Whaaa?

December 30, 2012 - Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, NY

Night two of the New Year's Eve run in Brooklyn. I got there earlier, though still not as early as most of my friends, and thus spent even more time freezing my ass off. However, this day included an expedition to get delicious waffles at Waffle and Wolf which broke up the time nicely. And I only really started to freeze once I stopped walking around and started sitting on the sidewalk waiting.

We returned from our waffle excursion in plenty of time to see more parking adventures. Today we got to watch both Marty and Linnell attempt to get their Priuses (Prii??) into the same too-small-even-for-a-Prius parking space. Flans and Robin arrived via taxi. How glamorous.

I got to experience the stupidity of the barrier assembly myself on this occasion. It really was one of the dumbest attempts at crowd control I have witnessed.

Once inside, I ended up way down on the left side of the stage with all the boys from our crew. Not even sure how that happened.



Tonight's opening act was Robin's band, The Last Car, which includes Chris Anderson and Amy Miles (hope I am remembering her name right). I hadn't seen them before and really enjoyed them. They did a very short set with some very funny little songs in it. They had given each other an assignment to write a 30 second song especially for this show. Amy had completely forgotten, which she blamed on her six-month-old. She gave it a go anyway, playing Chris's guitar, which he had to hold for her because the strap was absurdly long on her. Robin did hers in French? I think, and it was too long for the assignment. And I don't particularly remember what Chris's was but they were all funny. They also did a cute song about pets that included a shout out to all their pets, including Flans and Robin's cats. And I think there was also a song about vegetables if I am remembering correctly. They were very enjoyable and I hope I get to see them again.



TMBG setlist: Where Your Eyes Don't Go - When Will You Die - They Might Be Giants - Letterbox - Someone Keeps Moving My Chair - Cowtown - Lie Still, Little Bottle - Pencil Rain - Call You Mom - Purple Toupee - Road Movie To Berlin - Hot Cha - Sapphire Bullets Of Pure Love - Insect Hospital - He's Loco - Ana Ng - Piece Of Dirt - Women And Men - Cage And Aquarium - Hearing Aid - Minimum Wage - 123 Band Intro - Birdhouse in Your Soul - Hey, Mr. DJ Encore - Cloisonné - The Mesopotamians Encore 2 - Mr. Me - Whistling In The Dark

There wasn't a lot of banter in this show. They moved pretty quickly from song to song. And similarly, I don't have a lot of pictures from it, because they changed the lighting dramatically from the night before and it was extremely unconducive to photography. Lots of colors and bright flashing lights behind that band's heads.

There was a period of banter before Letterbox while Flans attempted to tune and adjust his guitar. Linnell commented, jokingly that he and Flans had coordinated their wardrobes for the night. I believe this was a reference to the fact that Linnell was wearing a simple white ringer tee while Flans was dressed up in a blazer and button-up. Flans said that he was preparing for the big New Year's Eve show the next day and that the previous night he had dropped a bottle on his head at midnight. He asked Linnell to talk about the next song while he adjusted his pedals and Linnell explained that the song had the highest density of words of any song. Except maybe for one Meat Puppets song, he said. Which was a dead give away that they were going to play Letterbox.



Stan came out to join them for Cowtown and they played it with the two clarinets once again. Flans said it was the first song he and Linnell had ever worked on. "Just last week," quipped Linnell. "Rehearsals were short.... and acrimonious," added Flansburgh. Flans got Stan to play a little on his clarinet, encouraging him to do the Benny Goodman thing, which Stan did, very, very briefly, before they played the actual song. The audience provided excellent "wooos."



Round two of Call You Mom was just as exciting as round one and Linnell remembered all the words. This and Insect Hospital were the only new songs that got a repeat play at this show.

