Shows/2003-09-28

Venue: Joe's Pub	City: New York, NY
Date: 2003-09-28	Artist: They Might Be Giants
Time: 7pm & 9:30pm	Opening Acts: N/A

[edit] Fan Recaps and Comments:

Review of early show by --Self Called Nowhere 03:54, 23 June 2008 (UTC):

Ok, so, if they weren't so short these probably would've been the best shows I've ever been to. They played a bunch of super-rare stuff. John was wearing a suit (so was Flans...actually, I think they were all wearing suits, but I, uh, wasn't paying quite so much attention to them) and his glasses, WHOO. I'm only mentioning this cos it greatly contributed to the "best shows ever" vibe.

JF: We did a jam band show earlier in upstate New York, which is the only way I can explain our costumes.

JL: I'm trying to figure out if the accordion will fit over the jacket, and the answer, I think, is "maybe."

JF: The only thing more exciting than dinner theatre is watching under-rehearsed songs. *starts tuning his guitar*

JL: I think watching you tune is up there too.

JF: This song involves the wave. It's not too early in the show for crowd participation, are you with us? *cheers* Of course you're not! It's way too early for crowd participation! ...If you've been to sporting events, or maybe you've only heard about them—we've only heard about them—you know what this is. We've been told that it's crazy cool. When it goes back you make the ascending sound, and when it comes back you make the descending sound.

JL: Yeh, you know what that means.

JF: *introducing Fun Assasin* This is a rock song. We would put swear words in it if we put swear words in our songs.

As far as I can remember, the chorus of it was:

Fun assasin, killing fun for kicks

Stab me in the front and tell me that I'm jinxed

Fun assasin, take off your disguise

Look me in the eyes and sigh.

JL: This song is called Metal Detector. It's about an actual metal detector. It's not a metaphor for anything.

After the creepy version of Bed Bed Bed which I do not like at all...

JL: Wake up, little ones!

JF: This song is off our controversial Lincoln album. It features a bell that we bought at a Staples in Connecticut.

JL: I think I have a different setlists...I think we all have different setlists.

JF: This song is about a dirt bike with spiritual powers. That's all I'm gonna say.

*They play Dirt Bike*

JF: Now I'm warmed up for Shoehorn with Teeth! I was thinking about it the whole time!

JF: It's weird when you call people by the name they have. Like...people call me Flans, for John Flans—Flansburgh. It's not very creative.

Flans had a great deal of difficulty trying to figure out which airport had been Idlewild, and when lots of people in the audience told him it was the one in Queens, he still insisted it was in Brooklyn. They also announced that Idlewild is one of the songs on the Bed Bed Bed CD.

JF: Idlewild is more a state of mind. Kind of a Car 54, Where are You? state of mind.

JF: This is another nautical-themed song, off our first album. Our first album is all on Casio, but we can't afford that stuff anymore. Vintage is expensive.

After Stalk of Wheat...

JF: My fretboard is warm from...me staring at it. Let's play that one again. I didn't mess it up, but let's play it again.

JL: You gotta stay humble and screw it up.

JF: Gotta keep it real...should we play it faster? How much faster? *audience yelling to play it a lot faster* We don't wanna wreck it.

JL: Oh, we'll wreck it.

JF: This isn't a democracy. This is New York City, where the pushy people win.

*They play it again*

JF: It's total repeat Sunday!

JL: "I was there the night those guys lost it."

JF: "People talk about that show, but it sucked. Then they locked the door and they made us pay to leave."

JF: *explains that Studio 360 had them do a bunch of summer songs* Like that guy, uh, the really tan guy...

JL: George Hamilton.

JF: This is part of our early Alzheimer's.

After Pender plays some crazy stuff at the end of No Plan B...

JF: The musical term for that is strafing. From the Latin "strafus."

JF: *introducing Mr. Me* This is a blues. *JL seems highly amused*

JL: This song is in F#.

JF: That's news to me. I was gonna play it in F...we're doing a swear-free kids' show at Symphony Space.

JL: The kids are going to be shocked.

