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 #11-9 tmbg-list Digest, Volume 11, Number 9 Friday, 9 October 1998 Today's Topics: Re: TMBG: Flansie and Frank Black Re: TMBG: Q review well, this is shitty (my response) -Reply -Reply TMBG: my Cleveland adventure... Re: TMBG: The Toronto Report Re: TMBG: Interview before Austin show Re: TMBG: Who Here is Uptight? TMBG: Cleveland Re: TMBG: Cleveland Re: TMBG: Interview before Austin show Re: TMBG: The Toronto Report TMBG: Potty Mouth TMBG: Who Here is Right Wing? Re: TMBG: TMBG on TV Re: TMBG: TMBG on TV TMBG: TMBG : 10/7 - Cleveland Show NON-TMBG:Right Wing Baby Re: NON-TMBG:Right Wing Baby TMBG: The 'Why' of TMBG... Re: NON-TMBG:Right Wing Baby Re: TMBG: The 'Why' of TMBG... TMBG: "borrowing" tour posters TMBG: My First TMBG Show!!! (Cleveland) TMBG: My First TMBG Show!!! (Cleveland) Re: TMBG: Who Here is Right Wing? Re: TMBG: Who Here is Uptight? Re: TMBG: Who Here is Uptight? Re: TMBG: The 'Why' of TMBG... TMBG: AMAZING Pittsburgh story Re: TMBG: FW: Fwd: FUN!!! NO really its fun! Re: TMBG: Who Here is Right Wing? 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 ). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 04:04:47 -0500 (CDT) From: bill tatalovich Subject: Re: TMBG: Flansie and Frank Black Message-ID: On Wed, 7 Oct 1998, Jim Kuemmerle wrote: > > I don't think so. I'm pretty sure that Flansburgh did "Los Angeles" and > > "Hang on to Your Ego." > > is this brian wilson's "hang on to your ego", which was a precursor to "i > know there's an answer" on _pet_sounds_? Yup, it's the same song. Actually, I had heard Frank Black's version before the Beach Boys version (and I call myself a music fan...what's wrong with me). Which brings me to something else. For those people who don't own _Pet Sounds_, there's something missing in your life. Pop music perfected, I must say. Absolutely amazing. The Rev |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| | Reverend Bill Tatalovich | Home page: | | | http://students.cec.wustl.edu/~wt3/ | | wt3@cec.wustl.edu |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | personnel@kwur.wustl.edu | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------------ From: rhilton@bitc.org.uk Message-Id: Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1998 19:10:19 +0000 Subject: Re: TMBG: Q review well, this is shitty (my response) -Reply -Reply >>> "xornom@hotmail.com" 7/October/1998 09:28am >>> Richard wrote: >Or shall I just post it to the list and see what you all think? Don't >mind. >Views? I think you should post it to the list. Why not? -- Nathan DinnerBell@tmbg.org Well Nathan, if you insist (lights blue paper and dives very rapidly for cover) Richard Q magazine - November (?) 1998 issue THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS - SEVERE TIRE DAMAGE Summary : Dan Aykroyd*s younger brother-alikes tour America. America wins They Might Be Giants - hit single Birdhouse in Your Soul - return to our late-night local radio show schedules with this semi-live, semi-studio, semi-improvised, all-appalling album, which features many of their cleverest songs. From the *40s novelty jive tune Istanbul (Not Constantinople) to the dead man*s Devo that is Particle Man, nasal vocals and an avoidance of emotional content giving shape to the works of Johns Flansburgh and Linnell. XTC vs Adam Ant threatens to explore the nature of form versus content, but forgets to. There are made-up-on-the-spot numbers about the Planet of The Apes film and the whole thing rumbles on like a Footlights revue(1): superior-sounding educated, smug and seemingly fond of its medium - in this case pop - while, Frank Zappa-like, really contemptuous of the plebeian simplicity of it all. David Quantick Rating : One star - poor, best avoided My notes (1) Footlights revue is an annual comedy revue put on by the students at Cambridge University (UKs equivalent of Harvard Yale MIT etc.). Helped launch the career of Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Douglas Adams, various of Monty Python and many others ------------------------------ Message-ID: <8q7A6DW00WB=07LFM0@andrew.cmu.edu> Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 09:43:43 -0400 (EDT) From: Lawrence P Solomon Subject: TMBG: my Cleveland adventure... yesterday morning I was sitting around my apartment calling the car dealer to see if they had fixed my car. they told me it would be ready by 4:30. and I needed to be in Cleveland (2 hours away) by 5. so, naturally, I rented a car for this already slightly insane road trip... drove through torrential downpours, behind trucks spraying more water at me and refusing to move over, and finally arriving at the Odeon at about 6:05, and seeing, to my surprise, people already in line... by the time the doors opened at 7, the line was still very short (damn, I could have saved myself $70). but it had been raining so we were all rather wet, especially since the employees of the Odeon were assholes (instance #1) and told us "YOU CAN'T STAND NEAR THE DOORS!" and of course, that's the only place there is an overhang (not to mention many spiders the size of my fist) so we got in, I ran to the front (as usual), talked to people for a while, and finally, an hour later, Michael Shelley came out (it was 1-1 in the Indians-Yankees game at the time) I thought he was much better than when I saw him in DC. Maybe it's the sound system... so after a rather short set (with lots of heckling) we waited. and at about 9:30, Dan, Dan, and Dan took the stage and greeted us with the Severe Tire Damage Theme. while they were playing this, John & John walked onto the stage, and Linnell