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Subject: tmbg-list Digest #2-20
tmbg-list Digest, Volume 2, Number 20
Saturday, 20 January 1996
Today's Topics:
Terrible night in New Haven.
so what
bad news
Re: bad news
Info thru E-mail?
the end of the bad news...
Re: so what
Re: tmbg-list Digest #2-19
ooh i almost forgot.
The End of the Tour
Re: the end of the bad news... (End of the tour)
Re: The End of the Tour
Linnell
Re: tmbg-list Digest #2-19
Re: Linnell
Re: so what
the butchers and the giants@toads
Re: the end of the bad news... (End of the tour)
the Plaguerat's Review...Toads Place..
Zima
query
Re: tmbg-list Digest #2-19
Administrivia:
CHANGES!!!!!
The digest volume and issue numbers have been set to
reflect the year and day. This year is volume 2, the
issue number should match the day of the year.
The ftp server has been reconfigured. Now the _only_
way to get back archives is from ftp.tmbg.org.
For all administrative issues, such as change of address, withdrawal
from the list, etc., send a message to the following address:
tmbg-digest-request@tmbg.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The views expressed herein are those of the individual authors.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 04:56:19 -0500 (EST)
From: Cuper Vargas <slacker@cloud9.net>
Subject: Terrible night in New Haven.
Before John and John's set was even over, I realized that I just don't
enjoy going to TMBG shows anymore (this was my tenth, I think). This is
not to detract from their playing, which was, of course brilliant (except
for the absence of horns, which was a major strike against the set. Is
this the econo-tour or something?).
-However, I am completely sick of all the alterna-schmucks who find it
necessary to push and shove and "pass the dude" and basically make life
miserable for anyone who would rather listen to the songs than injure
others. My friend was actually struck a blow to her face. I don't mind
dancing or jumping or whatever (I'll dance and jump), but I hate sweaty
people shoving me just to get ten feet closer to the stage. I've got
news for you all (or at least the people who scream non-stop and knock
others around), they might be great song-writers, but they're still JUST
GUYS. I miss the days when they would stop the show to tell over-excited
frat boys to settle down.
-Well, I guess I'm just bitter. I'm used to ska shows in Poughkeepsie
where noone ever shows up, so you don't have to deal with idiot wanna-be
slammers. Well, hopefully the Rochester show will be better.
-Cuper.
P.S. Of course, any show where James K. Polk is played has at least some
redeeming value. In fact, they hit a lot of great songs that
usually get looked over. I do miss those horns, though...
P.P.S
Did anyone else notice that John L. doesn't actually use the
chord buttons on his accordian? That might be why The Famous Polka
doesn't really seem to fit into a polka rhythm.
Well, enough of my complaining...
------------------------------
From: "Rensink, Brenden - S" <brensink@bhs3.bham.wednet.edu>
Subject: so what
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 96 07:33:00 PST
ya but none of the seattle bands are any good, they are all grunge. some
grunge is ok, but most of them just play random chords and scream into the
michrophone. But ya I guess britain would be even worse. I can not find
any of their singles. Is there any catalogs that carry them?
------------------------------
From: "Rensink, Brenden - S" <brensink@bhs3.bham.wednet.edu>
Subject: bad news
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 96 07:37:00 PST
well acually horrible news. I know you guys have probably figured this out
allready, I I just realized it. Take a look at the last line of the last
song on John Henry. It sucks. Maybe they didn't really mean it though!!! I
can only hope!!!
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 10:35:23 -0600
From: jenna@onramp.net (Jenna Davis)
Subject: Re: bad news
>well acually horrible news. I know you guys have probably figured this out
>allready, I I just realized it. Take a look at the last line of the last
>song on John Henry. It sucks. Maybe they didn't really mean it though!!! I
>can only hope!!!
Considering that they're still performing live, there is still an outside
chance. I hope so, too... I don't live on the East Coast...
____________________________
Jenna Davis
Dallas, TX
jenna@onramp.net
"Try as much as possible to be wholly alive, with all your might,
and when you laugh, laugh like hell and when you get angry, get good and
angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough."
-William Saroyan
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 10:37:09 -0600
From: jenna@onramp.net (Jenna Davis)
Subject: Info thru E-mail?