JF: The kids are going to go, "I want my fucking money back." And by "kids" we mean "sixteen-year-olds," who are horrified about being in a crowd of kids. You can't say "all ages" because that means slam-dancing.

Review of late show by --Self Called Nowhere 03:56, 23 June 2008 (UTC):

This show included the Peter Noone version of Cyclops in between Violin and Au Contraire, but they didn't play the whole thing.

JL: Let me get this thing [the accordion] on. Over my ego.

JF: We did a jam-band show in upstate New York with a bunch of hippies. There were no logos. The hippies don't wear any logos.

JL: There was no inflatable beer bottle.

JF: There was an inflatable Jameson's bottle on stage...but that might have been our sound man's.

JL: That wasn't inflatable.

JF: "I'll take the 2,000 ounce."

JF: *explains the wave thing again* So everyone will get to do it twice except for the people on the perimeter of the room, who are already feeling screwed. This song is a special shout-out to all the 5' tall girls standing behind 6' tall guys.

JF: *explains the Peter Noone thing* We've also made it a shuffle, which makes it even more insidious. This is where the partial refund comes in. But I've lowered your expectations so much.

*They play it and stop in the middle*

JF: I can't do any more. I'm scaring myself.

JL: When you said "I can't do any more," I thought that was part of the rap.

JL: The more knowing among you will notice a covert version of My Sharona in this song. And at that moment, if you catch my eye, we'll wink and point.

JF: It has a French title, which is very controversial in these post-Dixie Chicks times.

JF: *introducing Marcus* His reality show, Tuba Island, will be premiering on the WB. Jessica Simpson stops by...it's like that lady had her brain removed.

JF: *starts to introduce Bed Bed Bed, but JL points out it's not the next song on the setlist* John, you're being a pest. You're ruining the show...John has the fact-checker mode on.

JL: Mr. Picky over here on stage left.

JF: Everyone just turn your prayer books to Bed Bed Bed.

*they play it*

JF: Rockin' the tots since 2002.

JF: This song is about a dirt bike that takes over the world with its spiritual force. Look into my eyes, you can tell they're coming, cos I'm crazy.

JF: *starts to drink the booze that Dan Levine had brought out to him earlier*

JL: Flans, Flans, Flans. *very deliberately takes a drink of water*

JF: *laughs*

JL: This reminds me of a story a friend of ours told us. When he was a kid in I guess the late '60's, they had a special treat where the Three Stooges came to their school. And one of them was already dead, so it was like just Moe and Larry...I don't really remember that part of the story. And Larry was in a wheelchair...I feel bad for telling this story now.

JF: It's our 100% truth policy.

JL: I think it's 100% Tourette's...so Larry like had a seizure, and they worked it into the act. Moe went and got his medication...Flans, I just want you to know that I'm Larry in that story. I'm Larry.

JF: We've completed a second album, Lincoln. You can buy it on cassette and record, and soon you can buy it on CD in a longbox! And we're very excited about how much landfill space those longboxes will take up.

JF: *introduces Idlewild* *guy in the audience cheers* That guy got it off the Internet.

JL: The RIAA swat team is closing in now.

JF: This has all been an elaborate sting operation to catch that guy.

JF: Can you all keep a secret? Of course not, you're an audience of strangers...this next song is nautically themed...

JL: Are you going to tell us later, in the car?

JF: It's about the first time we went to a lawyer, and—

JL: Oh, yeh, don't tell that story.

JF: It was the first time we visited a music lawyer, and we had a whole list of things we wanted to ask him about the legality of what we were doing, and while he was cautioning us about something in issue 6, he mentioned that he represented the person in issue 9. And that's all I can say.

Dan Levine: That was a great story.

JF: It's always great to tell a story with no punchline. *Marty does a rimshot* Thank you for coming here to Funnybones.

JF: *introducing Stalk of Wheat* Even that Internet guy doesn't have this one.

JF: We did a bunch of songs for Studio 360 with a beach theme, even though we're like the least tan people in show business.

Before Birdhouse/WLC, John demonstrated that he can play the accordion with one hand, because gravity makes the bellows open by themselves.

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