Dr. B's
Dr. B's (also written Doctor B's) was a showcase club in Manhattan, New York that operated in the early 1980s. They Might Be Giants performed some of their earliest shows at the venue, including their very first show under the name They Might Be Giants.
History[edit]
Background[edit]
Dr. B's was a small showcase club located on 77 Greene St. in SoHo, Manhattan. The club opened in the early 1980s and was operated by Robert Mergler. Dr. B's itself was not a venue — it was really Mergler's restaurant "5 & 10 No Exaggeration," which transformed into Dr. B's after 10pm.[1] The club featured multiple acts on each bill, and had a focus on rock and roll, rockabilly, and new wave music. They Might Be Giants are known to have played at least five shows at the club, all in 1983. Other notable acts that played at the club around the same time include Peter Tork, The Troggs and The Mundanes.[2][3][4] Dr. B's ceased operation in the mid-1980s, and by 1986 the restaurant had pivoted into a combination bar/restaurant/antique store/jazz club.
The 1984 tourist guide book Frommer's New York on $35 a Day gave a rare contemporary description of the club:
The decor is very SoHo: exposed brick walls, a long oak bar, lots of mirrors and hanging plants. But the bands are loud and raucous, and the dance floor is filled with gyrating couples until well into the morning. The total effect may be slightly incongruous, but the club is loads of fun. Doctor B's presents three different bands every night except Monday, with music starting at around 9:30 p.m. Admission is $3 during the week, $4 on the weekend.
They Might Be Giants Shows[edit]
They Might Be Giants first played at Dr. B's on February 13, 1983. This was the second show that John Flansburgh and John Linnell played together — after their July 1982 gig in Central Park — and their first under the name They Might Be Giants. Flansburgh: "A friend of ours got us a gig at this crappy showcase club called Dr. B's which was in SoHo. He booked it a couple of months in advance so we had a lot of time to get the show together. We wrote a lot of material for it and really rehearsed like tons before this show." The gig took place in the middle of a heavy snowstorm, and 23 friends attended. Flansburgh recalled in 2012: "Crazy snow storm. And we were paid via coupon (like a showcase deal) so the audience [count] was kind of burned into [our] memories."[5]
John Flansburgh described Dr. B's in a 1990 interview: "A friend of ours got us a gig at Dr. B's, which is this really horrible showcase club for all these Jersey bands doing Springsteen covers. But it seemed like a really big deal at the time." John Linnell recalled in a 2021 interview: "The thing with Dr. B's was we just sent out invitations, and people who we knew came to see us. Nobody else who happened to be in there was particularly interested in what we were doing. And, you know, it just felt a little bit weird and alien. We were not very confident in what we were doing."
The band's second show at Dr. B's took place on March 19, 1983. A poster for the show was reproduced in the liner notes of Then: The Earlier Years. Flansburgh wrote about the poster in a 2013 Tumblr post: "This might have been a poster for our third show as They Might Be Giants–a return visit to Dr. B's in Soho. Dr. B's was a showcase club–not much beyond a pay-to-play bar, but it was pleasant enough. It is amazing we made posters, but back then we made posters for every show."
They Might Be Giants played at least three more shows at Dr. B's. A 1983 promotional flyer lists shows on May 5 and June 15, 1983. The band's last known show at the club was on August 20, 1983, a flyer for which was included in the documentary Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns. In 1984 and 1985, as the performance art scene in the East Village began to develop, the band shifted from playing small showcase clubs to performing in dedicated performance art spaces. Flansburgh wrote in a 2013 Tumblr post:
Before the East Village scene blew up with hot spots like the Pyramid [Club], 8BC, Limbo Lounge and Darinka, there were just a few odd showcase clubs available to us. Dr. B's, RT Firefly and others I have blocked from my memory were the only places we could get gigs. Small, but friendly crowds, but very much an anonymous, who knows? kinda vibe.
