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 #11-31 tmbg-list Digest, Volume 11, Number 31 Saturday, 31 October 1998 Today's Topics: TMBG: Re: CD Universe Big Bang Newsletter Re: TMBG: quirkmeisters? TMBG: Mtv article TMBG: another linnell double Re: TMBG: quirkmeisters? Re: TMBG: quirkmeisters? Re: TMBG: quirkmeisters? 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. --------------------------------------------------------------------- tmbg-list is digested with Digest 3.5b (John Relph ). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: tmbgirl@juno.com Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 06:34:17 -0700 Subject: TMBG: Re: CD Universe Big Bang Newsletter Message-ID: <19981030.063422.5046.0.TMBgirl@juno.com> OKay so CD universe sends out these weekly newsletters that i get solely so i can know what artists are putting out new albums but... I haven't been keeping up with the tour dates... but isn't it a *mono puff* show? hmm... here goes: >:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: >:: Pop/Rock Music News >:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: > >HALLOWEEN ROCKS! > >Historically, Halloween has been a night when dead loved ones, >ancestors, >friends and wayward souls return from the "other side" for one night >and >are appeased by the living with offerings of food and other treats. It >has >also come to be a night for great rock concerts! FRANK ZAPPA >epitomized the >tradition of making Halloween a special night for music. If you are >looking >for a musical Halloween you have a lot of choices (if you are willing >to >travel). There are the bands whose names and personas evoke the >ghoulish, >such as KISS who begin their PSYCHO CIRCUS tour at Dodger stadium in >Los >Angeles with guests SMASHING PUMPKINS, or ROB ZOMBIE and MONSTER >MAGNET in >Lewiston, ME, or MARILYN MANSON in St. Paul, MN. And how about the >BLACK >CROWES in Copenhagen Denmark or EVIL PRESLEY & THE INDEPENDENTS with >THE >MISFITS in New York, there's also MOTLEY CRUE in Boston, EVE 6 and >THIRD >EYE BLIND in New Orleans, RANCID in Worcester, MA or GWAR at the Lemp >Brewery in St. Louis, MO. If you dabble in the avant-garde you can >find THE >RESIDENTS at The Filmore in San Francisco or THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS in >Cambridge, MA. If you're looking to fill the void left by THE >GRAFTEFUL >DEAD's monster Halloween shows, there's WIDESPREAD PANIC in New >Orleans and >PHISH in Las Vegas. The night of the dead will also mark the final >show for >KORN and THE FAMILY VALUES tour in Fairfax, Virginia while other shows >include DAVE MATTHEWS at the Oakland Arena, ALANIS MORISSETTE in >Toronto, >BARENAKED LADIES in Las Vegas, TORI AMOS in West Lafayette IN, GARBAGE >in >Asbury Park NJ, BRIAN SETZER in Chicago, GOO GOO DOLLS in Lake Buena >Vista, >FL, CHRIS ISAAK in Phoenix, AZ and ERIC CLAPTON in Zurich, >Switzerland. take it easy, JOrdaN http://www2.netcom.com/~arnot/joda/bootlegs.html Have i plugged this show yet? 11/16: NYC @ Fez - Michael Shelley and Laura Cantrell :) ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] ------------------------------ Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19981030100229.0090fa40@EMail.Psu.Edu> Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 10:02:29 -0500 From: Jason Fickley Subject: Re: TMBG: quirkmeisters? At 02:41 PM 10/29/98 -0600, you wrote: >what article?? I go to the site and see nothing as far as articles go. > Well, I just copied and pasted from the url. If anyone else has troubles, all I did was go to the MTV homepage, go to "local", click on Pittsburgh, and choose the story called "Particle Men". --Jason-- ------------------------------ From: TMBGibs@aol.com Message-ID: <281db406.3639e4e4@aol.com> Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 11:10:12 EST Subject: TMBG: Mtv article heres the article: http://aol.mtv.com/aolpromos/promo2.html Me! ------------------------------ From: KdsInThHal@aol.com Message-ID: Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 13:49:43 EST Subject: TMBG: another linnell double well; if david spade's not up for The Movie, i found a suitable replacement. did anone watch conan last night? the comedian at the end had a linnellesque essence about him. didn't catch the name, but, anyways.. it was weird. ok. sarah ------------------------------ From: Alterian@aol.com Message-ID: <4f8f9d23.363a44df@aol.com> Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 17:59:43 EST Subject: Re: TMBG: quirkmeisters? Finally found it. Oh my God, that must be one of the worst articles I ever read about them. I wasn't sure in some parts if they were complimenting or criticizing. The author probably never really heard of them before. Blah. ------------------------------ From: EmarZero@aol.com Message-ID: <2a655119.363a509b@aol.com> Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 