling her that her pain was probably muscular and all she >could do was take some ibuprofen if it still hurt. Christy is not sure >whether she should be pleased or not. "I spent two hours getting x-rayed and >poked at, and all they can do is tell me to take some advil?" she thinks. >"Then again, I'm not dead. I guess that's good." Christy decides that she is >pleased, and sets off for her show. > >8:45 pm: >Christy phones a cab and arrives at the college gym. She buys a ticket and >finds her compatriates milling around in a distinct absence of music. She >deduces that TMBG have not yet taken the stage. After some initial hugs and >questioning by the rest of the party, the evening proceeds as planned: TMBG >plays some pretty music. Mr. Matt James shows up to say hi and appears later >in the big fat conga line. Lots of TMBG fans produce lots of noise and sweat. >Christy's tummy holds up surprisingly well to the moderate moshing. Christy >procures a set list after the show, which she will now share with you all: >------- >SEXXY >POLK (Christy & co. were positioned in the second row, right in front of the >confetti canon, so they received a face full of confetti) >ACTUAL >SPIDER/BIRD >SLEEP >SPIRAL (Christy made hand puppets in the spotlight on the audience) >SING (This is a mystery, because They did not play HCISLAG?) >FAKER/REPLACE (Flans before Counterfeit Faker: "Who here likes country >music?" mild applause... "Then this song is for all 16 of you!") >OLDER/SPY > >ENSOR (at about half speed) >SHOE (Linnell: "Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to the >glockenspiel!"... Dan was almost ready to show off and hit the glock from >behind his back, but then he realized it wasn't the right part in the song, >so he pretended very obviously that he was just scratching his back with the >mallet) >PARTICLE >PET/LATIN--->NO ONE! (Flans, in reference to Christy, et al, who were pinned >next to the railing by the crowd: "Hey! I see some people down there with >They Might Be Giants t-shirts on who aren't conga-ing! We want *everyone* to >conga!") >GTR (enter "pass the dude"-- Christy got kicked in the face by one of the >"dudes", so she cussed him out... it felt sooo good) >(In a little box:) >Bass solo > | > | > \/ >JF + DH vs. >GM + JL >(end box) >TWIST >TURN (ha ha! Twist... turn... get it? Anyway.) >XTC/EXQ >TIL > | > | > \/ >Thank You Thing (John and John babbled "Thank you for coming out to the show" >faster and faster, so it ended up "thankyouforcomingoutshow, >thankyouforcomoutshow, thankyoucomoutshow, thankyoucomout, thankyou, >thankyou, thankyou..." >------ >ISTANBUL (Grahm appeared alone on stage for the intro, and Johns and Dan >walked out slowly with their heads down while he was playing... they hid >behind Grahm until his solo was done, then sprinted to their respctive >instuments... it was terribly adorable) >DIG ---> WAVE (the goodbye wave to the audience) >------ > >So our story ends happily. Sort of. Jon and Vera are able to coax some >college staff bouncer-type people into selling them their "TMBG Staff" shirts >for ten bucks. Christy, Vera, Moose, and Jon are all driven home by Vera's >daddy because Jon's car (remember? back in the 7-11 parking lot?) refuses to >start after Jon tries several times to jump-start it from Vera's minivan. The >car's fate remains indeterminate right now. Christy's stomach is fine now, >and she still hasn't figured out exactly why. Her back is a bit sore from all >the moshers (notice the irony dripping off your screen). Christy's parents >were surprisingly non-insane when she got home, so she went to bed at 2 am, >knowing that another TMBG concert awaited her the next day. (...But that is a >story for another e-mail.) > >--Christy > ------------------------------ Message-ID: From: "Michelle" Subject: Re: TMBG: Istanbul!! Date: Mon, 21 Apr 97 10:41:42 PDT | << I am just curious as to who did Istanbul first.. was it TMBG or the 4 | Lads? I am getting dissapointed all over, first I find out NYC wasnt THEIRS | and now possibly Istanbul!! Say it aint so!! >> | | Yes, these two songs are covers. I think TMBG said in an interview once that | "the songs everyone likes by us are the ones we didn't write." Or something | to that effect. I'm not sure where they said it...it was probably in a Conan | O'Brien inteview a few years back. Oh, well.....still love those guys to | death.... :) I have a tape of Them playing on WFNX in Boston (I get a free trip to Boston at the end of May. WOOHOO!!!)