I once again got to enjoy watching Marty employ Victor as a tambourine holder during Road Movie To Berlin. This is a very serious role that requires years of training ;-)





My position in front of Marty at this show provided me with the perfect opportunity to get the video of him playing Sapphire Bullets that I have always wanted. I just love watching how he spots that cowbell like a dancer spotting a turn and hits it perfectly every time. (Or almost every time. I did see him miss one hit entirely once a couple of years ago and he looked very annoyed with himself.)



Flansburgh talked about the new album before they started Insect Hospital. He said it was called Nanobots (pronounced Naanobots) unless you were in England or inside Linnell's head. He noted that some people called it Nahnobots and some Naanobots and intelligent people everywhere disagreed on what was correct. He also noted that it had 25 songs most of which were under 2.5 minutes long and that one was under 14 seconds long. Linnell pointed out that one song was over three minutes long. Flans called in "super indulgent" and said they would have to take that song out back.



Then Flans took a moment to introduce the band. He noted that Marty was "playing the living shit out of the drums." He declared Danny to be "the Jesus Christ of bass players," which Danny responded to by briefly taking the pose of Jesus on the cross. I laughed a lot. And Dan Miller, "no explanation needed."

Insect Hospital played into the Avatars again, which I think will become typical. The Avatars pointed the camera at the audience at it was pretty blurry and washed out by the lights so they made some jokes about invisible people and people without faces. When they pointed the camera back at themselves, they made a crack about being on Channel J (which had also been mentioned the night before) and said that the video feedback had them looking like ass. Blue explained that they had a new album coming out called Whaaa? It is apparently being released my some currently defunct label that is coming back just to release Whaaa? And then they did He's Loco again, once again riffing about Artemis Johnson at the end of the song.

Dan Levine joined them for Piece of Dirt but was late arriving to the stage. Flans briefly thought he had screwed something up because Dan didn't appear and Danny was discussing something with Linnell, but it turned out they were just trying to figure out where a noise was coming from. Flans explained that he was just still playing one long low note on his guitar from the end of the last song, "like Carlos Santana." "Because this is where the music comes from," he said, pressing his first to his heart. Dan eventually appeared on stage and Flans said that playing the euphonium was a recessive trait among musicians. Then he made some cracks about Dan not getting ready fast enough which lead to a recurring joke about being "really close" to starting the song. Finally, they had Dan soundcheck a few notes and Flans declared the euphonium "the most majestic of the oversized instruments." And then they finally got to Piece Of Dirt.



Linnell elected to play Women and Men on his accordion and then had to confirm which key the song was in. Flans said that unlike most band who memorize all of their songs, they forget them all immediately after they play them. Linnell said that the different sets each night of the run were not for the audience but so that the band would be most confused.

Linnell played an extended accordion outro to Cage and Aquarium that got quieter and quieter. Flans asked that the bass be turned way up for Hearing Aid and then spent some time at the end of the song scratching his guitar pick on his mic. He also made some amusing noises on the low notes in Minimum Wage.



The only other thing of great note from the end was Whistling in the Dark. They turned off all the lights except for a disco ball high up on the ceiling and played the song with the room illuminated only by disco ball reflections that looked like stars. It was beautiful and looked really, really cool. I even noted that there was a disco ball shadow on the ceiling opposite where the spotlight was shining on it, that looked like a solar eclipse, adding to the outer space feel.

Post-show we continued The Meatball Shop tradition and I added a delicious ice cream sandwich to my very tasty broccoli and meatballs. That place knows how to do food. And I, once again, retired to Queens to prepare for the very, very long day that followed.

Catch And Release

December 29, 2012 - Music Hall Of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, NY

The theme of all of my pre-show experiences lately has been freezing cold. And often also, bad weather. Kathy and I drove into Brooklyn in the snow. Which later turned into a light drizzle and overall made the wait rather unpleasant.