18:49:47 EST Subject: Re: TMBG: quirkmeisters? Could someone cut and paste this one to the list? It sounds liek a good ol' uninformed article... ------------------------------ From: TMBGibs@aol.com Message-ID: Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 21:37:11 EST Subject: Re: TMBG: quirkmeisters? the article reads: THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS After more than a decade of being the quirkmeisters of accordion pop, THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS' singer/squeeze-box-guy John Linnell is well-seasoned in the fine art of phone interviewing. "I've actually had that experience where people have thought I was the other guy and then they're disappointed when they find out I'm not," Linnell explains. "The other guy" is John Flansburgh, bespectacled guitarist and the other half of the duo. On tour to support the new live album, Severe Tire Damage, Linnell's comment clues one in on the strength of their individual personalities. Two Johns, two guys, one band: THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS emerged in the '80s during a time when popular music was stagnant (an oxymoron?). Hair metal was the flavor of the day and a band like TMBG was as far removed from that genre as possible. Their self-titled 1986 LP, with its stutter-step single "Don't Let's Start," helped put John and John on the pop-music map. Subsequent singles and releases brought more of the public in. By 1990's Flood LP, TMBG was solidified as an MTV-culture band, with a reworking of "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" and the song "Birdhouse in Your Soul" leading the singles charge. Quirky, clever, or just plain dumb, the band was on to something. "I think the key to the success of this band is that we figured out what we're good at," Linnell says. "We make the records we'd like to buy." With intelligent, wry lyrics and catchy melodies and instrumentation, TMBG have made a career of talking frank. Early songs like "We're the Replacements" (with the line "Hey, where's Tommy? Someone find Tommy") and "Youth Culture Killed My Dog" ("Bacharach and David used to write his favorite songs/Never would he worry, he'd just run and fetch the ball") had the kind of hip, in-the-moment references that have made bands like the BEASTIE BOYS and BECK so cool. But somehow, TMBG prescribed to a different ethic. Mostly, the boys have kept their tongues planted firmly in their cheeks, not afraid to laugh at themselves along with everyone else. Case in point is a recent taping for a National Public Radio broadcast -- and actually hearing oneself on the radio. "We were driving along in Chicago and we were flipping through the radio," relates Linnell. "Right at the point were we picked [a station] up, we heard this guy obnoxiously going 'Ahhh!' and thought 'Who IS this?' It turned out to be John [Flansburgh]. It's a nice coincidence when that happens." The band's new single, "Doctor Worm," is receiving airplay locally, turning up pretty frequently on WYEP 91.3 FM. One might think the band more suitable for college radio than for independent public radio and AAA-oriented formats. Linnell corrects the misconception: "We've had a decent ride with those channels for many years." From the earliest days, the band has maintained "Dial-A-Song," a phone number that, when called, plays a new TMBG song for no other cost except long- distance charges. The song changed frequently but became a kind of sensation for the band's fans. "We've still got the line [718-387-6962, FYI], which started out as just an answering machine," says Linnell. The boys have recently put the Dial-A-Song on the Internet as well, on the band's new, official www.tmbg.com website. "We're deeply indebted to our fans for supporting us, but it's not a situation where we'll be palling around," Linnell says when asked about many artists' new fad of "chatting" with fans via the Web. "It's not really about us or what we're like. It's about the music -- it's personal and that's what's good about it." Personal interaction between any artist and fan is not a smooth endeavor. Fans may even feel as though they may "know" an artist through his or her work. Linnell understands. He's a fan, too. "We did a week of shows with Elvis Costello," Linnell says. "He's a really great songwriter and I really admire him, but you feel a little awkward talking about it." After the tour, the band will be at work on studio material. "We actually got two records planned," says Linnell. "One is a THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS record and one is a children's record we're considering doing," the singer pauses, thoughtfully adding, "if we have enough time." -- Greg Hoy Pittsburgh City Paper (October 8, 1998) Me! "Im your only friend..." ------------------------------ End of tmbg-list Digest #11-31 ******************************