I was just looking over my copy of the "Why Does The Sun Shine" EP
and noticed an address for the TMBG Information Club. Unfortunately, it
requires snail mail, which I hate. Does anyone know of a way to access
them vial email? Thanks.
____________________________
Jenna Davis
Dallas, TX
jenna@onramp.net
"Try as much as possible to be wholly alive, with all your might,
and when you laugh, laugh like hell and when you get angry, get good and
angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough."
-William Saroyan
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 10:18:57 -0600
From: "Pwyll Twiceborn, Lord of the Summertree" <rabidchild.paulswan@mail.utexas.edu>
Subject: the end of the bad news...
here again is an interp of the end of the tour, from the list a long time
ago, which might help put an end to your worries... in addition to the fact
that they are allready touring again...
Date: Sat, 5 Nov 1994 15:46:31 -0600 (CST)
From: Brooks Ann Camper <bcamper@beta.centenary.edu>
To: They Might Be Giants <they-might-be@gnu.ai.mit.edu>
Subject: The end of the Tour
Ask me now I understand the words that John has said....
I have never had an experience quite like last night when i realized what
"The End Of The Tour" is about. It is the absolute saddest song I have
ever heard in my life. I cried for over an hour listening to it.
It is about a horrible car crash and a man's struggle to forgive himself
for killing a car full of teenagers. It actually was not his fault
because the girls were drunk driving but ever since the incidnt he has
brutally blamed himself. He is finally finding the first bit of hope
toward recovery from the horrible wreck that he was involved in.
Listen to the words....
There was a beautiful teenage girl who was at a party, under the influence
of drugs or alcohol. She became bored of the party so she decided she
could drive; she thought that she was able to "see herself". She takes
her friends and they drive out on I-91. The man is driving also and it's
late; he is distracted by many things. When on the overpass, he is hit.
His car is mereley dented but the other car bursts into flames and the
girls are killed. He watched the police take the bodies out. He saw how
beautiful the children were and was scarred by this completely.
During the song he refers to the family of the beautiful girl and the
horror that they must have felt when the police knocked on the door to
tell them they had lost their child. He also breaks into the nursery type
lyric about watching the police pull the bodies from the car.
He has blamed himself for the wreck from the beginning, but he has been
ruining himself with it and finally decides to turn to God who helps him
out. He finally finds a peace within himself saying that at the end of
his life, if anyone will forgive him, he will meet the girl in heaven and
appologize. Until then he must endure his own life, but one day he will
be in heaven to ask for forgiveness.
He is beginning to realize that it is not his fault and he must go on and
God has "let them go" for a reason. He will always be haunted by the
experience and will never be the same. And he's never going to tour again.
There is actually a lot more I could say about the song but I just wanted
to share my experience.
It is incredible. Thank you John.
Brooks Ann Camper
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 16:52:14 +0000 (GMT)
From: "Mark M. Iles" <M.M.Iles@reading.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: so what
On Fri, 19 Jan 1996, Rensink, Brenden - S wrote:
> ya but none of the seattle bands are any good, they are all grunge. some
> grunge is ok, but most of them just play random chords and scream into the
> michrophone. But ya I guess britain would be even worse.
Do you mean to say that British groups are worse than crappy,
tuneless grunge bands? You what!!!!
Mark
------------------------------
From: promans@sloth.loyola.edu (Phil Romans)
Subject: Re: tmbg-list Digest #2-19
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 12:23:46 -0500 (EST)
Hello all,
I attended the 9:30 club showing of TMBG with Matt and another
friend from school. These are some general things I have noticed:
== The Candy Butchers were loads of fun! (a couple of flips and a big dino!)
== The concert started late for TMBG
== Flans was sporting a noticable 'stach
== No horns of any sort, not even Linnel's sax
== Looks like Graham Maybe (sp?) is on for good
== Boy does the 9:30 club look nice! I was at the old hall before they
fixed up thier current place, and it is a way cool place to see a concert.
== Questions for the group....
= Do the Johns have girlfriends?
= What is the word on the band... horns... Tony... etc
= What kinda car would they drive other than a Mustang?
just commenting
-=phil
--
._________________________________________________________________. I
|promans@sloth.loyola.edu | http://justice.loyola.edu/~promans | W
| U2-They Might Be Giants-Pink Floyd-Rush | G
| looking for any 'live' material of these bands | B
|<Loyola College, Baltimore> Magic: The Addiction | T
\-----------------------------------------------------------------/ P
-=If a word in the dictionary was mispelled, how would we know?=- !
