Awesome Weekend Part Four

September 26, 2010 - Town Hall - New York, NY - late show

Being an account of my 60th They Might Be Giants concert and the final show of the Best Weekend Ever.

This show was much livelier, with a sold out crowd packing the theater and ready to rock. We were separated from our friends, who all had seats on the other side of the theater, which was a little sad but an excellent time was still had by all. Well, maybe all but the small child who was crying because he did not want to listen to the music because he was afraid it was going to be loud. I hope he got over it. I believe the theater was in fact filled with band friends and family as I expected. I know I saw Bellers and Weinkaufs and there were probably countless others giving the show the proper hometown feel. Despite never quite being comfortable in the city, I do love NYC shows.

I managed to record How Many Planets? this time though I missed the first couple of planets because I wasn't ready with the camera when the show started. I hope they keep this one in the live rotation. It is really good.



More clapping for Particle Man. Then Flans pulled out his $20 bill again and once again pointed out that Dan Levine is on the $20 bill. He said that in the future we will begin to see more band member's faces appear on currency. Then he started introducing Pirate Girls Nine and telling us how Linnell and Dan were beacons and they were going to be like lighthouses leading us through the numbers from 1-9. We practiced a few times. Somehow Flans wrapped up his introduction with "my thumb in my eye" again which he said was an indicator they should start the song. (Unless of course he said that after the song. I'm not sure, but I know I got a good picture of it.)



Flans introduced Robin. He was still talking in his pirate voice and said he was going to do the rest of the rest of the show that way. Robin said she was also going to use her pirate voice but hers was a very sing songy high girly voice and Flans said it wasn't a pirate voice at all. Then began one of the funniest exchanges I have ever seen, which wont entirely make sense but it didn't at the time either. I am paraphrasing a bit because I don't remember the exact dialogue. And remember Flans' part is all in a pirate voice.

Flans: "Are you back in school, young lady?"
Robin: "I'm homeschooled."
Flans: "Homeschooled? Who homeschools you?"
Robin: "I'm homeschooling myself actually."
Flans: "That sounds like a lot of nonsense to me. Where are you from, Park Slope? What songs are you going to sing?"
Robin: "I'm going to be singing two songs.."
Flans: "Answer the question, Yes or No!"
Robin: "I'm teaching myself not to answer questions with a straight yes or no but to explore.."
Flans: "Go back to Fort Greene. That doesn't fly on They Might Be Giants pirate ship."
Robin: "Talk to me after I've taught myself fluent French."
Flans: *pause* "Toosh." (A very comical mispronunciation of "touche")

Then everyone, especially Linnell, cracked up. It was hilarious. Trust me. Robin did In the Middle and Electric Car again. And this time I recorded Electric Car for your viewing pleasure.



Throughout the first several songs Danny was scanning the audience trying to figure out where his family was sitting. When he finally spotted them, several rows behind me, he stuck his tongue out at them. Awww.

Curt came down to do I Never Go To Work. We all got up for Clap Your Hands but had that awkward moment when we heard the music starting and we started to stand up but realized Flans hadn't said stand up yet so we were stuck half way out of our seats for a second waiting for him to actually tell everyone else to stand. Sometimes knowing the routine too well backfires on you. The crowd actually managed to remain standing through a good half of Kids Go before sitting down again which was at least an improvement. I would have remained standing for the whole song if I wasn't worried about blocking tiny people's view.

Then the puppets. This Avatar segment I remember vividly. Green Avatar said he had been learning to smile and then gave us a very mooshed up sort of smile which was absolutely adorable. Then he showed us his frown which was equally mooshed up and very Muppet-like. It was cute and just a little sad. Not to be outdone, Blue Avatar said he had been learning to silently criticize and stared disapprovingly out of the camera. Green Avatar suggested they start the next song but Blue Avatar said they had to wait a minute because he wasn't done silently criticizing us. I believe they did Shooting Star before that bit and Stalk of Wheat after. And of course they brought back Meg Ryan. Because that totally makes sense to small children.

Flans left the camera pointed, not only at the audience but at Meg as well, while they were playing Whistling in the Dark. At first I wasn't sure how I felt about this song being used at family shows but I've decided I kind of like the message it conveys to kids. Be like yourself. And it ends up being this total rocking disco light show thing now with the flashing lights in Marty's drums which probably either looks really cool to the kids or terrifies them.

When Flans brought his guitar down and offered it to the front row at the start of Older there was a young girl who reached out and tried to hand him an envelope. He kept holding out the guitar but she wasn't getting the hint. She just kept holding out the envelope. Eventually, he took it from her and went back to put it on the stage. Then he came back and offered her the guitar again and she finally strummed a little. A few other kids came down and it was all very adorable. And of course followed by lots of confetti. And Flans actually did go back and pick up the envelope and tuck it into the back of his guitar where the Duende lyrics from the night before were still taped.



The horns came down to the front again for Seven. But the funniest part was Dan missing a line. He forgot to do the "It's the green house at the end of the block" line and Flans had to lean into a mic and do it for him. But then Dan was laughing and said another line while Linnell was singing. It was very silly and I was laughing so hard I missed the cue on the first cry for cake.