immediately picked up the accordion. after a few intro measures, he began to sing.... "I met someone at the dog show..." and they played one of the best renditions of She's an Angel I've ever heard (Flans did the slide thing beautifully!) and the audience responded accordingly (quite loudly, in fact) Switch things around a bit, put Dan Miller on keyboard, and we get Dr. Worm. During one of the instrumental parts, Linnell reached down and set off the confetti cannon. Then New York City, surprisingly without the guitar solo at the end... And Battle for the Planet of the Apes, where Dan & co. took an extra turn at the end and, according to Flans, played some Queen stuff... Flans said that they had cheated, and therefore won. Then they did a rather interesting rendition of Your Racist Friend. One thing I've noticed about Dan is that he tends to stay true to the album when drumming. This song is a very good example. I've been working on sequencing it for a while, and it has a very distinctive drum part... replacing the trumpet solo with guitar sounded a little odd, though... On into The Famous Polka (more accordion!). During this, Flans let some of us in the front row abuse (er, play) his guitar. We sounded terrible, so Flans then handed us picks and asked the band to start again. They played it again and we still sounded terrible. Linnell commented that some of us looked like we were reaching up and messing with the tuning pegs... "We have some professional musicians in the audience... 'Agggh, I can't stand it... it's ... out of tune!'" Then, as seems to be a developing tradition in Cleveland, setlist confusion. Linnell wanted to play James K. Polk, and Flans wanted to play The Guitar. Flans won, but James K. Polk followed. Then came She's Actual Size, with the, now to be expected, slow second half. Flans got Dan to play many interesting drum solos, but I forget what they were... then a very short song "Sorry, I fucked up the show." rather amusing. and then came They Got Lost, in which Linnell sang "Dan said to Bo" in the last verse. Bo is apparently their bus driver. Older, with synhronized visual effects from the Lincoln portion of the band, and Flans leaving to talk to the on stage sound guy. Flans returned, and Linnell introduced an educational song, once again with the accordion, and they played Mammal, with very interesting drum parts from Dan. and then Working Undercover for the Man. Ooooooh, I like this song. I don't know how to describe it... more accordion now, and Flans wearing a huge bass drum for Whistling in the Dark. At one point, Flans put one foot on the stage and the other on the barrier about 3 feet away, and held the drum down into the audience so we could all get the full effect of its power. Linnell quite noticeably missed several chords (so much, in fact, that he had to wait for a non-singing part to relocate his hand on the keyboard) and they then did something about Dan Miller's shirt (or something like that, according to Flans). Linnell made his voice sound funny. Well, some electronic circuit did, but that's another story. And Spy (the only John Henry song that made it to this show, sadly) During Linnell's part of the improv, he was saying something about someone having stolen his hairstyle... reminiscent of the "Please stay clear of the frozen corpse" from Philly last spring. and... Particle Man. Nothing really interesting, unless you think a really oddly pitched version of Kumbaya in the middle is interesting. S-E-X-X-Y. Much better with the guitar solo. Especially since it's not Eric. Shoehorn with Teeth, no CD-Skipping this time... full audience participation, though. Then Spider, which was a little surprising. I haven't heard this one in quite a while. at the end of Spider, someone threw something on stage and almost hit Dan Miller. So the lead-in to Birdhouse didn't come off quite as well as it should have. And then the slow version of Ana Ng (well, the slow intro) and the fast version of Why Does the Sun Shine? to leave the stage. They came back with the Puppet Heads That Just Won't Go Away, and "played" Exquisite Dead Guy. at one point, Dan Miller found himself in the spotlight and sort of nodded to the lighting guy "uh, what the hell are you doing? I don't get light in this song!" and another surprise: I Am Not Your Broom. Flans covered his ears and sounded terrible. Linnell didn't cover his ears and managed to match pitch with Flans pretty well. and Twisting followed, and they left the stage again. (one more encore, we know it!) Yup. They all came back, and Flans introduced Dan Miller on the guitar... "And now he will play... Istanbul... not Constantinople," and they did. and, as most shows seem to be ending these days, the reprise of Dr. Worm. before Linnell's a capella solo, he sang something else, the name of which eludes me at the moment. After the show, the crowd dispersed *really* quickly, and we were waiting outside with about 10 people. (they made us leave if we weren't buying anything [instance #2 of the Odeon staff being assholes]) and then they told us to move away from the doors and go hang around where we'd get wet. a couple of times, a door opened and Linnell poked his head out, but when he saw that it was raining and there were people waiting for him, he went back inside. Finally, one of their vehicles pulled onto the sidewalk a few inches from that door, and he made his way into the car, laughing at us as they drove away. (I have a feeling that if it hadn't been raining, he might have come out... there were at most 10 of us) all in all, an interesting experience. on to Pittsburgh tonight! :) Lawrence Solomon