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 12:38:06 -0500 (EST)
From: "DAVID A. MEYERSON" <davidmey@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu>
Subject: ooh i almost forgot.
i just got my 3 t-shirts in the mail yesterday from TMB productions. i
ordered them in october, but i'm a patient guy so i waited it out.
i got the coffee cup one, the stamps t-shirt (w/ 1990 flood tour dates
on back) and a dial-a-song one with this bird on the front. not to be
confused with the drunk bird dial-a-song t-shirt.
may the force be with you
daniel
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 17:36:16 +0000 (GMT)
From: "Mark M. Iles" <M.M.Iles@reading.ac.uk>
Subject: The End of the Tour
I always assumed that 'The End of the Tour' was about a
near-death experience which has changed someone's life. Anyone else got
any ideas?
Haven't the foggiest who 'The Girl with the Crown and the
Sceptre' is, though...
Mark
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 12:53:07 -0500 (EST)
From: Ryan Staib <97starya@james.hawken.edu>
Subject: Re: the end of the bad news... (End of the tour)
I am sorry, but this is the biggest piece of BS I have seen in awhile,
and I just wrote an english paper, so I know BS. Where do you get
ANY of that from the song? It's just plain and simple not in there. When
the hell do you see them pulling bodies out of a car? It's just not in
there. I think some of the song is written from the point of view of the
car, not some guy who is messed up about hitting some druggies. Also, I
think it was SuperThriller radio that says it is a very "humorous" song.
I agree. Anyway, I know the point of the message was to allay the fears
about the band breaking up, which is not going to happen, but I just
couldn't resist.
- Ryan Staib
*------------------------------------------------------------------------------
97starya@james.hawken.edu gn487@cleveland.freenet.edu Yay.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: The End of the Tour
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 12:05:54 -0600 (CST)
From: Chris Bongaarts <Chris.Bongaarts-1@umn.edu>
In the immortal words of Mark M. Iles:
> I always assumed that 'The End of the Tour' was about a
>near-death experience which has changed someone's life. Anyone else got
>any ideas?
I find Brooks-Ann's car crash theory to be the most sensible (I love
that second verse: "Never to part since the day we met out on
Interstate 91"... I can just see the two cars/trucks/tour buses
entwined in the wreckage)
> Haven't the foggiest who 'The Girl with the Crown and the
>Sceptre' is, though...
Sounds like the Statue of Liberty to me... dunno why she feels like
going "home" (to France?) tho... perhaps lamenting the decline of New
York?
============================================ Chris.Bongaarts-1@umn.edu
Chris Bongaarts My opinions are my own, http://umn.edu/~cab
Univ. of Minnesota and they are right. CBongo on EFnet IRC (#umn)
GCS d-- s:+ a21 C+++ ULHSX++++$ P++++ L++ E W++ N++ K+++ w-- !O M+ !V PS+
PE+ Y-- PGP-- t+ !5 !X R tv b+ DI++++ D+ G++ e h- !r y? [GeekCode 3.0]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 12:40:30 -0600
From: Emily Lerche Kerr <kerrel@uwec.edu> (Ana Ng)
Subject: Linnell
I'm wondering if John Linnell is related to playwright Jay Linnell...
Anyone heard of him???
Ana Ng
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 14:08:48 -0500 (EST)
From: Speaker for the Dead <ntodd@moose.uvm.edu>
Subject: Re: tmbg-list Digest #2-19
Not that this will particularly enlighten whoever was asking about what
'she's actual size' means, but I remember reading a magazine article in
which one of the Johns was asked what the song means. He replied that it
was about 'stew.' Good old John and John!
-Nathan (Linnel) University of Vermont
*------------------------------------------------------------------------
For reason ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended,
is a flame that burns to its own destruction.
Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the height of passion, that
it may sing;
And let it direct your passion with reason, that your passion may live
through its own daily resurrection, and like the phoenix rise above its
own ashes.
