Shows/2003-09-16

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Setlist:

• Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
• James K. Polk
• In The Middle, In The Middle, In The Middle (with Robin Goldwasser)
• Bed Bed Bed

They Might Be Giants
— with Steven Herbst co-headlining —
Joe Franklin's Memory Lane in New York, NY
September 16, 2003 at 8:30 PM

Fan Recaps and Comments:

This was a short performance and interview on Joe Franklin's Memory Lane radio show, broadcast live from his restaurant of the same name. John Flansburgh announced the show in a September 12, 2003, mailing list email:

Something to look forward to next Tuesday- we'll be performing on the Joe Franklin radio show alongside Steven Herbst, the world champion whistler. Maybe we'll get to jam. Tune into WOR-AM (710) at 8:30 pm if you're in the NY area, and y'all are also welcome to come down to Joe Franklin's Memory Lane restaurant in the heart of Times Square where the big broadcast emanates from, but we don't even know if they have a PA so we can't guarantee any real entertainment beyond the restaurant's unlikely ambiance. I believe they have jello! We will be sure to archive this for a future broadcast on the Clock Radio.

Review by Rob, posted to the alt.music.tmbg newsgroup:

I just got home from the live taping of the Joe Franklin show at Joe Franklin's Memory Lane restaurant in Times Square. Well, actually 45th and 8th, but close enough. I got there early, about 7pm and met up unexpectedly with an old friend, Paul, who was there alone, in from DC on a business trip (how fortuitous!). The restaurant, decorated with Joe Franklin memorabilia, has an elevated section in the center where a small stage was set up, with three microphones, one on one side and two on the other. It was easy to figure out where to sit to get the best seat, across from the two mics, of course.

At around 7:15, John and John showed up. Linnell looked great, wearing a light green pocket tee and new glasses, which he kept on during the entire taping. They must be new glasses, they are a smaller black plastic frame than he used to have. Flansy was wearing a horizontally striped blue/green/white/black shirt. They were quite open with the crowd, signing autographs, posing for pictures, etc. Since the setup was quite simple, they were very relaxed before the show. At around 7:30 another friend showed up and we had great seats directly facing TMBG. She had been working on sheet music for, "Metal Detector" and actually asked Linnell to help her with a few notes and he scribbled quite a bit on her staves. He also autographed it, "John L." Dan Miller and Robin "Goldie" Goldwasser were there as well. Dan asked me, "You're not here by coincidence...?" I related the previous email sent by JCF. A random guy named Jason wearing a TMBG shirt was invited to our table. He turned out to be from New Orleans, also up on a business trip and grateful to meet up with other fans. It was his first TMBG live show ever. My 205th.

We ordered dinner and drinks and the show started taping at about 8:45, and there was just enough juice in the PA system for us to hear everything although it was sort of a noisy lively Times Square restaurant/bar setup. It was amazing to be in Joe Franklin's presence and the entire time, John and John were just starstruck and beaming. Joe started out by asking about "Dead Presidents", to which Linnell quipped, "We're interested in all the Presidents, it's just that most of them are dead." Flans retorted, "I'd like to take this time to thank all of the dead presidents in my wallet for being there."

They played four songs, starting with, "Istanbul", Linnell on accordion, Flans on a poorly miced acoustic guitar and Dan Miller on another guitar. Speaking of dead presidents, they also played, "James K. Polk", but Linnell dropped the entire, "La la la la" or, "singing saw" portion of the song. They then announced, "Reprehensible", but disappointed us somewhat by not playing it live, but instead playing that from the They Got Lost CD, which was floating around among the radio crew. After that, John invited Robin up on to the radio dias thingy and she tried to announce "In the Middle", but during her introduction, she meant to list other songs written by the author of that PSA song, but blanked out. JCF who had a wireless mic standing behind her, picked up the ball and listed, "Green Acres" and the, "Addams Family" TV show theme songs and sang did the first few notes of the Addams Family song. During this, Robin, who was mortified about dropping the ball on live taped radio, made a motion as if to wipe the sweat off her brow, very happy to be saved by hubby. Robin announced that she met John on a subway platform in Brooklyn. How romantic. After that they announced their new children's book/album thingy and played, "Bed, Bed, Bed." It was amazing. My friend Paul openly taped the whole thing on video, and at several moments, Linnell was singing into the camera. Heh.

Okay, here's the New Year's Eve info: on the way out, I asked John where the show would be on New Year's Eve and he said, "Philadelphia", a mere 2 hr drive from NYC. I wished him and Robin a Happy New Year and we slumped back into our chairs, exhausted and thrilled once again.