... anyhow, on it Flansy says, "This is a song we didn't write..... People seem to like that." and there is much cheering and screaming from the audience. And then, of course, Istanbul. Whatever... Michelle ------------------------------ Message-Id: Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 14:46:46 -0500 From: elleng@massart.edu (ellen g.) Subject: TMBG: Pheonix THEN review Hey guys... this is a review of Then that appeared in the Pheonix... Boston's weekly paper of the arts. I almost missed it, but there it was! THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS: BACK TO THE FUTURE Friends sincejunior high in Lincoln, Massachussetts, John Flansburgh and John Linnell have kept up a steady outpouring of oddball pop songs since reuniting in Brooklyn in 1981 as They Might Be Giants. In all their years of musicmaking together, this brilliant and annoying duo have never altered their haircuts, learned how to play a decent guitar solo, or committed themselves to a particular musical genre or straightforward show of emotion. Even more amazing, they've always carried off their pastiche of everything from polka to punk and conga to country with an air of indifferent excess, as if they were just a couple of precoucious kids screwing around with a paint-by-numbers kit. Yet behind this postmodern razzle-dazzle, there has always been the aniseptic whiff of what in the broadest sense you might call folkie purism. Their fascisnation with DIY home taping, their tireless work ethic, their alienation from their own libidos - all of this belied the duo's oh-so-pomo experimentation, suggesting a sensibility as obsessive, high-minded and unique as John Lee Hooker's or Mark E. Smith's. True, they skewered the paranoid insularity of a "Hide Away Folk Family" on their very first album; yet that was followed, three ditties further on, with a title that's the secret pledge of folkies everywhere: "Nothing's Gonna Change My Clothes." Those tunes can now be heard in a double-CD retrospective that shows how far Thay Might Be Giants have and haven't come. "Then: The Earlier Years" (Restless) is a daunting 72-song compilation of all their releases on their first label, Bar/None, plus several unreleased recording from their "Dial-a-Song" project. As is naturalwith these kinds of things, the packaging cultivates a homy feel of nostalgia for the band's innocent youth gone bye-bye (the grphics feature cute maritime cartoons, perfect for any little boy's bedroom, and the two John's entertaining liner notes are loaded with back-in-them-days details.)( Yet thanks to their hard-edged purism, there's nothing nostalgic about the music. In defiance of all common sense, the duo'd uncommitted, happenstance style has proved far more durable, both artistically and commercially, than the earnest labor of most of their trendsetting peers from the mid-80's. In the end, though, not even folkie purists can totally escape the changes wrought by fashion and tchnology. The duo may not have strayed far from their true path, but the world has evolved around them, so we heart them differently nonetheless. The heart of the compilation is the group's first two full-length albums, "They Might Be Giants" (1986) and "Lincoln" (1988). Any open-eared pop lover will still be dazzled by the way their complex but ridculously catchy melody and tricky but ridiculously allusive lyrics are juxtaposed with kitchy instrumentation and goofy throwaways guaranteed to turn off any classic-rock fan in earshot. By now, though, this project is pretty much old hat, as anyone who has ever heard of Frank Black or Ween should know. To compensate, the compilation tries to make up in quantity what it can't quite recapture in qulaity. As with so much pomo excess, too much of a good thing is just too much. Back then, I thought "Lincoln" was a decent album but a huge step down from the existential perfection of "TMBG". Today, with all the EP and bonus tracks stuck on each CD, they sound like brilliant, annoying hodge-podges. Still, that hasn't daunted anyone from picking up this reformatted version. In its first week out, the compilation sold more than 5000 copies, a fairly phonminal number for a package with a $27.98 list price. From the looks of the audience at TMBG's sold-out Avalon show ((YAY!)) a couple weeks ago, a lot of these sales went to younger fans who accept postmodern hodge-podges as a musical norm. Try as they might to be true to their small-core roots, They Might Be Giants have turned into giants after all. -Franklin Soults Interesting, eh? -ellen g. April is the crulest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead earth, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain. -T. S. Eliot ************************************** Visit Eclectic Ellen G's Website, presently being revamped! http://www.tiac.net/users/gersh/ellen.html ------------------------------ From: mjames@cs3100.loyola.edu (Matthew James) Message-Id: <9704201910.AA04613@cs3100.loyola.edu> Subject: TMBG: Replacements, James Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 15:10:45 -0400 (EDT) As I perused Christy's e-mail I noticed that nowhere did it say We're the Replacements on the Western MD setlist. I remember them playing that because they said, "This is a song about a band called the Replacements". The next night at Bohager's Linnell said, "This is a song about a band from Minneapolis". For any James fans: I was wearing my James-Whiplash t-shirt and some guy and gal saw me and he said, you know they're playing at Bohager's on June 2. So I thought that cool. The girl then speculated that they might play the HFStival being so close to May 31 when it's happening. As I spoke to my friend on the phone today I thought, wouldn't it be cool if James and They Might Be Giants were invited to the HFStival (again, they played it in 1992 as well). /Matt, glad to see the OMLT goddess Christy is healthy once again (will this delay OMLT orders? *grin*, and I was only a Minor play 8-(). -- upcoming concerts: TMBG-Western MD College,Westminster, MD 4/18 TMBG-Bohager's Bar & Grill, Baltimore, MD 4/19 "No room for big hearts like her in this city"-Carlito's Way Member of the ARM since '96 (let's give 'em hell) * ------------------------------------------------------------------- Matt James polk@tmbg.org Matt.James.K.Polk@tmbg.org mjames@envy.loyola.edu Loyola College, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America "Cracking toast, Gromit!" New, Official Bruce Campbell Gazette page: http://www.bcgazette.com ------------------------------ From: GenLand18@aol.com Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 15:31:40 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970420153139_-434773578@emout17.mail.aol.com> Subject: Re: TMBG: Istanbul!! <> Wow, this must be the Johns' catchphrase. I live in Southern CA, so obviously I didn't hear the Boston interview. Hmmmm.....*shrug.* TMBG still rule. Too bad CA treats them as a "cute" novelty act of the past rather than the superb musicians they still are today. SuperGEEK, "They say love is blind. I don't think you're blind" -- TMBG "I wanna get married. Will you marry me today?" -- Sugarplastic "It must be love. What else could it be?" -- Reel Big Fish ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 16:18:08 -0400 (EDT) From: Allison Thorpe Subject: Sorta-TMBG: ATTENTION : Christine(c@c.au) MAIL ME Message-ID: Christine? I got an email from you inquiring about the Video Bootleg 2.5, but your address isn't going through.. email me and let me know where I can get ahold of you. -Adam ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 16:36:59 -0400 (EDT) From: Coyote Subject: Non-TMBG:I am not Allison..*Sigh* Message-ID: OK, I just sent a slew of messages to people regarding video Bootleg 2.5... However they all went under the name of 'Allison Thorpe'.Whoopsy. That was a prank I pulled on someone like a few hours ago, and then I just forgot to change it back to 'Coyote'. I feel foolish now. :) So if you get a mail from Allison Thorpe, and say 'hmmmm I though some Coyote guy was doing the video' then that's my screw up.. Just thought I'd alleviate any confusion I may have caused.. Sorry -Adam ~-~\ /~-~ ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ "Well, as cliche as it may sound, I'd like to raise another round, and if your bottles empty help yourself to mine, thank you for your time; and here's to life" kai@wpi.edu http://www.wpi.edu/~kai ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 18:45:23 -0500 From: "Big.Bad.Robbie.G." Subject: TMBG: Tranquility Bass Message-Id: Oddness. I was watching the week in rock, and it came to new release part. A band called "tranquility bass" (from the outer planetary mix of the guitar) just put out an album called "Let the Freak Flag Fly" Possibe TMBG fans? Or just two very odd coincedences. P.S. Can no one deny that puppet head is the best video? ___ _ _ _ ___ _ _ _ _ _ _ | . \ ___ | |_ ___ _ _ _| |_ | | / _> _ _ ___ | |_ <_>| || | | || | | // . \| . \/ ._>| '_> | | | |_ _ | <_/\| '_><_> || . \| || || | | || | |_\_\\___/|___/\___.