http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~lps/ lps@andrew.cmu.edu "Everything sticks until it goes away, * This space inadvertently And the truth is we don't know anything." -TMBG * left blank. ------------------------------ Message-ID: <19981008150136.24011.qmail@hotmail.com> From: "VoVat Quetzalcoatlus" Subject: Re: TMBG: The Toronto Report Date: Thu, 08 Oct 1998 08:01:36 PDT MIKe wrote: > Now you know what items I paid for, but of course that's not >all I >walked away with. I mean, if you happened to look at the wall and see >a >Severe Tire Damage tour poster taped to it, wouldn't you carefully >remove >it from the wall and sneak it back out to the car? Of course you >would. Actually, I probably wouldn't. -- Nathan DinnerBell@tmbg.org http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Corridor/5447/ "The puffin sipped at his herbal tea and sighed, 'You can't get the buttons these days.'" ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Message-ID: <19981008150604.23094.qmail@hotmail.com> From: "VoVat Quetzalcoatlus" Subject: Re: TMBG: Interview before Austin show Date: Thu, 08 Oct 1998 08:06:04 PDT Sir Mitch of Harf wrote: >>JE: Some of your best songs are love songs to or by inanimate >>objects: >>"Exquisite Dead Guy", "Birdhouse in your Soul", "Metal Detector". >>If you >>were going to write a love song to a snack food, what it would be? >> >>JL: Im trying to think if we ever did anything like that..But I >>cant >>think of one. I think we try to stay away from product names, >>because >>then you get into, I dont know, more of Frank Zappa territory. No product names? What about NyQuil, Advil, and Miller High Life? (Of course, those are all drugs, not snack foods.) >>JL: Im sure there has been: I cant think of what it would be now. >>I >>always liked the Perry Mason theme. >> >>JE: And that showed up in one of your songs on Lincoln. >> >>JL: Yeah, it was a total homage to the Perry Mason theme on that >>record. >>Very astute of you to notice that. I don't know what the Perry Mason theme sounds like. In which song is it featured? -- Nathan DinnerBell@tmbg.org http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Corridor/5447/ "The puffin sipped at his herbal tea and sighed, 'You can't get the buttons these days.'" ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 09:23:13 -0600 (MDT) From: Scot Westwood Subject: Re: TMBG: Who Here is Uptight? Message-ID: I would certainly be considered right wing . On Wed, 7 Oct 1998, leonard helfgott wrote: > I'd be more interested in the fan's political affiliation, I don't > personally know any right wing TMBG fans. > Cap'n HElfgott > ------------------------------ Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19981008124347.00913b50@EMail.Psu.Edu> Date: Thu, 08 Oct 1998 12:43:47 -0400 From: Jason Fickley Subject: TMBG: Cleveland My Cleveland story: I got horribly lost on the way to the Odeon (They Got Lost kept running through my mind). Once I found it, there were two people already in line 2 hours before the doors opened. After 15 minutes or so the Dans came walking down the sidewalk and tried getting in to no availe. Eventually Dan Miller resorted to pounding on the door and one of the security guys let them in. (At one point Dan Miller shouted 'They Might Be Giants need to get in', which for some reason I found to be hilarious). To my suprise I could hear Hotel Detective (the first one) being played during the sound check. Hardly any vocals from Flans, but the music was there nonetheless. Once we got in we saw a kid right behind us wearing a shirt that said 'Linnell family reunion'. He said he was John's second cousin but he never sees John, which is why he had to pay for a ticket. Michael Shelley came out and was OK. When TMBG came out I got to participate in playing Flans' guitar during Famous Polka and I got one of his guitar picks. During the Dan Miller song that Linnell sang I couldn't tell if John was saying 'your shit's on fire', 'your ship's on fire' or 'your shirt's on fire'. Oh, and during the second Dr. Worm the song Linnell sang in the middle was The Boys are Back in Town (I'm assuming that's the title of that song?). One other interesting development was that during the sound check they also played a cover of a song that sounded familiar but I don't know the name of. It had the words 'please Louise' in it. If you know what song I'm talking about let me know the name of it. Well, I guess that's about it. See yinz in Pittsburgh tonight. (notice my clever use of Pittsburghese.) --Jason-- ------------------------------ Message-ID: <361CEECF.81FCBB49@rosevc.rose-hulman.edu> Date: Thu, 08 Oct 1998 11:56:47 -0500 From: Chad Maloney Subject: Re: TMBG: Cleveland Jason Fickley wrote: > song that sounded familiar but I don't know the name of. It had the words > 'please Louise' in it. If you know what song I'm talking about let me know > the name of it. Well, I guess that's about it. See yinz in Pittsburgh > tonight. (notice my clever use of Pittsburghese.) Footloose? (and kudos to Lawrence for managing to slam Schermerhorn each chance he gets *grin*) - Chad ------------------------------ From: KdsInThHal@aol.com Message-ID: <8ccda712.361cf57f@aol.com> Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 13:25:19 EDT Subject: Re: TMBG: Interview before Austin show In a message dated 10/8/98 11:09:10 AM, xornom@hotmail.com writes: >I don't know what the Perry Mason theme sounds like. In which song is > >it featured? where your eyes don't go. towards the end, i - i have to really concentrate to get this right and i can't, but it starts off as the andy griffith show theme (tune of the