They Might Be Giants are Digging the World
The band advertised, “2 sets, 3 horns, an 8-piece band, no opener.” That is exactly what the band happily delivered.
For some context, I have been listening to They Might Be Giants since my college days, when we, at WRPR, Ramapo College Radio, first discovered the TMBGs Dial-A-Song number, now listed as 844-387-6962.
I have played They Might Be Giants for my children from their first days on earth. The band’s melodies are deeply etched in my memories of driving with friends, singing about birdcages, and singing along with my children about triangles and worms. They also do a great cover of a Phil Ochs 1964 song, One More Parade.
While I have never met them, both Johns seem like really affable fellas. Sort of a combination of having your guidance counselor and your science teacher in your favorite band. I always thought they would make for a great cartoon series about themselves as kids, or maybe as a guidance counselor and a science teacher by day and a quirky postmodern band by night.
I’d watch that. My friend Tracey would love that - she’s a big fan.
Haven't any of you ever wondered who would win at Celebrity Family Feud - They Might Be Giants or Talking Heads? One band celebrates the individuality of a wide host of characters, all just fine with the banality of their lives, as they can celebrate the little things. They live in the house they grew up in, and someday they will buy their parents a new home in the Carolinas, which the grandkids will visit quite often. The other band is trying to find out how the radius of a circle can affect how you interact with the world. Things are happening both all at once and in a slow, painful, non-linear fashion, and I’m unsure of where I came from and where I live. And a really big suit.
On the band’s Union Transfer performance, let me proffer this – I felt better about myself and the world at the end of the show than before. In these current times, if a band can offer an audience even just that, a bit of innocence, a mix of cheerful banter, and a rock-solid performance, then that is a performance that must be celebrated.
On a separate note, it appears John Flansburgh purchased a guitar on Reverb (how cool is that!). As much as he loves the guitar, the guitar case gave off a rather unpleasant smell. A smell of… well, for lack of a better word… cat pee. This brought much laughter and further discussion of the different smells of their own instruments and fellow musicians. There was consensus that the reaction to such a smell looks the same as the face made by guitar heroes in the throes of a screaming solo. You may pause and ponder such an image.
The band deserves praise
• John Flansburgh — vocals, guitar
• John Linnell — vocals, keyboards, accordion, woodwinds
• Dan Miller — guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
• Danny Weinkauf — bass, keyboards
• Marty Beller — drums, percussion
• Dan Levine — trombone, euphonium, tuba
• Stan Harrison — saxophone, clarinet, flute
• Mark Pender — trumpet
And to honor their backward/forward video –
!WON TUO GID OT SI DLROW EHT MUBLA WEN STNAIG EB THGIM YEHT