-Kahlil Gibran, "The Prophet"
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 20:04:38 +0000 (GMT)
From: "Mark M. Iles" <M.M.Iles@reading.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: Linnell
On Fri, 19 Jan 1996, Emily Lerche Kerr wrote:
> I'm wondering if John Linnell is related to playwright Jay Linnell...
> Anyone heard of him???
Yeah, isn't he in that nerdy group "They Must Be Giants"?
Mark
------------------------------
From: Matthew James <mjames@justice.loyola.edu>
Subject: Re: so what
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 17:09:48 -0500 (EST)
>
>
>
> On Fri, 19 Jan 1996, Rensink, Brenden - S wrote:
>
> > ya but none of the seattle bands are any good, they are all grunge. some
> > grunge is ok, but most of them just play random chords and scream into the
> > michrophone. But ya I guess britain would be even worse.
>
> Do you mean to say that British groups are worse than crappy,
> tuneless grunge bands? You what!!!!
Mark,
I think he meant Britain would be worse in the sense that TMBg wouldn;t
come there I don't think he was refering to British music groups (which
are very excellent by in large!)
Matt
--
*-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matt James mjames@love.loyola.edu,elrond@charm.net http://www.charm.net/~elrond
"EIREANN GO BRATH!"| Eireannach siochan | Wedge Antilles | <The Beatles!>
"I'm not the only dust my mother raised."--TMBG| "Hail to the king, baby"-Ash
Anything Box|Erasure|Warsaw-JoyDivision-NewOrder|Elastica|Blur|Suede|Pulp|Lush
Smiths|Revenge|The Other Two|Rush|Morrissey|Moxy Fruvous|Lightning Seeds|SPOCK
-------The poor remain poor. Someone has to work at Woolworths.----------------
------------------------------
From: Plaguerat2@aol.com
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 17:02:33 -0500
Subject: the butchers and the giants@toads
the show was tremendous...
if any of you have a chance to see the candy butchers live do it... they're
phenomenal
the johns were more upbeat and happy than usual..linnel was smiling and even
talked to the crowd!! toads oversold the show and let everyone in.. so the
mosh pit/crowd surfing/im coughing up blood and i cant feel my legs thing was
going on.. being from an area with a tremendous amount of punk/ska fans the
place was packed with a vast array of people including a girl who flashed us
and asked us if we wanted to touch her wonder-bra.. gotta love CT.. the tape
player we smuggled in got damaged and it didnt record during a pre-giants
charge for the stage so once again no boot of the concert..
i'll forward the review i sent to the newsgroup to the list tommorow..
bye for now
the plaguerat
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 22:16:00 -0500 (EST)
From: Neil <neilbert@neilbert.nai.net>
Subject: Re: the end of the bad news... (End of the tour)
On Fri, 19 Jan 1996, Ryan Staib wrote:
> I am sorry, but this is the biggest piece of BS I have seen in awhile,
> and I just wrote an english paper, so I know BS.
Congratulations.
> When
> the hell do you see them pulling bodies out of a car? It's just not in
> there.
"This was the vehicle / these were the people / you opened the door / and
expelled all the people"
So it's technically not pulling the bodies - they could have been thrown
clear in the crash. Drunks often forget seatbelts.
If necessary, I think I could pull the appropriate lyrics to support
Brooks Anne's interpretation. How is it a humorous song? Can you find me
some kind of support for _that_?
*----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Neil Kelly neilbert@neilbert.nai.net abf8@maristb.marist.edu
*----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The National Short-Sleeved Shirt Association says:
Support your right to bare arms!
------------------------------
From: Plaguerat2@aol.com
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 22:23:57 -0500
Subject: the Plaguerat's Review...Toads Place..
well im back and i was a great show..There was a really friendly crowd
on hand last night.. Me and my compatriots met a lot of really cool
people.. But i was the co-winner of the FIND THE OPUS contest...YEAH!!!!