whistling, y'know..) and morphs into theperry mason theme. never watched tbs? sarah ------------------------------ From: tmbgirl@juno.com Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 12:29:37 -0600 Subject: Re: TMBG: The Toronto Report Message-ID: <19981008.122946.12974.1.TMBgirl@juno.com> >> I mean, if you happened to look at the wall and see >>a >>Severe Tire Damage tour poster taped to it, wouldn't you carefully >>remove >>it from the wall and sneak it back out to the car? Of course you >>would. > >Actually, I probably wouldn't. you know they put those posters there for you to take? there's no reason to sneak them off the wall and hide it away in your car... take it easy, JOrdaN http://www2.netcom.com/~arnot/joda/bootlegs.html http://members.tripod.com/~tmbgirl/index.html ________________________________________________________________ Get secure free e-mail that you don't need Web access to use from Juno, the world's second largest online service. Download your free software at http://www.juno.com/getit.b.html. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 14:35:59 -0400 (EDT) From: "Jason A. Glastetter" Subject: TMBG: Potty Mouth Message-ID: I think the John's have always had potty mouths (I remember some dial-a-songs that are pretty vulgar) & I have an interview on tape where they talk about how much they swear, but that they try the best to control themselves at all times ("In fact, I almost swore right there."). I think sometimes it's a joke, funny thing: "My mom's been to all these Boston shows...I could never feel comfortable swearing around my mom until I was in front of 10,000 people....where the fuck have you guys been?" Come on, man, humor..."Dial-a-song has been fucked up lately..." jason "fuck" glastetter Surprisingly we got electricity, & the next day we got conected to the web http://www.poingly.com because some music sucks more than others... ------------------------------ Message-Id: <3.0.32.19981008155637.008f8de0@pop.uky.edu> Date: Thu, 08 Oct 1998 15:56:42 -0500 From: the sfc Subject: TMBG: Who Here is Right Wing? I'm right wing for the most part. I'm VERY right wing economically. I guess I lean more to the liberal side though with civil rights and stuff. Then again maybe not. I don't consider myself for "affirmative action" but I'm very anti-racist and I'm not a homophobe (One of the other lists I'm on is The Indigo Girls, hehe). Oh, hehe, the other conservative guy here is from Utah. Hey, what do you think about that lesbian who's running for whatever. So far the Utah response has been rather silly... the sfc > I would certainly be considered right wing . >On Wed, 7 Oct 1998, leonard helfgott wrote: > > >> I'd be more interested in the fan's political affiliation, I don't >> personally know any right wing TMBG fans. >> Cap'n HElfgott >> > > ------------------------------ From: gray42@juno.com Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 15:53:07 -0400 Subject: Re: TMBG: TMBG on TV Message-ID: <19981008.155331.9966.1.gray42@juno.com> On Thu, 08 Oct 1998 00:11:32 -0400 Adam Tyner writes: >RockOnTv.com says that TMBG will be performing on Penn & Teller's Sin >City >Spectacular at 10:00 pm FX this Sunday!! What's that show? Sorry I barely ever watch television, so I'm out of touch, but would gladly watch to experience the music of TMBG? >Here's what it says: > >"Actor Harry Dean Stanton and his band play the Blues, and the hit >alternative group, They Might Be Giants perform two numbers." >-- >/=---------------- http://www.he-man.org/ctyner/ ----------------=\ > http://www.awod.com/gallery/rwav/ctyner/ >The home of He-Man, "Weird Al", Yoo-hoo, Killer Tomatoes, and more! > Demented music list admin O- MiSTie #67,326 > Mysterio Gal (Hotel Detective) "Little David is all grown up. Too bad for the cause of Good!" --Negativland MST3K#88182 gray42@juno.com http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Coffeehouse/4871 The Official Project Omicrom website: www.geocities.com/SoHo/Square/9007 ___________________________________________________________________ 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 or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] ------------------------------ From: KdsInThHal@aol.com Message-ID: <70be3a93.361d1b36@aol.com> Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 16:06:14 EDT Subject: Re: TMBG: TMBG on TV In a message dated 10/8/98 4:03:34 PM, gray42@juno.com writes: >>RockOnTv.com says that TMBG will be performing on Penn & Teller's Sin > >>City >>Spectacular at 10:00 pm FX this Sunday!! > >What's that show? Sorry I barely ever watch television, so I'm out of >touch, but would gladly watch to experience the music of TMBG? >>Here's what it says: it's a show on the channel FX, if you get FX (i don't). sarah ------------------------------ Message-Id: <199810082204.SAA05170@oscar.en.com> Date: Thu, 08 Oct 1998 18:08:14 +0000 Subject: TMBG: TMBG : 10/7 - Cleveland Show From: "Scott Lauer" The 10/7 show was held at The Odeon in the Flats and there was a pretty decent crowd on hand. I was somewhat disappointed to see no horns but I was in a good mood anyway because the Indians had just won. I arrived in the middle of Michael Shelley's set. He did not hold the crowd's attention very well, but this may have been due to the fact that near the t-shirt stand, a TV with the Indians-Yankees game was blaring and half the crowd congregated around it. Anways, overall I'd rate Shelley as mediocre at best. TMBG SET LIST --------------- STD Theme She's an Angel Doctor Worm (with confetti cannon??!!) New York City Planet of the Apes (People won, naturally) Your Racist Friend! The Famous