|_| |_| |___|<_> `____/|_| <___||___/|_||_||_| |_||_| "It smells like..." "Socks?" "No, fire and brimstone." ------------------------------ From: TmbgManiac@aol.com Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 19:04:01 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970420190400_85359930@emout10.mail.aol.com> Subject: TMBG: State Songs? Does anyone have any of John Linnell's State Songs out on the internet? TmbgManiac http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/7824 ------------------------------ From: Mooseful@aol.com Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 19:16:47 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970420191646_184257650@emout15.mail.aol.com> Subject: TMBG: WMC, blowhager's, another they day hello hello. having not gotten my digest yet as I write this I'm guessing that Christy's beaten me to posting a big long saga about the wmc and bohager's shows. so the Moose addenda are as follows...I'm a relative of Vanna White!! yay. They played NYC -with- -chimes-; I believe my exact words were "I've died and gone to heaven". aaaaaahhh, I -love- the sax line in I'll Sink Manhattan! ok, enough stuff you've probably heard already...My parental units -both- ended up going to the Saturday show. Don't ask me why because frankly I don't know...but I lived. But the point is that I had this conversation with them this morning...my dad remarked that the guys in tmbg look like they'd have day jobs, especially Flans who he thinks looks like a stockbroker. no, it gets better, my mom thinks he looks like a physicist. I thought that was pretty damn funny. I laughed. the other two reasons why it's a they day: I had a flute lesson this morning and my teacher said something about "slowly twisting in the wind"...I don't even remember what the context was now because I was busy being very amused. and on the front page of the Sunday arts section of today's Washington Post is a story about some art collector who died, and there's a picture of him holding a painting called "Folk Family". whoooooa! I did quite the double take. basking in the blue canary-shaped They afterglow, moose. ------------------------------ Message-ID: <335AAAC2.77E7@geocities.com> Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 16:46:10 -0700 From: vlad_drakul Subject: TMBG: TMBG Revolution! Okay, here's the deal; on Monday, April 21, I say we all call up 107.7 The End and ask for TMBG. If so, I get dibs on Ana Ng. I think the songs we ask for should be: Ana Ng Joshie Fried's World's Address Don't Let's Start (She Was A) Hotel Detective We're The Replacements Kitten Intro You'll Miss Me Critic Intro Purple Toupee Where Your Eyes Don't Go I've Got A Match ShoeHorn With Teeth It's Not My Birthday (especially this one) Santa's Beard Doris Cunningham ...sounds cool, huh? I'm going for it... -- Vladimir Drakul ******************************************************************* *"Genius survives; all else is claimed by death." * * -Milton * * * *"...courtesy is owed; respect is earned; love is given." * * -John Stange * * * *"Be strict in what you send, and forgiving in what you receive." * * -George Hartnell * * * *"...and you must listen to me fillibuster vigilantly..." * * -TMBG * * * *"Let's get those missiles ready to destroy the universe!!!" * * -John Flansburgh * * * *"...there are a lot of crabs that look like Samurai warriors." * * -Carl Sagan * ******************************************************************* ------------------------------ Message-ID: <335AB336.66E0@geocities.com> Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 17:22:14 -0700 From: vlad_drakul Subject: TMBG: Almost-non-tmbg Hey, who noticed that "Gettin' Sentimental Over You" sounds almost exactly like Violent Femmes's "Machine?" -- Vladimir Drakul ******************************************************************* *"Genius survives; all else is claimed by death." * * -Milton * * * *"...courtesy is owed; respect is earned; love is given." * * -John Stange * * * *"Be strict in what you send, and forgiving in what you receive." * * -George Hartnell * * * *"...and you must listen to me fillibuster vigilantly..." * * -TMBG * * * *"Let's get those missiles ready to destroy the universe!!!" * * -John Flansburgh * * * *"...there are a lot of crabs that look like Samurai warriors." * * -Carl Sagan * ******************************************************************* ------------------------------ Message-Id: <199704210212.VAA75156@audumla.students.wisc.edu> Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 21:06:07 -0500 From: Geoffrey McNulty Subject: TMBG: tmbg: kit-kat acoustic break hey ya'll, i just got my promo copy of the kit-kat acoustic break cd with tmbg. i'm only a couple of minutes into it, but they're doing an acoustic "james k. polk." i'm assuming that they will do another song later into it, given the whole thing is 25 mins long. loads of interview. i'm sure that you've all heard of this thing, but i'll let ya'll know how it is when i'm done. hooray! geoff needs a girlfriend. * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Geoffrey McNulty | "...there comes a time when Entertainment Writer | you want to roast marshmallows gmcnulty@students.wisc.edu | over your own fire." www.angelfire.com/wi/geomac | --Tori Amos * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ Message-Id: <199704210343.WAA46412@audumla.students.wisc.edu> Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 22:37:46 -0500 From: Geoffrey McNulty Subject: TMBG: tmbg: on kit-kat okay, i made a "set-list" for the kit-kat acoustic break show. james k. polk how can i sing like a girl? your own worst enemy older (HOORAY, I FINALLY GOT THIS ON A CD!!!AND FOR FREE!!!) new york city ana ng (OHMYGAWDOHMYGAWDOHMYGAWD!!!) there's also plenty of interview material as well. i am the happiest boy alive. currently listening to Portishead's DUMMY which i finally bought today. geoff (needs a girlfriend) * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Geoffrey McNulty | "...there comes a time when Entertainment Writer | you want to roast marshmallows gmcnulty@students.wisc.edu | over your own fire." www.angelfire.com/wi/geomac | --Tori Amos * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ Message-Id: <199704210513.AAA48186@audumla.students.wisc.edu> Date: Mon, 21 Apr 1997 00:07:39 -0500 From: Geoffrey McNulty Subject: Re: TMBG: tmbg: on kit-kat the kit kat thing is a radio program, 1/2 hr long, and i have no idea where it plays. it's sorta one of those sponsorship deals. they seend radio stations cds of interviews, and the station puts em on whenever they want. call your local radio station to found out more, 'cause i only snagged myself the tmbg one. geoff At 01:04 AM 4/21/97 -0400, you wrote: >what is this kit kat thing? where when was it? is it on anywhere else? * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Geoffrey McNulty | "...there comes a time when Entertainment Writer | you want to roast marshmallows gmcnulty@students.wisc.edu | over your own fire." www.angelfire.com/wi/geomac | --Tori Amos * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ From: Christi587@aol.com Date: Mon, 21 Apr 1997 01:23:01 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970421012301_-401174461@emout05.mail.aol.com> Subject: TMBG: Adventure! Romance! A really big Stick! The Great TMBG Saga, pt. 2 Let me just preface this post with the comment that if anyone out there made a boot of the Bohager's show, I will give you any number of vital internal organs to get it. You will be committing a crime against nature if you know where I can get a boot of the show and you don't tell me. Thank you. So, ah, here's part two. Thanks to everyone who commented on the first one, but I haven't got time to reply individually. I love you all!!! I love you all!!! (Look, Ma, I'm Cuba Gooding Jr.!) And no, I don't know what's happened to the car... I suspect it's been towed. I woke up Saturday morning at noon (with a bad hangover... whoops, sorry, wrong story!). After being forced to tell and retell my story to my parents over breakfast, I took the best shower of my life... There is no better feeling than removing other people's sweat from your body... Anyway, my stomach was actually not in any pain at all. I felt rather silly because I knew my parents would be getting a rather pricey hospital bill for medical attention that amounted to an advil and a cup of mylanta. But that did not occupy my thoughts for more than a nanosecond at a time, because I was too busy thinking of the concert that awaited me in beautiful downtown Fells Point, MD that evening. Remembering how my hair (which, for those who don't know, is several feet long) had gotten stuck in people's armpits and mouths and God knows where else on Friday night, I put my hair up in those ridiculous meatball-looking things. I looked like a cross between Princess Leia and Sailor Moon, but at least my hair was safe. At around 5, the aforementioned (well, in the last story, anyway) Moose and Vera and I eventually wound up in Moose's daddy's car, with both of Moose's neurotic parents at the helm. ("What are they going to do," asked my mother when I told her they both felt it neccessary to escort her to the concert, "Follow her around on dates in college?") Jon was not accompanying us this time due to massive amounts of final projects. As it would turn out, he picked entirely the wrong show to attend... We passed the hour and a half car ride by subjecting Moose's parents to TMBG mix tapes and babbling incessently about everything in the universe. Vera, as I mentioned last time, is a newcomer to TMBG, so she had the following story to share with us: "Hey, Vanessa [one of Vera's friends] says she really likes one of Their songs. She said she heard it on the radio... It's called 'Donut Shop.' Do they have a song called 'Donut Shop'?" Moose and I exchanged worried glances. What?! A TMBG song we don't know about? Getting airplay no less! Several seconds passed. Suddenly and almost unanimously, we shouted "DON'T LET'S START!!!!" and erupted into painful laughter. Between gasps