Under The Big Blue Whale

October 4, 2009 - American Museum of Natural History - New York, NY

Long day and I was already exhausted from the trip earlier in the week and working on Saturday. We had to leave at 5:00am to get to the museum before it opened. The tickets were being given out on a first come first served basis and there were only 300 per show so we wanted to be there early. Unfortunately, we took a wrong turn heading into the city. I had never driven into NYC before. We always take the train. But I decided to try it this time with mixed results. Once we got the GPS to recognize the museum we were fine but we only arrived about 15 minutes before the museum opened.

We meet our friend again who had gotten there early enough to be right by the door. But boy, was the ticket distribution a cluster. A guy appeared at the top of the stairs and announced that anyone who was there for the show needed to go to a door downstairs. Most of the huge group of people waiting, including us, headed that way and we got separated from our friends. When we got to the bottom they said that you could only go in that way if you already had a ticket to the museum which most people didn't so they were pissed. They all had to go back up to the upper level. Fortunately, we did already have tickets so we were able to go in and get in line for the show tickets. Our friends got in and bought tickets on the upper level and managed to get down in line, not too far behind us. They were not giving out tickets to both shows to a single group so my boyfriend and I got four for the early show and our friends got four for the afternoon show so we were golden.

We had to wait briefly outside the theater by a giant clam before going into the hall. The show was in the Hall of Ocean Life under the life size blue whale hanging from the ceiling. There were displays of sea life all around the room and videos of various fish and such playing on an upper level. We chose a place to sit in the center about half way back from the stage. We usually try to sit further back at the family shows and leave the good spots for the kids. This turned out to be a great spot except the guys sitting in front of me were constantly leaning in front of my pictures because they were talking to each other throughout the show.

"Good morning. We don't usually get to say that."

They started off with I Never Go To Work featuring Ralph Carney "the laziest member of They Might Be Giants." They replaced the "practice trumpet everyday" line with "practice saxophone everyday."

Flans asked the kids to come down to the stage before Clap Your Hands but we stayed put to let the little kids dance.

They launched right into The Famous Polka from Clap so most of the crowd remained standing. A lot of people had sat back down by the time they started I Am A Paleontologist so we still had a great view for most of the show. Have I mentioned how much I love that song?

When Marty moved over to the electric kit Flans had him demonstrate some of the sounds.They had recorded some whale song into in so it sounded like the giant whale was singing. At least until Flans announced he had had enough and they moved on to WDTSS?

They did the slow version of Sun again. Linnell's nuclear reactions were caused by th ego, the electric drum kit and the giant whale.

Flans introduced Pirate Girls Nine. "This song is about three things, pirates - ARRRR - girls - ARRRR - and the number nine - ARRRR." He then instructed us how to count to nine but we had to do it twice because we didn't do it fast enough the first time.

Marty brought out his full assortment of noise makers for Bed Bed Bed. I really enjoy watching him and Linnell engage in a duel of funny, random noises.

Before the next song, Flans told us told us we had to pretend we were about to hear our favorite song even though we had never heard it before. It was a little silly since the album is actually out now so a lot of people at the show had probably heard the song. Roy G. Biv turned out to be the new song. Our friend had actually heard it the day before at the family show at The Egg that we were not able to attend. I had been very jealous so I was thrilled they played it.

As Marty came out to do Alphabet Lost and Found, Flans said this was the closest they would come to a boy band playing to a backing track. Marty engaged in some very silly dancing. This is one of my favorite parts of the family shows. Not only is Marty a hoot to watch he's also a great singer. And he collapses on stage at the end of the song which is just silly.

Fibber Island was introduced as They Might Be Giants tribute to imagination. They apparently strongly support the use of imagination. Fibber, as has become common lately, led immediately into Zilch. Whee!

We got the same instructions before Particle Man about clapping even though the music was going to stop. Linnell has gotten into a habit of just singing a slower version of one of the verses in the bridge lately instead of inserting another song. I sort of miss the song within a song thing.

Here come the puppets! They sang What Is A Shooting Star? again. They were very funny but I can't remember a word they said. Anybody else remember?

The - the - the - the - Alphabet of Nations! It is too bad that Dan's new keyboard is kind of tucked back on the stage. I like watching him play.

Upon consultation we believe that the confetti canon was launched during Nations ( feel free to correct me). The confetti today was shiny instead of paper. There were little squares mixed in with pink elephant, number two, crescent moon and breast cancer ribbon shapes. New confetti for the confetti bag!

Linnell continues to sing "information" in My Brother the Ape. I haven't remembered to go back to the CD and re-listen to see what he sings on the album. Hmmm?

Flans let lots of kids play his guitar at the beginning of Older. He was actually played chords while the kids played so it made a really neat sound and it was adorable how excited the kids were to play.

Danny announced that Saturday was Dan Miller's birthday and had us sing Happy Birthday to him. Dan looked completely caught off guard and embarrassed. He gave Danny a very "I can't believe you just did that" look.

Then Danny asked us to help him remember the words to Where Do They Make Balloons? In case you ever wondered, apparently many balloons are made in India.

They did Seven (very successful with the kids) before introducing the band. Flans had us take turns screaming for Marty: first the dads, then the moms, then the kids, then everyone under the whale.

They closed with Doctor Worm. For an encore the did Meet the Elements. Linnell inserted the whale into the list of things containing elements. Istanbul was the very last song and oddly many people left before the encore was over so a lot of people missed it. Ralph is a great showman and really played well to the kids.

After the show Flans, Marty and the blond tech who I always see but whose name I don't know (anybody?) gave out new bumper stickers based on the new website design. As we left the Hall we also got new and incredibly adorable Science stickers. There is one of the dancing anteater from Ape. Yay!

Between shows we wandered into the Hall of Meteorites and touched the oldest thing you can touch (it's a piece of a meteor) which is several billion years old.

We got a spot on the left at the second show and mostly remained standing for the show because there was a guy in front of us with a kid on his shoulders that we couldn't see over. Most of the people behind us went up to the front to dance anyway. There were a couple of women behind us with no kids who were ecstatic when they played Istanbul. They were jumping and screaming. It was pretty funny.

Things that were different at the second show:

6lans changed his shirt to a lovely plaid.

Flans sang the lyrics to The Famous Polka! It seemed to be a last minute decision but it made me ever so happy as I have never heard it with the lyrics before.

Danny announced that he is a paleontologist before singing the song.

The nuclear reactions on the sun are caused by the electric guitar inside the sun, the guitar's management and the guitar's promoter.

Flans asked if we could count to ten before Pirate Girls and when no one did he said we would try nine.

Linnell said he was going to go to bed before singing Bed."This is not an introduction to a song. It really is my bedtime."

The whale was inserted into a couple of songs.

Marty's whale in his electric drum was apparently being chased by the police for speeding because he also made a police siren sound. "Do you know why I pulled you over Mr. Whale?"

Dan messed up a line in Seven but Linnell made some amusing "taking on the telephone" hand gestures to make up for it.

More new confetti. This time is was butterflies, followed by more elephants later. "Hey, who let in all these elephants?"

There was other funny stuff. I think it has been lost in my exhaustion. If I remember anything else I'll add it. If you were there, please add anything I've forgotten in the comments. I'll also link in some pictures when I get back to my computer next week. Detroit tomorrow. The road trip is underway!