Polka The Guitar James K Polk She's Actual Size Sorry I Fucked up the Show (planned improv) They Got Lost Older Mammal Working Undercover for the Man Whistling Spy Particle Man w/Kumbaya SEXXY Born in a Graveyard (introducing band members) Shoehorn with Teeth Spider Birdhouse Ana Ng Why does the Sun Shine? ENCORE #1 ----------- Exquisite Dead Guy (w/ puppet heads) Twisting ENCORE #2 ----------- Istanbul Doctor Worm The Johns seemed to be in good spirits and were having a good time. They played almost 2 hours straight. They did some improving onstage about hairstyles and a ship on fire. One of the funnier moments was when Flans make a comment about the similarity between Cleveland and NY: "The Rock n' Roll hall of fame is 5 stories high......my apartment building in New York has...5 STORIES!!! Coincidence??" It was a pretty good concert overall, but the lack of a conga line was a bit disappointing. :-( -Scott ------------------------------ Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19981008170729.007d6de0@martin.luther.edu> Date: Thu, 08 Oct 1998 17:07:29 -0500 From: Tarsi Subject: NON-TMBG:Right Wing Baby >> I'd be more interested in the fan's political affiliation, I don't >> personally know any right wing TMBG fans. >> Cap'n HElfgott >> I'm most definately right wing. And I _don't_ support the homosexual issues, although I am not a homophobe (afraid of them). Rush Limbaugh is a good man, and the government is run currently by a fool who can't keep his pants up or his truth in line. Tarsi 210 Tarsi Presider of The Voided Palace Disciple of Orange 210 The Void http://chips.luther.edu/prallena The Forever Beyond Web http://chips.luther.edu/prallena/tfb The Forever Beyond telnet://tfb.ml.org:7000 ------------------------------ Message-Id: <2.2.32.19981008221954.011c19a0@mail.utexas.edu> Date: Thu, 08 Oct 1998 17:19:54 -0500 From: Mitchell Harding Subject: Re: NON-TMBG:Right Wing Baby >I'm most definately right wing. And I _don't_ support the homosexual >issues, although I am not a homophobe (afraid of them). Rush Limbaugh is a >good man, and the government is run currently by a fool who can't keep his >pants up or his truth in line. I'm sure plenty of people disagree with you, including me, but I'm praying real hard that this won't erupt into a giant left-wing/right-wing war. Because as the Johns say: "Right arms ape. Left arms people. You can remember it this way: Righty-ape, Lefty-people. Just like in politics." Harf, Mitch "The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper." - Bertrand Russell http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~mitcharf/index.html Support the Harf Project: http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~mitcharf/harfproj.html All your questions answered, all your problems solved: http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/mitch/ask820/ask820.html ------------------------------ Message-ID: <19981008225454.7244.qmail@hotmail.com> From: "Mystery Cow" Subject: TMBG: The 'Why' of TMBG... Date: Thu, 08 Oct 1998 15:54:54 PDT > >I personally believe that the only "Why?" behing their music is "Why the >heck not?" I have a hard time explaning them to my friends, too...no one >seems to be able to comprehend making music for fun and singing silly >words that sometimes don't apply to anything. This is how I tried to explain what's appealing about Their music to an anti-They friend of mine just last night: "The thing I find most appealing about their music is the fact that they challenge you not only to decipher the meaning of their songs, but whether or not to decipher them at ALL. They MIGHT be Giants, after all, but then again, they might NOT. It's thinking music, if you want to think. And if you don't, it's still rockin'." It didn't convert him, but he's a bit of a hardhead, so I don't really bother. Dropping his useless two cents, Son GoCruz "Nac uoy sa gnol sa rof, lanimilbus eht otni erats." -John Linnell ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19981008174245.007f09f0@martin.luther.edu> Date: Thu, 08 Oct 1998 17:42:45 -0500 From: Tarsi Subject: Re: NON-TMBG:Right Wing Baby Oh, and that wasn't my intention. Please, people, don't discuss politics here. One person just wanted to know our affiliations, and I was glad to respond. None of that here, debate the Johns' existence and why they were destined to appear in our generation, if you will! Tarsi 210 > >I'm sure plenty of people disagree with you, including me, but I'm praying >real hard that this won't erupt into a giant left-wing/right-wing war. > >Because as the Johns say: "Right arms ape. Left arms people. You can >remember it this way: Righty-ape, Lefty-people. Just like in politics." > >Harf, >Mitch >"The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow >sharper." - Bertrand Russell >http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~mitcharf/index.html >Support the Harf Project: http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~mitcharf/harfproj.html >All your questions answered, all your problems solved: >http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/mitch/ask820/ask820.html > > > Tarsi Presider of The Voided Palace Disciple of Orange 210 The Void http://chips.luther.edu/prallena The Forever Beyond Web http://chips.luther.edu/prallena/tfb The Forever Beyond telnet://tfb.ml.org:7000 ------------------------------ Message-Id: <2.2.32.19981008225952.00e05bb0@mail.utexas.edu> Date: Thu, 08 Oct 1998 17:59:52 -0500 From: Mitchell Harding Subject: Re: TMBG: The 'Why' of TMBG... >This is how I tried to explain what's appealing about Their music to an >anti-They friend of mine just last night: But yet, the real appeal is that the music is simply great. Great like harf is great. But harf is greater, as I'm sure we can all accept. Harf, Mitch "The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper." - Bertrand Russell http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~mitcharf/index.html Support the Harf Project: http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~mitcharf/harfproj.html All your questions answered, all your problems solved: http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/mitch/ask820/ask820.