for air, I yelled "Dough-dough-donut shop!" to the tune of DLS and collapsed back into laughter. (Well, maybe you had to be there) After much cursing and merging on the part of Moose's daddy, we arrived at le club Bohager's and noticed that there were 100 or so people who were already i n line. Things did not look promising. We searched the line for trace amounts of Mr. Matt James, but alas, he was nowhere to be found. Moose's daddy picked up our will-call tickets and the doors opened. For some reason, all the people in line before us stupidly decided to go up to the balcony, so we were able to mosy up the the front of the floor with no difficulty. We were positioned front row, direct center. Wow. Once there, I noticed there was no baricading in fornt of the stage. There were just some big beefy security guys standing in front of the stage who told the crowd not to cross the invisible line, which was about 1 foot away from the stage. How incredible is that? The first show I had ever managed to be front row and there was *no baricading*. We were about 3 feet away from where I suspected TMBG's feet would soon be. In an effort to butter up the closest security guard he might not scowl so much (it didn't work), I asked him who the opening act was going to be. "Well, there's only one set of drums on stage," he said. "Probably there won't *be* an opening act." I restrained a shriek of delight, because I knew what that meant. TMBG opens for TMBG! We milled around for a half hour or so (during which time I had far too many people comment on my hair) before several stagehands, cigarettes clamped firmly in teeth, came out from behind the curtain behind the stage and began taping down setlists on the floor. Because I was so close, I leaned forward and looked at the set list. Two sheets long! Aaauuuugh! They *were* opening for themselves!! And there were going to be two encores! In fact, one of the encores contained a song which I had dedicated my life to hearing in concert: She's an Angel. I turned to Moose. "I'm not going to say exactly why, but one of those encores is going to make everyone here veeery happy!" So, anyway, the house lights went down and everyone in the audience yelled "Raaaaugh!", the traditional call of the concert-hungry. I noticed that the stage curtain was being pulled back. I looked through the gap in the curtain to see none other than Mr. John Linnell himself peering through to check out the crowd. I waved frantically. "Aaaaugh!" screamed Vera "Was that Linnell? I think I just saw Linnell!" Yes, folks, she may be a newcomer, but she certainly knows a stud when she sees one. "I Might Be Giants, Too" began playing. John and John took the stage, each with a cup of what I'd like to think was hot, steaming coffee, although that is not likely considering how bloody hot it was in there already. The crowd pushed an inch forward. Mr. Linnell positioned himself directly in front of me and picked up his accordion. How close was I? I was close enough to see a mark on his chin where he presumably cut himself shaving. I contemplated whether I should just die of happiness right then, but decided I better wait until the show was actually over. Set list: ----- intro rolls into... COWTOWN (Some audience dork kept yelling "Boat of Car!!!" Flans: "If you're wondering why we're not taking spontaneous requests... it's for complicated technical reasons." Hellooo! Drum machine programming! I thought.) PUPPET NUMBER 3 (Flans: "You know that part in the song where it says 'I went to the president and I asked old what's-his-name'? Well, we did that on purpose so that the song would still make sense when we played it ten years down the road. That's us, we're always planning for the future. So it doens't actually say the name of the president at the time. It doesn't say 'I asked... Reagan'." Linnell jumped in with "Although, the president at the time we wrote this song was actually Wilson...") MR. ME (Flans evidently skipped a line on the set list, because at this point he put his guitar down and went back to the microphone. "This is a song about remembering..." he began. Linnell cut him off with "um... no..." Flans stared at him a moment. "John," he asked, "Do I play guitar for this song?" "Yes, you do." "Ah." He crossed over and picked the guitar up again. "It's about remembering Alzheimer's!" he said, grinning sheepishly.) MANHAttan (Linnell = bari god!) 32 FOOT (Flans plays a mean harmonica, you know that?) /MISS ME HIDE AWAY (Flans: "This is the part of the show where we ask you, the audience, to scream as if you're in hell..." the audience gives it a try... "That was good, but notice how you all sort of trailed off there at the end? You'll have to try harder, because the middle