Doctor Worm. Sadly, I don't think anything nearly as funny as the earlier show happened this time.



Marty came out to do High Five! again and if anything danced even more frenetically than he had at the earlier show. He high fived a little baby being held up by a parent which was super cute. And Flans did the Marty chant he had invented at the earlier show again while Marty was dancing which pleased me greatly. (Psst, the blur in the picture is Marty "Faster than a speeding bullet" Beller.)



The mic for the acoustic guitar wasn't working when they went to start Fibber Island and Flans kept asking if we could hear the guitar. I tried to indicate that it needed to be turned up even after they got it working but no one noticed so it was very soft. When they did the flubbers at the end Flans was saying something while he was flubbering but I couldn't make out what it was. Just the fact that he was talking while flubbering was humor enough. Zilch.



Danny came out for Paleontologist and made us all stand up again. This really does seem to be a favorite song of a vast number of the little kids I see at shows which makes me very happy. I enjoy dancing right along with all the little munchkins.



My boyfriend pointed out that the kids in the next row over from us collected a whole bunch of foam fingers and created their own little foam finger museum at the front of the theater during the show. They left them behind too so they were still on display even as everyone was leaving.



Marty went to the electric kit for Nonagon. I tried desperately to get a picture of him while he was actually in front of me with very minimal success. Flans did sort of an amalgamation of the old band intro and the new. Marty stayed at the electric and it had the new beat but Flans worked in some old standards like Danny's chant and I think we even screamed for Marty briefly. I'm sure he'll figure out better how he wants it to go over time.



They closed with Istanbul, again with no intro but this time with the third fake ending again. They shot off some confetti, then Flans had them move the cannon at a different angle to get more people and they shot off more. It was a much wilder, livelier end to the show than earlier in the day, so I wasn't surprised when the crowd demanded an encore.

They returned for Alphabet of Nations and Linnell did some lovely silly voices on some of the countries. His pronunciation of Chad struck me as particularly funny. And that was it for the show.

We went up to the front to see about a setlist but David picked them all up and took them off backstage without giving any of them out. Which was a real bummer considering the number of horn players who came back out on stage whom we could have gotten to sign one. Setlist acquisition for the weekend = 100% fail. So much for that perfect record. Marty came out as well, hunting around for his family, then disappeared then came back again and started signing some things for people. While I was still standing at the front, a couple of teenage girls went up to him and asked why they hadn't done Meet the Elements because that was their favorite song. It hadn't occurred to me until just then that they hadn't and it was rather odd. Marty told them he didn't know why and looked rather sorry that he didn't have a better answer.

Somebody, whether it was those same girls or not I'm not sure, handed Marty a foam finger to sign and he started trying to indicate that he didn't think his pen would work on it. Sharpie to the rescue once again! I reached over and handed my Sharpie to him and he at first looked surprised then said thanks. I went back up to the middle of the theater to tell Megan to wait because the Sharpie was once again in use. We waited for a few minutes (and got to see the now 5 year old Violet being delivered to her daddy) until Marty stood up and started looking around for me to give the marker back.

Since I was halfway up one of the aisles, a good 20 feet away, and there were people between me and the front, Marty and I made the non-verbal decision that he was going to toss it to me. In retrospect, there were a number of things I did not take into account when making this decision.
First, that I am a very bad catch. I sucked at softball for a reason.
Second, there were other people in the aisle and a gentleman walking down behind me.
Third, that, instead of tossing the Sharpie to me underhand as I expected, Marty was going to bullet it at me end first.
All of these factors combined in a scenario where I tried to catch the marker flying towards my head, realized I wasn't going to get it and it would be better to just let it hit the floor and pick it up than to try and reach for it, then smacked into the gentleman coming down the aisle behind me as I tried to move in the direction it was going to land. I started laughing out of utter embarrassment and humiliation, trying to regain my balance and apologize to the poor guy I had whacked into and simultaneously look back to see that Marty was watching from the stage with a look of mixed humor and concern. I think I probably turned red from my toes to the top of my head. Megan, fortunately, saw where the Sharpie had landed so I could retrieve it as I had gotten completely disoriented. And, that, ladies and gentleman, is the end of my Sharpie adventures, and also the note on which I ended this most fabulous of weekends. I'm trying not to cringe thinking about it. Note to self: walk up to the stage next time.

Despite that ridiculousness, the weekend really did earn it's title of Best Weekend Ever. Back in our car and driving out of the parking garage, we saw Flansburgh walking down the street talking to himself, with Robin and an elderly woman trailing behind him and Dan Levine standing on the street corner with his horns strapped to his back waiting for a break in the traffic. Just another typical New York afternoon.

There are more pictures on Flickr. The photos from both Town Hall shows are together but you can tell them apart because most of the band changed clothes in between. Red shirt Linnell is the early show and  white shirt is the later one.

Only two more weeks until our next four show weekend extravaganza. I think I just might be able to ride the high from this weekend right on through to the next. Maybe. Almost.