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 20:30:28 -0400 (EDT) From: "mike@journalx.com" Subject: TMBG: "borrowing" tour posters Message-ID: Just to clear this up, the posters and flats at the Toronto show had the date and venue of the show scrawled on them in magic marker by club staff, so it's not like the band had any intention of collecting them after the show. (Not to mention how they were sloppily stapled and taped to walls). Anyway, it would seem reasonable to want to claim one for myself before someone else with the same idea made his or her move. And if you don't like that, too bad. MIKe www.journalx.com ------------------------------ Message-ID: <19981009011431.3589.rocketmail@send202.yahoomail.com> Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 18:14:31 -0700 (PDT) From: "Connie K." Subject: TMBG: My First TMBG Show!!! (Cleveland) Wow...the Cleveland show was great! It was my first They show, so I really have nothing to compare it to, but it was simply amazing. I remember the thread a while back about whether or not the Johns were attractive. I must say that Linnell is much more attractive in person. ;-) Michael Shelley was pretty good. He played for about an hour, then They played for almost 2 hours straight! The Dans started off with the STD Theme, then the Johns immediately went into "She's An Angel" (my favorite song)!!! They had some cool improv stuff, and the audience even got into it. There was one part when Flans let people play his guitar (if you can call it playing). Then he gave people picks, and they "played" his guitar with those. Afterwards, Linnell made some comment about people trying to tune his guitar. "We seem to have some professional musicians in the audience tonight!" They did a cool "improv" song called "Sorry I Fucked Up The Show." It was pretty cool. Flans also came out for "Whistling in the Dark" with a bass drum strapped to his chest. He leaned out over the crowd and people started hitting it. (I think he almost fell once or twice.) Even better that the show itself were the encores. I loved the puppet heads for "Exquisite Dead Guy"!!!! They also played Dr. Worm twice. The second time They played it, Linnell started singing "The Boys Are Back In Town" right before his solo. It was a little interesting, but it was still cool. All in all, I'd say it was an excellent show. I only wish that I could see them again in PA. Connie "I'm too tired to make up a middle name" Kassor "There are a lot of things Cleveland and New York have in common. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has 5 stories. My apartment building has 5 stories. Coincidence? I think not!!!" John Flansburgh _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Message-ID: <19981009011533.9758.rocketmail@send201.yahoomail.com> Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 18:15:33 -0700 (PDT) From: "Connie K." Subject: TMBG: My First TMBG Show!!! (Cleveland) Wow...the Cleveland show was great! It was my first They show, so I really have nothing to compare it to, but it was simply amazing. I remember the thread a while back about whether or not the Johns were attractive. I must say that Linnell is much more attractive in person. ;-) Michael Shelley was pretty good. He played for about an hour, then They played for almost 2 hours straight! The Dans started off with the STD Theme, then the Johns immediately went into "She's An Angel" (my favorite song)!!! They had some cool improv stuff, and the audience even got into it. There was one part when Flans let people play his guitar (if you can call it playing). Then he gave people picks, and they "played" his guitar with those. Afterwards, Linnell made some comment about people trying to tune his guitar. "We seem to have some professional musicians in the audience tonight!" They did a cool "improv" song called "Sorry I Fucked Up The Show." It was pretty cool. Flans also came out for "Whistling in the Dark" with a bass drum strapped to his chest. He leaned out over the crowd and people started hitting it. (I think he almost fell once or twice.) Even better that the show itself were the encores. I loved the puppet heads for "Exquisite Dead Guy"!!!! They also played Dr. Worm twice. The second time They played it, Linnell started singing "The Boys Are Back In Town" right before his solo. It was a little interesting, but it was still cool. All in all, I'd say it was an excellent show. I only wish that I could see them again in PA. Connie "I'm too tired to make up a middle name" Kassor "There are a lot of things Cleveland and New York have in common. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has 5 stories. My apartment building has 5 stories. Coincidence? I think not!!!" John Flansburgh _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Message-ID: <000401bdf328$537a3040$6ec608d1@idiotnot.visi.net> From: "S. Bergeron" Subject: Re: TMBG: Who Here is Right Wing? Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 21:58:32 -0400 :>On Wed, 7 Oct 1998, leonard helfgott wrote: :> :> :>> I'd be more interested in the fan's political affiliation, I don't :>> personally know any right wing TMBG fans. Here's a loop for ya. I'm a registered (due paying) Libertarian. Jack Bergeron, idiotnot@visi.net bluedawg@tmbg.org "Someday, somebody else besides me will call me by my stage name."--Doctor Worm http://www.tmbg.org/~bluedawg/ ------------------------------ Message-ID: <19981009023959.9325.qmail@hotmail.com> From: "Michael Fink" Subject: Re: TMBG: Who Here is Uptight? Date: Thu, 08 Oct 1998 19:39:57 PDT >Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1998 20:35:01 -0700 (PDT) >From: leonard helfgott >To: Gweeg@aol.com >cc: tmbg-digest@tmbg.org >Subject: Re: TMBG: Who Here is Uptight? >Reply-To: leonard helfgott > >I'd be more interested in the fan's political affiliation, I don't >personally know any right wing TMBG fans. >Cap'n HElfgott > > ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Message-ID: <19981009024320.18734.qmail@hotmail.com> From: "Michael Fink" Subject: Re: TMBG: Who Here is Uptight? Date: Thu, 08 Oct 1998 19:43:19 PDT >I'd be more interested in the fan's political affiliation, I don't >personally know any right wing TMBG fans. >Cap'n HElfgott > > Gosh, I hate email. Please forgive the blank message right before this one; I beg forgiveness of all of you, and am trying to cover my shame. As for my political affilitation, I am one of the most die-hard right-wing conservitive redundant Republican GOP persons you will come across. do beg that all of you liberal TMBGers will not completely shun me for this; remember, we all do share the common bond of loving TMBG... Mike *'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'* Boycott Microsoft http://www.vcnet.com/bms *'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'* ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ From: Laura A Miller Subject: Re: TMBG: The 'Why' of TMBG... Message-Id: <361d7a52456c218@mhub3.tc.umn.edu> Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 21:52:04 -0500 Responding to the message of Thu, 08 Oct 1998 17:59:52 -0500 from Mitchell Harding : > > >This is how I tried to explain what's appealing about Their music to an > >anti-They friend of mine just last night: > > But yet, the real appeal is that the music is simply great. > > Great like harf is great. > > But harf is greater, as I'm sure we can all accept. > > Harf, > Mitch > "The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to > grow > sharper." - Bertrand Russell > http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~mitcharf/index.html > Support the Harf Project: > http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~mitcharf/harfproj.html > All your questions answered, all your problems solved: But saying that music is appealing simply because its great is analogous to saying something is bad because it sucks. Its just subjective opinion and doesn't give you any insights to the specific elements that make it 'good' or 'bad'. Laura ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 23:12:22 -0400 (EDT) From: Josh Axelrad Subject: TMBG: AMAZING Pittsburgh story Message-ID: AFOHAF This is so amazing. Let me preface this by saying if ANYBODY taped the Pittsburgh show tonight I am willing to give a kidney for it. OR if you don't want a kidney I will give CD copies of Dr. Spock's or Live in NYC or any TMBG Single...or any of my 100 tapes etc...CONTACT ME! OK! Well here is the deal...I got to Metropol at 3:30pm as per my obsessive nature. One reason I was there so early was to hopefully get a Linnell autograph since he snubbed me in DC in August. So I am sitting there reading my Psych book for a while when I see John Flansburgh walking up with Michael's Shelley's band and a bunch of roadies Now I knew Flans was really cool about autographs and I had my STD with me so I asked him if I could get a quick autograph. He said sure and was really happy and seemed in a great mood. He asked me my name and was going to personalize it and I mentioned that this was my 18th show and he goes "No! Really? Wow!" and I said "Yea...I was going to go last night but I had too much work" and he said "well, thank you for coming out!" and he wrote on my CD cover "Happy 18 John F Thanks to Josh!". As he was finishing I asked "Are you by any chance planning on playing that Working Undercover for the Man Song tonight? I haven't heard it yet" and John said "Yea! Yes we are!" and I said "I am looking forward to hearing it!" and he said "Thanks!" and went on the bus. (btw, Flans was holding the Harvey Danger CD) So I was sitting on the ground bubbling with excitement looking at my STD cover for like 5 min. just totally hyper and then I hear a voice shout "Hey Josh!" and I turned and John had gotten off the bus and was holding an autographed STD flat autographed by both Johns. They had been handing them out the night before. He threw it over to me and I was in total awe, I think I managed to say "Thank you so much!" and he said "No problem!". On an interesting side note there was a post-it stuck to the flat that Flans told me to take off. It was their instructions on what to do, it basically said we need 5 flats to hand out and that they should embellish if they feel like it. And it is hilarious cause across the top of the flat they wrote "Thanks to you!" which is what I guess Flans considers embellishment and Linnell signed it "John Sid Linnell" instead of John Sid, which I guess is what he considers embellishment. So I take the flat out to my car and I am dying...I can hardly handle all this. When I get back I see that John Linnell is on the pay phone. I stand there politely and wait...he was on the phone for like 20 min, I am guessing with his