Aside from the bitter cold, which froze my toes straight through, the most entertaining part of being outside the Music Hall everyday was watching all the members of the band attempt to park. I admit that the pre-show events of the three days have become a bit blurred together in my mind but my favorite of the parking stories was either from day one or two. Scott had earlier come outside the venue, talking to a member of staff about the possibility of reserving parking for the members of the band. The only result of this we saw, was that a member of staff placed one metal barrier in a spot that opened up across the street. A while later, Danny pulled up to the curb, double parked, and hopped out. Mistaking him for a member of venue staff, he asked my friend, Jim, if it was okay for him to move the barrier and park in the spot. Jim followed along beautifully, not only giving him permission but crossing the street to help him move the barrier out of the way. And I don't believe Danny was ever the wiser that Jim didn't actually work for the venue.

This venue followed this bizarre procedure each night to get the line inside some metal barriers on the sidewalk. For hours we waited outside cage-free, until about an hour of so before the show. Then staff came out and had everyone move to the curb while they laid out two lines of crowd barriers. But instead of putting up the inner row, then moving us in and laying the outer row around us, they put up both and then had us snake down to the end and into the corral. It seemed like the most ridiculous and inefficient way of arranging things. And I actually missed it the first night because I was getting something from my car, and then had to worm my way back to my spot in line through the barrier.

My timing was just generally off at this show, as I also managed to be in the bathroom when they allowed us entry to the stage. They had let us into a bar area where the bathrooms and coatcheck were and stopped us at the door. I foolishly thought I would have enough time to use the restroom, but came out to find the line already gone inside. As such my spot for the first night was in the second row, and that was only thanks to Kathy saving me some room.

Corn Mo was the opener at the first show. As I believe I have previously stated, I am not an enormous fan. And this particular performance stressed me out to no end. He significantly over-ran his time and was either oblivious to or ignored all the signals being sent to him to wrap it up. Scott was flashing flashlights. The stage crew were waving at him. As it turned out, he had brought a special guest accordionist with him to perform a song. Which was lovely. But by that point he was nearly 15 minutes over his allotted time. A member of the crew was a bit harsh with finally informing him that time was up but personally, I could understand the frustration. There are times when my tendency to watch what is going on behind the scenes as well as on stage, disrupts my ability to enjoy what is going on in the show and this was one of them.



TMBG setlist: Twisting - Theme From Flood - Call You Mom - Damn Good Times - Lost My Mind - They'll Need A Crane - Circular Karate Chop - When Will You Die - Your Racist Friend - Pencil Rain - Istanbul - Doctor Worm - Nanobots - Particle Man - Stand On Your Own Head - Snowball in Hell - Lucky Ball and Chain - We Want A Rock - Santa's Beard - Kiss Me Son Of God - Dr. Evil - Birdhouse In Your Soul - 123 Band Intro - Hey, Mr. DJ Encore - Insect Hospital - He's Loco - Shoehorn With Teeth - Museum of Idiots - Clap Your Hands Encore 2 - The Mesopotamians - Dead - Mr. Me

They kicked things off with Twisting which is a song I am a bit indifferent to, but is pretty rocking live. Then after some greetings, Linnell announced that the next song was about ESP. Except is was actually the Theme From Flood so I am not sure exactly what he was talking about.



Then they brought the horns out for Call You Mom. Hot damn, is that song awesome live. It's loud and brassy and Marty just goes insane on the drums. Soooo much fun. Linnell briefly screwed up the lyrics but who cares!

Then Damn Good Times featuring the requisite Miller guitar solo. Dan kept howling like a wolf at various points in the show and I am not entirely sure why. That is usually something reserved for the Wolf Den but it was funny.



Lost My Mind was preceded by some of my favorite banter of the evening. Flans asked Linnell how his Christmas was and if he had gotten everything he wanted from Santa. Linnell said yes, and that he had gotten a telescope. There was lots of wooooing from the crowd. Linnell said that the crowd's response actually sounded sincere. Flans commented that he thought this was probably a telescope kind of crowd and then in his best "rocker" voice: "Does anybody here like telescopes?!" Linnell commented that they would have to test the response of the "woo-meter." Then he realized he should ask Flans if he had gotten anything good for Christmas and Flans said he got nothing.

