This Day In TMBG History/June

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4

2007 – Two untitled photos from Marcel Dzama's series of The Else Photos premiere on the band's Myspace. The first of these is later used on the cover of the "I'm Impressed" promo.

6

2000 – John Flansburgh appears onstage as the Chief of Police in "Welcome To The Voice", a musical opera featuring Elvis Costello.

9

1971 – They Might Be Giants, a movie starring George C. Scott and Joanne Woodward, first premieres in theaters. The title of this movie, which references Don Quixote, is later considered by a friend of the Johns for the name of his ventriloquist act. After he discards it, John and John choose to use it for the name of their band (rather than calling themselves Dumptruck).

11

1996 – Unsupervised, the first full-length studio album by Mono Puff, is released.

2002 – No!, They Might Be Giants' first album directed at the young'ns, is released. This is also the band's first release through their own label, Idlewild Recordings.

12

1959 – John Linnell is born.

13

2003 – TMBG Clock Radio becomes available, offering fans many hours of free streaming They Might Be Giants music, including rare demos and live tracks.

14

1992 – They Might Be Giants play their first show with a backing band. This was a small, unannounced show in Brooklyn.

15

2007 – Several John Henry Demos are released in higher fidelity, on Podcast 27A.

1836 – Arkansas becomes the twenty-fifth state. It will inspire "Arkansas", a track on State Songs.

19

2016 – The Chopping Block, a design studio that was a long-time partner with TMBG, releases Songs For Chop. The EP is a collection of songs previously made available via the company's website.

20

1863 – West Virginia becomes the thirty-fifth state. It will later provoke the writing of State Songs's "West Virginia".

21

1788 – New Hampshire becomes the ninth state. It will bring about the writing of the State Songs song "New Hampshire".

22

1984 – They Might Be Giants play their first show at Darinka, a small performance arts venue in New York's Lower East Side, founded by Gary Ray Bugarcic, who appears in Gigantic (A Tale Of Two Johns). TMBG would go on to play at least one show at Darinka in every year of its existence, including a party for the release of the Wiggle Diskette. It is also where music video producer Adam Bernstein first met the Johns.

24

1993 – They Might Be Giants backs Frank Black for a live show, which is recorded and later released as a promo CD entitled Live Thursday June 24, 1993 10pm EST.

25

1938 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Fair Labor Standards Act. This allows the first successful national minimum wage to be set in the United States.

26

2012 – No! is re-issued in a 10th anniversary edition with bonus tracks.

27

2014 – First Album Live, a collection of live performance of tracks from The Pink Album, is released as a free download from tmbg.com.

29

2002 – No! reaches the #1 spot on Billboard's Top Kid Audio chart.

30

1986 – The 1985 Demo Tape is reviewed in People magazine by Michael Small. This review is often cited as the band's first large-scale exposure, earning them the attention they needed to secure a record deal with Bar/None.