wife. And when he gets off I ask him for a quick autograph and he didn't shy away at all. He said "Sure! Hi." and I said "hi" and handed him the STD cover and while he was signing I explained what John had written, I told him it was my 18th show and he was like "oh really?" and I said "yes" and he said "When was your first show?" and I said "oh...it was just august of 1996" and he said "oh...so you have seen us a lot...recently..." and I said "yea..." and he said "You haven't gotten bored of the show yet?" and I was a little taken aback...I was like "uh...uhm...no! You guys manage to keep mixing things up." and he said "We try" and he smiled and handed me the cover. I said "thank you so much!" and he said "Nice meeting you!". An interesting side note to that. Isn't that SO CLASSIC Linnell and Flans. Flans the rock star is all excited meeting a big fan and gives me stuff. Linnell is more "why would you want to see us so much?". hehehe it was really cool! So I take my STD cover back to my car and I sit there just in shock. People come and I talked to some friends and then they opened doors. I went up front, this time on flans side for a change...mostly cause I am IN LOVE WITH HIM now and because I maybe wanted to play the guitar if he let us. Unfortunately, the stupid security guards moved the barrier back after we got in. It was funny tho cause JOhn and John complained that we were too far away so it made the guards look stupid. So the show begins (I will type out the setlist in a bit) and I am really into it. They are playing all the songs I hadn't heard them play like Racist Friend etc...Flans said he wanted to let us play guitar on Famous Polka but we were too far away :( So anyway, it is about halfway through the show and Flans goes "Ok, this next song is new. It isn't on any album!" and I was psyched cause I knew it was Working... and then he goes "I would like to make a long distance dedication to a guy named Josh. He is at his 18th show of ours!" (mild cheers from the crowd) "We've only DONE 20, ladies and gentlemen!" (big cheer). And then he continued to intro it as a song about Michael Shelley and how they had found an envelope with some other name on it in the back of the bus and figured out Michael Shelley was an agent for the CIA. But at that point I was in another world...They started the song which is just amazing...and I was just asdfoihaf... I ifodsaha I can't describe it...the song was amazing...the moment was amazing... Well..the rest of the show was great but I was already on a high and when it finished I *had* to get a setlist and stretched myself way more than I should have to grab the first one they handed out. I then went and bought the last copy of WDTSS on vinyl they had and the TNAC CD and tape. I will type the setlist out as it is on the actual paper with notes about cool stuff... SEVERED (STD theme) ANGEL DR. CANNON! (Dr. Worm with confetti cannon) NYC BATTLE POLK ("This song is about a man who some people thought was an ape. He was the 11th president of the united apes" - John L) RACIST/POLKA TIL ACTUAL (such a cool performance! Flans was laying on the floor with his face like 6 inches from us and he was soooooo into it) FUNKY BASS->VOCORDER->DRUMS+GTR->FLANSY "YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME" (weird thing they apparantly just made up...but very cool) LOST/OLDER ("this song is not about us. It is about another band called They Might Be Giants...they are NOTHING like us." -John L "They don't have their shit together!" - John F) WORKING (see above :) ) SPY/LIE (Spy was awesome they did Mr. Tambourine Man during it which is such an amazing cover...and then Linnell did this really freaky thing where he said "Pierre Salinger stole my hairstyle. I want my hairstyle back") PARTICLE SEXXY GRAVEYARD/SHOE (They actually put some music to the born in a graveyard intro for Dan Hickey...it was really cool) SPIDER/BIRD (amazine Spider performance) GUITAR DON'T (didn't play) ----BYE! SUN ------- EXQ BROOM/TWIST ------- ISTAN DR. WORM ("We like to play this song as much as possible!" - John F) Miscellaneous notes: They played No One Know My Plan...probably replacing Don't Let's Start. They soundchecked Subliminal and Absolutely Bill's Mood which was awesome to hear. Linnell had so much energy. He was screaming into the mic at the beginning. It was like they said "How are you all doing?" and we all screamed and then Linnell was like "Well we are too!". He also was dancing around a lot especially during Battle. He intro'd particle man as "here is a song that goes blabalfdsibaf" cause somebody in the audience had shouted nonsense right before. He also sang Kumbaya during Particle Man. Well that is all.. I still have to recover. It was so great...only thing I could want is to have played the guitar but I have to have a reason to keep going :) I would like to repeat if ANYBODY taped it, PLEASE contact me!!! Jishy #1 fan of John Flansburgh :) ------------------------------ From: Batbrain99@aol.com Message-ID: <7148d0e9.361d83e8@aol.com> Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 23:32:56 EDT Subject: Re: TMBG: FW: Fwd: FUN!!! NO really its fun! That wasn't very fun... ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 21:12:18 -0700 (PDT) From: leonard helfgott Subject: Re: TMBG: Who Here is Right Wing? Message-ID: for my part, I'm an extremely left wing socialist. Let's put it this way. My father, who used to write for a magazine called "Socialist Revolution" two weeks ago told my that I'm getting to liberal for him. Cap'n Helfgott ------------------------------ End of tmbg-list Digest #11-9 *****************************