so i now have half a silly putty egg, my girlfriend has the other half,
and a friend of mine took the putty.. but we met Opus, some guy in a
conductor's hat, and some really loud girl who frequently showed us her
wonder-bra and asked if we wanted to touch it.. but if you were actually
at the show you would've heard us.. we were the idiots front and center,
who after yelling for twenty minutes to find Opus, got together for a
great big group hug and sang "we are the world" and played with each
other's hair. I've personally alwys loved toads and the bouncers have
gotten progressively nicer since one kicked my ass a few years back. The
show was a sell out.. but as usual toad's doesnt stop selling tix until
they cant fit any one else in there
but after a very long wait the Candy Butchers came out.. it was a two
man acoustic set, just a guitar and a singular drum played with some
unusual drumsticks. they were cocky, arrogant and went through the typical
rock and roll show motions... swearing at crowd, licking guitar, spraying
water into crowd, channeling the spirit of satan,..etc
but after the martini's at tramps i wasnt expecting much.. but they were
awesome..
i've never liked a band so much after only hearing them once.. they really
got the crowd into it, stopping between songs to talk and crack jokes with
the crowd and they had the whole front section at least dancing and
singing along... i dont really know how to describe there music... maybe
indie pop? but they were good.. the kind of good that they'd never play on
Mtv.
after they left we waited..and waited...and waited...
and after a god awful wait they giants came out..no horn section, no tony,
but i guess thats ok.. Flans looked his usual happy self, and Linnel
looked freaking ecstatic compared to how he looked new years..the started
out with spider.. which is probably the coolest song they could start out
with ... then they faded into a great rendition of why does the sun
shine.. in which i think linnel sang.."...helium, hydrogen, oxygen, and
some other stuff" i'll now give a song list in no particualr order to the
best of my memory
spider, Wdtss, Dig my grave, the end of the tour, cowtown, partical man,
istanbul, santas beard, james k polk, dont let start, ana ng, hotel
detective '94, twisting, birdhouse, the guitar, subliminal, snail shell,
sleeping in the flowers, aka driver, spy (complete with the candy
butchers.. and the coolest improv ive ever heard at the end of spy
yet..), no one knows my plan, dirt bike, meet james ensor, stomp box, a
new tmbg song!!!!, sensurround, a cover of some song i dont recall.. i
probably missed one or two in there somewhere..
but as usual there was a lot of happy people hopping around.. but the fact
that it wall to wall people made it too many happy people hopping around..
crowd surfers were literally up there for three to four songs at a time..
at everyone got crushed as usual. But linnel actually talked to the
crowd!!! he must actually like toads or something..they did two encores..
and it was just a crazy concert.. they supersized the concert..
and every time a song from licoln came up they announced it from the
superalbum, superlincoln. it was just a great concert.. and on the second
encore Flans was sucking down a samuel adams on stage!!!!
but on a sadder note.. Opus lost his hat.. the final crowd surfer grabbed
both opus's and my hat, i got mine back but opus's seems to have
vanished.. but on a brighter note Opus, the girl that kept hugging you
wants your number..
also Helene if you're reading this..
thanx for a great time and im gonna miss you...
i'll get my sorry ass down to ny soon i hope
cuz nothing beats listening to tmbg with a beautiful girl...
well i'll be going now.....
the plaguerat
------------------------------
From: Beezus5084@aol.com
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 22:58:52 -0500
Subject: Zima
Hey freaks,
Does anyone know what song TMBG put on the Zima promotional CD?( notice I'm
using a "?" Rabid Child. And by the by, that was AOLame that screwed up the
end of my letter.) Also, how often are the newsletters supposed to come?
Lastly, if there are any Giant-heads in Charleston, SC out there E-mail me so
we can chill.
laytro,
Beezus(a guy)
------------------------------
From: SBSquid@aol.com
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 23:28:00 -0500
Subject: query
Just out of curiosity, are there any TMBG fans on the list from the NH area.
I'm not entirely sure that there are other people in this state, so its hard
to find kindred spirits. Just wondering.
-Brendan
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 21:09:33 -0800
From: alveajo@ix.netcom.com (Jose Alvear)
Subject: Re: tmbg-list Digest #2-19
You wrote:
> = Do the Johns have girlfriends?
> = What is the word on the band... horns... Tony... etc
Last year in NYC, while waiting after the show me and my friend saw
John and John walk out of the club, each with a woman in tow.
At another concert, we saw Linnell after a show shopping in this drug
store and he was with the same woman.
So yeah, they both have girlfriends.
I think Graham is now the official bassist. Tony went on to other
projects... Pere Ubu I think.
That's it.
No more.
Jose A
------------------------------
End of tmbg-list Digest #2-20
*****************************