Linnell then told us that the next song was another new song and that it was still in its cage. He explained that they have a "catch and release" program for their songs and that this one was not yet ready to be out in the wild because it would starve.

Flans pointed out that the song on the setlist was labeled as Lost and that it was bad enough that they had another song called Lost but that is also sounded like an emotional suggesiton rather than a note about the song. He also told a story I have heard before, about doing an interview with someone in Lancaster who was so disturbed to learn that they used a setlist that it seemed like it made them not like the band anymore.

Linnell said that the great thing about the new songs was that they were going to be screwing them up massively but they assumed no one off the stage could tell. He and Flans then joked that it was a good thing that there wasn't a "you-tubey" type thing that allowed people to view events that had just happened. Linnell said that when that happened they would quit show business. (Good thing that DOES actually exist or I might have forgotten about their conversation about it.)

Just before they started Lost My Mind, Flans tested his note in the mic and then declared proudly, "I got my note."

I had a really hard time hearing the lyrics to this one the first time because they were overpowered by the music. I find I like it better now that I know what they are. After they were done, Flans lamented that they would never again be able to play the song with that level of anxiety.

Then another round of They'll Need A Crane. I once believed that I would probably never see this song live. Now, I am rather surprised at just how many times I have seen it.



Before they started Circular Karate Chop, Linnell announced that they were going to play another new song, "because we're so brave." He said it in a cute, funny little voice that I quite enjoyed. Flans had to verify the key and who started the song before they began playing. My favorite part, was the spoken bridge that Flans performed, reading from some note, that were "3 rules from your sensei." Flans read them in such a funny voice and with such drama that they sounded even more ridiculous. I think Flans also screwed up some of the lyrics to this song, though we wouldn't have known it at the time.



There was another run of songs featuring the horns. Including a nice horn introduction to Istanbul. And Danny, clad in the traditional red pants, did a spread legged split in the air on his Doctor Worm leap. He was also sporting a shiny new blue Fender bass that was very snazzy.



The introduction to Nanobots featured Flans demonstrating a new special robot voice effect they had acquired for the song. The dialogue between him and Linnell was hilarious with Flans in robot mode and went like this.

Linnell: "We got a special effect, we paid like $25..."

Flans: *testing the first word of the song* "Grow"

Linnell: "..for that."

Flans: "People usually pay extra for this shit. This shit costs extra normally, but you gettin' this shit for free."

Linnell: "We looked in our holiday budget. 'Oh, we got an extra $25.'"

Flans: "Let's give something back. To the kids. John said no, but I said yes."

Linnell: "I'm still a little..."

Flans: "Not that John. Different John. The John that's talking inside my head."

Linnell: "The low voiced John said no."

Flans: "Yeah."

Linnell: "But they both talk at once so you can't tell which one is..."

Flans: "It's tricky."

Not counting Call You Mom, which I had already heard, Nanobots was my favorite of the new songs they premiered. It is insanely catchy. And was stuck in my head for the remainder of the weekend which can drive you nuts when you don't know all the lyrics.

Before Stand On Your Own Head, Flans explained that they were playing side one of Flood and the controversial side two of Lincoln. Linnell joked that if you turned your mp3 over there were more songs on the other side. Flans added that there were songs by other bands on the other side. Then Flans went off on how odd it was that the people labeling songs on Napster attributed songs to them that were not actually by them. So that now millions of people think they wrote 88 Songs About 44 Women. He also noted Fish Heads, which he said was especially weird since
they remembered watching it on Dr. Demento when they were about 10. He said it was the equivalent of saying they wrote Monster Mash. And then they did Stand On Your Own Head again and I once again got to be wowed by Dan's guitar part, though, disappointingly, I couldn't see him while he played it.

