User:Dr John Oakland
Dr John Oakland - @DrJohnOakland - is not a real doctor and is not a real John. He's not an actual John. He's not even an Oakland. The whole name's an alias he created once.
Born on the 5th of June 1981 in Leeds, England, where he's spent most of the rest of his life to date.
The first time DJO heard of They Might Be Giants was when Birdhouse In Your Soul was released. He liked the single, but didn't buy it. At some point, he also heard versions of Istanbul (not Constantinople) being performed by Steve Martin and several years later by the Muppets. Other than that, DJO's life was fairly TMBG-free for quite a while.
While listening to his LaunchCast station, a personalised web-based "radio" application, DJO gave Birdhouse In Your Soul a 5 out of 5 rating, which led to hearing more of the band's tracks, thus spurring him into buying the Dial-A-Song compilation album in February 2004. It was through the Launchcast station that he also discovered his 2 other favourite musical groups - Barenaked Ladies and Pink Martini.
After buying Dial A Song, DJO has bought / been given:
- Mink Car
- They Got Lost
- The Spine
- No!
- Flood
- Miscellaneous T
- John Henry
- Here Come The ABCs
- Holidayland
- Then
- Severe Tire Damage
- Venue Songs
- The Else
... and a few more he'll put on here when he can.
In 2010 DJO finally got to see the band, at both of the Royal Festival Hall shows, and shortly afterwards uploaded the concerts' song lists to the Wiki. This was 17 years after DJO had performed as part of a school group in the national finals of the National Festival of Music For Youth in the same complex.
As yet, DJO hasn't really made very many changes to the Wiki, but is continually impressed by how comprehensive the site is, the rate that any TMBG news is added, and by the interpretations some people have of the songs.