part is a whole 16 bars long, and if you've ever been to a fusion concert, you know 16 bars can seem like an eternity...") /HOTEL D. ANA NG (2 chorus end) (Flans sang the bridge "I don't want the world...") w/ DH &GM (at this point, Graham and Dan took the stage as well) LIE STILL (Flans introduced the Stick, which is... well... a big stick with a mic taped to the bottom. "Sound check for the stick!" he cried, and slammed the stick int the stage. It makes a uniquely haunting sound, I must say.) (break) ------ End of first page of set list. There was a 15 minute break here, which I used to squeeze my way to the bar and buy a drink. Two frigging bucks for a Coke! And it was half ice, too. I figured I paid for all the stupid ice, so I kept the cup of ice next to the stage so I could access it easily for the rest of the show. I had the feeling I might need it, because at this point, I was sweating from my eyelids. That tells you something. The room was getting approximately as hot as the sun, with one difference-- the heat and light of the bar are actually caused by the nuclear reactions of: Sweat... Testosterone... Spilled liquor... Bouncers... Pot smoke... Moron... and Hydrogen. The second part of the show was kicked off by the Critic Intro. Set list: ----- critic intro Dan starts right away (Yes, this stuff was actually on the set list) NYC POLK (featuring presidential confetti canon. Linnell asked if they could get a spotlight on the canon, which happened to directly in front of me. Inspired, Vera and Moose and I began showcasing the canon with arm sweeps. After a pause, Flans remarked, "Those are Vanna White's relatives down there", causing us to shriek in delight. We have been named by the Gods. We can all die happy now.) ACTUAL SPIDER (Subtitle: "John and John have microphone fun") /SLEEP BIRD (Linnell: "When we recorded this song, it was during the summer, and it was really hot... kinda like now... so we've thrown in a little tribute to Summer in the City that you don't get on the album." The bridge was the guitar line from that very song.) ENSOR (slow speed-- Flans: "We're starting our 'power ballad' now." SPIRAL (At this point, the band members were glistening with sweat. In Linnell's case, this was actually not so bad from an aesthetic point of view, but this was offset by the fact that the audience was beginning to smell like a water buffalo. Little rivulets of sweat were making their way down Flans' face and dripping onto his guitar while he played. Somewhere in this part of the set, Flans, towling off furiously, provided the following monologue: "Is it hot in here, or is it just us?" Applause. "Is it hot in here, or is it just us, or is it maybe that someone forgot to turn on the air conditioning?" Applause. "Is it just me, or did SOMEBODY FORGET TO TURN ON THE AIR CONDITIONING IN HERE?!?!" Wild applause. "Let's give a big hand to the person who FORGOT TO TURN THE AIR CONDITIONING ON." Deafening applause.) WHERE (sung by Mr. Flansburgh, as I recall) /SEXXY Dan starts with pedal hat FAKER (Somewhere in here, Mike the tour manager brought out a big upright fan and set it off to the side of the stage... it took him several songs to actually turn it on, however) /REPLACE OLDER (Half the audience was chanting the lyrics before Mr. Linnell) /SPY (With I Am Not Your Broom! Linnell sang the John part and Flans/Graham sang the broom part. The two of them forgot the second broom verse, hesitated, looked at each other in an embarassed way, then suddenly remembered and continued) SHOE (Flans: "Ladies and gentlemen, a big round of applause for the glockenspiel, all the way from Germany... " Dan, in between his stints as glock master, went over to the fan and stood directly in front of it. His presense diverted some of the cold air towards the audience. This made me very happy.) RHYTHM PARTICLE PET (Flans, in thick New Yawk accent: "This next song is about two completely fucked up people. In fact, they're so fucked up, we had to write a song about them. And you have to listen to it! You're in Rock Purgatory now!" During the song, Mr. Linnell didn't have much to do, so he went over and danced around in front of the fan. It made my day) latin/NO ONE (Flans: "We're calling the shots here! This is when you, the audience, makes a conga line. We're not asking you! We're telling you!" Linnell: "There's always one person hiding in the corner, going 'Hey... gee, they look like they're having fun.' No! We want to see everyone in the conga line!" I was torn between keeping my exceptional front-row-center space and conga-ing. The music started. Everyone in the fron row shuffled nervously with the same guilt complex as me. Oh, hell, I thought... why not just have a stationary conga line? So