On the Snowball in Hell bridge, Joe asked Paul if he was actually Paul McCartney. Paul remained oddly silent for a long while after that forcing Joe to riff for a while on his own. Joe said he didn't think he was didn't think he was doing "Paul McCartney in Wings good" but he thought he was doing Ringo good. Paul seemed very upset by the suggestion that he was "back" on the time is money kick and made a big deal of the word back before finally declaring he was "still on it" in the lowest most menacing voice a puppet can produce.



Flans messed up the beginning of Lucky Ball and Chain and made everyone stop. He turned to Marty and said "Isn't it five?" referring to the number of beats that start the song. Marty didn't reply, but instead started to subtly scratch the side of his face with three fingers, indicating that no, it was only three beats. I found this incredibly funny and so very, very Marty. With Flans corrected, they started again.



Robin came out to join the band for Dr. Evil. She joked with Dan Miller that they were wearing the same hat, as she was wearing a big furry gray hat and Dan had his grey winter hat on. She also tried to lower the mic stand but wasn't successful. Flans moved to help her but she said no, she's just be tall. She said that among her New Year's resolutions were to get stronger hands, to get revenge on her enemies and smite them and to wear more hats. Flans teased her and Dan about not coordinating their outfits better and said that wearing the same hat was a big rock faux pas. Robin claimed her had was borrowed...from a Rockerfeller. And Flans said, "yeah, J. Phony Rockerfeller" which made Robin laugh. Then she added that her additional resolution was to be more evil and they started the song. This is another one for the category of " didn't think I would ever hear it live and am now surprised by how many times I have heard it."

They did Birdhouse (yay!) and the 123 band intro. Linnell stood right over me, demonstrating the clapping with his arms outstretched and elbows unbent. It's adorable. Then they closed the set with Hey, Mr. DJ which we had heard them soundchecking earlier. Love that song. Love, love, love that song.





They returned for the first encore with another new song, Insect Hospital. This one is even more ear worm inducing than Nanobots as it is just the same lyric over and over. And since the end is just a big rocking guitar solo, it is the perfect intro song for the Avatars because the Johns can walk away and put on the puppets while the band riffs. Flans knocked over on of the horn music stands on his way to the camera and briefly attempted to stop and pick everything up but gave up, realizing, I think, that it would take too long.

The Avatars declared that there were more professional shows in Williamsburg tonight. I believe as a reference to Flans knocking over the music. Then they announced they while they liked They Might Be Giants, they preferred their own music and did their first live performance of He's Loco, with Dan accompanying them on guitar. It even featured a little add on at the end about how Green had watched his Wild Wild West DVD the previous night and how the movie had spiders. And also how great Artemis Johnson was. Then they invited Dan Levine back to the stage on the euphonium. Blue pointed out that he had "personally, professionally prepared the stage by pushing all of the sheet music onto the floor." Dan waved his thanks as if this was actually a very helpful thing, and I gave him great props for playing along. Then they did Shoehorn complete with Marty and his bell.


(Note: I think Marty had actually managed to bite his lip until it started to bleed which is why it looks like he is wearing lipstick in this picture.)

As the rest of the horns returned for Museum of Idiots, Flans told them he didn't know what to say about the sheet music except he was sorry. Curt pretended to make a big deal out of it, looking down and declaring "Oh my god!" in a very overly dramatic way, as if there were carnage on the floor. This also made me laugh a lot. Horns are the best.



And they closed the first encore with Clap Your Hands. I will never understand playing that song and then leaving the stage, but it isn't my setlist.

The Johns said that being back in this neighborhood was very nostalgic for them as they used to live here. And then they commented on the parking, which I found funny given the struggles we observed them having trying to park. Linnell claimed that The Mesopotamians was about that time. I was very glad that they did not actually end the show on Dead, but instead brought the horns back for a rousing rendition of Mr. Me. Much more lively.



