Tag: they might be giants

What’s the buzz?

I’ve just gotten back from a They Might Be Giants concert. This time, unlike last August, I don’t have to fly to Chicago tomorrow (this) morning to start a baseball-related trip.

But there is still baseball news to report at this late hour: Bees!

Original comments…

Toby: As in “Say I’m the only bee in your bonnet?”

Jim: Does this post make more sense with the “Bees!” link fixed?

Incidentally, the movie “Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns” is worth at least a rental, if only for one particular extra: They Might Be Giants performing the song Toby quoted from, “Birdhouse in Your Soul,” on “The Tonight Show” in 1990, backed by Johnny Carson’s band (Doc Severinsen, et al.).

levi’s help-mate: nice work, toby! now to break out my tmbg collection for nonstop happiness.

Auspices

One of the headlines on my Yahoo! home page earlier today was “Goofy Double Play Helps Expos Beat Giants.” That’s the kind of thing I want to see on the trip!

Earlier tonight, John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants started describing “The Wave,” and then chastised someone in the audience who was wearing a baseball cap (no, not me) who had a blank look on his face, as if he’d never heard of The Wave before. (“He’s never been to a sporting event in his life, ladies and gentlemen — a true They Might Be Giants fan.”) Eventually, following some ridiculously complicated directions, the audience at the House of Blues did a surprisingly good wave, which makes sense, since a lot of the folks in the crowd have probably been to a Dodgers game or two. If the Johns Flansburgh and Linnell had tossed beach balls out into the crowd, there no doubt would have been some excellent beach ball batting.

I have to get up in less than seven hours now to catch my flight.

Original comments:

Steve: Did they form a circle in the crowd or at least a semi circle? Me thinks a critical element of the wave is having some sort of stadia type setting for the wave to crash around.

Jon Solomon: What was the goofy double play, anyway?

Levi: I just got a message from Jim: an inauspicious start to the trip–his flight is delayed already.

Jason: Next time, take the train.

weathergirl: at least the weather looks auspicious:

saturday: davenport: clear, 74/54
sunday: st. louis: scattered clouds, 86/65
monday: detroit: scattered clouds, 81/64
tuesday: toronto: partly cloudy, 75/60
wednesday: montreal: scattered clouds, 78/53

levi, don’t forget to bring socks.

Levi: 75 in Toronto, 78 in Montreal?

That’s in Canada, so it must be Celsius! We’re gonna fry!

Jim: Finally, I remembered to respond to Steve’s comment above: there was a semicircle around the upper level, and then the wave proceeded to the main level and went row by row front to back, then back to front, then the other way around the upper-level semicircle. Told you it was complicated.

Lots of zing, lots to sing, everything’s gonna swing, so get ready, here I go

I’m almost all packed. This is because tomorrow I have to get a haircut, visit an ATM, and go to a They Might Be Giants concert, although probably not in that order. In fact, the less money I have at the concert, the less likely I am to buy a bunch of T-shirts. Come to think of it, I should probably show up at my job tomorrow also.

Hey, remember this post from way back in June? I’ve got all that stuff, and more, including a mini pencil sharpener that was mentioned here a few days ago, and my Kroger brand nail clippers (safely ensconced in the suitcase that will be checked, of course). The coins are neatly rolled up, and may confound the security at Bob Hope Airport. I’ve got Tigers and Brewers tickets now, too, and those will be kept very close to me at all times (i.e., they’re safely ensconced in the small carry-on bag). I even have a very important accessory I forgot about in that post: the USB cable to connect my digital camera to a computer. I’m hoping we can figure things out to put a few pictures up here as we go along.

I even got a working VCR since I wrote that post, and I have two videotapes, which include a baseball-related programming item and some game shows.

I’m not bringing a jacket, but I am bringing a sweatshirt, just in case. I hear it was only in the 20s in Toronto today! (That’s a bad Fahrenheit/Celsius joke.)

I think that’s it, unless someone can come up with something we haven’t thought of. Obviously, if we have forgotten something, it should be fairly easy to buy any number of items in Chicago, or in many of the cities we’ll be visiting.

Original comments…

Levi: You’re bringing a videotape of Tiger Town? Or is it Rookie of the Year?

thatbob: Ooh, I hope you have _The Life and Times of Pansy The Wuss-Wuss Fish Who Couldn’t Keep It Up_. Bob Costas narrates.

We could be sleeping in the flowers

I now know what I’m going to be doing the night before leaving on this trip: seeing They Might Be Giants at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip. I only wish this had more to do with baseball; unless I’m forgetting a track, I don’t think they’ve got a baseball-related song as a group. With his solo side project Mono Puff, John Flansburgh has a song called “What Bothers the Spaceman?” about Bill “Spaceman” Lee, which I may or may not have mentioned here. (Yes, it’s in the baseball song collection on my iPod.)

By the way, Jason Kaifesh suggests that some kind of “farewell dinner” get-together should be held in Chicago before the trip, on the evening of Friday, August 20th. Sounds like a good idea to me, especially if I don’t have to plan it from afar. What do you think, Levi (or others)?

Original comments:

Jim: Thought of a semi-baseball-related lyric, from “Purple Toupee,” off the “Lincoln” album: “I shouted out, ‘Free the Expo 67!'” The Montreal Expos were named after Expo 67. I can already predict that they are not going to play that song at the House of Blues.

thatbob: Are you taking odds?