I lead most of the front row in a stationary conga line! I highly recommend it. The security guard was surprisingly unfazed until we began the high kicks.) /GTR (this song obviously contains subliminal messages that say "Mosh! Crowd surf! Act stupid!") no intro... /INSTANBUL TURN ARND TWIST DIG (At this point, a security guard stuck his head out from begind the curtain and made some bizzare gesture with his flashlight. Flans: "We have a curfew, folks... one more song, but then we gotta go." He pulled out his guitar strings at the song's end. "Funny, I figured he only does that at the end of the show..." I thought) ---- The set list continues here with two encores. After Dig My Grave, the audience began the "OK, we know you guys are coming back out!" cheering. The Johns did not appear. Several minutes passed. A stagehand came out and replaced Flans' guitar. Aha! I thought. But no. More time passed. No encore. The house lights went up and the potentially best concert ever came crashing to a halt. I sprang into action and asked the security guy for Linnell's set list, which he grudgingly got for me. This cheered me up some, but inwardly I was crushed. Roadies came out and started stripping down the stage. They did not appear to be handing out drumsticks, but Vera received one of Graham's bass picts. The disgruntled, encore-deprived crowd pushed all the way forward and I was smooshed against the side of the stage. The dork next to me reached out and grabbed Linnell's towl before I got the chance, but Vera and I were able to reach out and touch the accordion. Then the security guards yelled at us and pushed the crowd back. You might as well see the set list portion that They didn't play. ----- back as duo!!!! Robbie! JF high E tuned down to D Low E tuned to B ANGEL NOTHING POLKA ----- XTC /EXQ (We could see the puppet heads waiting in the wings. They didn't get their chance at stardom at this show.) TIL Backlit wave -------- This concert was oh so close to being perfect. But no. The crowd began to scatter. Our little party found Moose's parents hiding back by the bar and we ordered some more overpriced hydration. We wandered over to the t-shirt stand and, finding nothing of interest, left. (When will they get more of those J&J posters they had the last 9:30 club show?) Walking past the club rear entrance, we spotted the ever-elusive Matt James and his compatriates. We stopped by and helped them speculate about why the show ended so early. (I suspect maybe they had a plane to catch or something. The world may never know.) Anyway, we were almost ready to leave when a dark car pulled up. A lady jumped out and ran inside. (I now regret not getting a clear view of her.) I looked at the driver and thought... nah, couldn't be. "Hey," said Vera, "Isn't that the drummer?" It was indeed Mr. Dan Hickey. We inched slowly up to the car in what I'd like to think was a discreet manner and I tapped on the window. Dan looked up, startled, and rolled down the window. "Um, hi..." I said. "We promise not to tell everyone you're here if you'll give us an autograph!" Dan smiled and shook his head. He said something which I suppose was to the effect of "Sorry, we gotta go," but my attention was distracted at this point by another person jumping into the car. It took me several whole nanoseconds to realize that this new person was none other than Mr. John Linnell, wearing glasses and a big grin. I guess that's when we lost all appearance of composure. "Aaaugh! We love you guys! We love you!" we shouted at the car as it backed away. We waved frantically. I wish in retrospect that we'd thought of something slightly more intellectual to say, but oh well. Linnell sort of half-waved and the car pulled out of the lot. "Y'know," yelled some jerk, "That's why the Beatles stopped touring!" Yeah? Tour *this*, pal. My sincere apologies to every TMBG fan in the world if being mobbed by a whole *three people* causes Them to cancel the rest of the tour. So that part of the evening pretty much made up for the truncated set. Moose's parents were rather amused at the amount of high-pitched babbling that emenated from the back seat the entire ride home. The major points that we were able to decide on during the course of the car ride were 1) Mrs. Linnell must die 2) We *must* attend the next TMBG show within a 500-mile radius 3) Vera is now a full TMBG convert 4) Did we mention Mrs. Linnell must die? This concludes the Amazing TMBG Saga. I hope you've enjoyed this little story, since I used my physics homework time to type it. Remember... If you have ANY IDEA where I can get a bootleg of this concert, MAIL ME!!! --Christy ------------------------------ End of tmbg-list Digest #3-110 ******************************