After the show, a huge gang of us went to The Meatball Shop for a late night dinner and few blocks away and I had the most delicious broccoli I had ever had. I would not shut up about that broccoli for the rest of the weekend. We even went back the next night and I had more. Yum. and then finally back to our hotel in Queens to rest up and prepare for round two.

Song of the Day - Day 841

Today's song is...


Tesla

I was initially very excited about the idea of a song about Tesla, and ended up a bit disappointed. I think I was expecting a big rocker like James K. Polk or even Meet James Ensor. But Tesla is slow and lacking in any particularly catchy phrases in the melody. While loaded with facts, I find the repetition in many of them being delivered in the same phrase, "ushered the...," tiring. I was compelled to do some research into why Tesla had x-rays of Mark Twains skull and did find the answer interesting. I hadn't even realized they were contemporaries. I am very curious to hear what it sounds like live. But unlike, what I imagine would be the case with, most of the other songs on the album, I was not especially crushed that they premiered this one while I wasn't there. Which probably says more about my interest in the song that anything else. Maybe if it hadn't been so different from what I was expecting, it would have faired better in my affections.

Song of the Day - Day 840

Today's song is...


Fun Assassin

This was originally intended to be the very last Song of the Day. Get it, Fun Assassin? Little heavy handed? Well it was a random list after all. But now I have 17 Nanobots songs to keep the project going a little while longer. I enjoy the melody in this song and the pretty guitar part. And Robin's voice compliments the primary singer's well...whomever he may be.

Song of the Day - Day 839

Today's song is...


All Alone, All By Myself

The very last of the Fingertips tracks to be included on this list. It was a little odd pulling them out of Fingertips as a whole and thinking about them individually. All together the song/s is something I never get tired of listening to. Some many interesting musical ideas going on. I have a feeling if this particular snippet were fully developed it would by a pretty sad lonesome song. Glad it has so many tiny little friends to keep it company :-)

Song of the Day - Day 838

Today's song is...


Born In A Graveyard

I have dozens of recordings of different versions of this song, but do you have any idea how long it took me to figure out that Graveyard, the band introduction, was derived from this glockenspiel intro? A really stupidly long time, is the answer. (I think I actually only put it together when I was making the final list for SOTD last fall.) I don't know if I just never paid that close attention or I am just an idiot or what.

When I was at the Join Us tour kick-off show in New Haven in 2011, and Flans introduced Jon Carter in the crew, I got foolishly existed because I recognized him as the glockenspiel tech featured in so many recordings of this song I had heard. Both he and the routine entirely pre-dated my entrance to the fandom and it was like seeing a minor blast-from-the-past celebrity in the flesh. Sans glockenspiel of course. But still cool nevertheless.

Song of the Day - Day 837

Today's song is...


She Was A Hotel Detective

This was another of my very first TMBG songs I was introduced to (along with On the Drag, Museum of Idiots, D&W and This Ape's For You). And it actually took me a while, even after I started getting into the band, to really accept that this was TMBG. It was a song I totally associated with the mix CD it was on which was full of bands I wasn't familiar with. And even now when I listen to it, I can get a minute in before I can clearly convince myself that it is definitely Linnell singing. (Side note: I recently discovered that one of the songs on that same CD was an OK Go song, which also kind of blew my mind.) For reasons I can't even entirely explain to myself, I have not included this song on any TMBG mix I have ever made myself, choosing instead to only listen to it on that mix. I guess maybe its a sentimental thing. Because I really enjoy the song. I think I actually forget how much I enjoy the song because I forget that it is a TMBG song when I am thinking about their songs that I really like. It's got a great bass line (even if it is only synth), an interesting melody and the "falsetto" part works very well. I guess it goes without saying that this is my favorite of the Hotel Detective series. And, as I have been nearly the end of my SOTD list, I have found it fitting that this was one of the last songs on the list, since it was one of my first.