Show brought to you by Todays Man (monopuff 6/16 @ HMV)
GoodOmenz
Well, i had a nice little time today when john flansburgh's monopuff played
free for a crowd of about 20 at HMV. aftwer waking up a shade before 1 in the
afternoon and hanging around for a couple hours with the lights turned off my
friend and i decided we absolutely HAD to get outside. so about $25 and some
crappy music later we ended up both flat broke sitting on a stoop at St. Marks
chatting with random drunks. still, we had a few more hours to kill til the
show and i decided to be on time for once in my life (various folks reading
this can attest to how rare an occurence that is.) So we went and walked
around Central Park for awhile eventually wandered HMV-wards where we saw mr
flansburgh walk out in jeans and a tshirt (that may not sound immortant but it
comes back later.) didnt really say anything. we sat outside for a bit
killing time and i finished my lemonaid that tasted suspiciously like
lemon-fresh dishwasher detergent.
so then we ended up downstairs flipping thru records we couldnt afford. but no
need to tell the HMV staff that. this HMV has a really cool sorta built-in
stage thing on the lower level that worked out really great. gradually the
Usual Suspects wandered in and we all sat around the stage making jokes at the
expense of the big kenny g head. it was like a little floor party. they also
had a cool long chinese dragon thing hanging from the ceiling and a disco ball.
so i think Fun to Steal was making its third round on the PA when mr.
Flansburgh walked in. I gasped. ladies, let me just say i hope all the flans
fans were there cuz he looked REALLY good! i mean, we're talking ice cream
white seer-sucker suit and a power tie! apparently he'd bought them at Todays
Man across the street. and his hair's getting longish. steves hair is back
too! naturally monopuff didnt' bring out the full syndicate for a free show...
just steve drumming and dan from Lincoln on guitar and keyboard. not even hal
craigin. so first they did Night Security falsetto style. flans looked scary
just standing there in his swank-ass suit singing with his hands in his
pockets. scary in an Establishment kinda way. YOU know what i mean. next i
think they did Fun to Steal which sounds different with just guitar, keyboard
and drums. steve really carried the show with the drums. then Mr. Hugh's Says
with the cribsheet. then Unsupervised. Dan plays a bass part on the top
guitar strings. flans gets tangled in the dragon-mobile. flans plugs album
and show tomorrow. then says something like "lets wrap it up and do the
signing thing" and they do Backstabbing Liar "headboping pop style." I keep
watching these two little kids dancing around nearly flipping onto the stage.
flans smiled at 'em. very very sweet!
so then he asks where theyre gonna do the signing thing and ends up just
sitting on the stage steps giving out free autographed postcards. i tell him
he looks good and some other stuff. sadly, i doubt anyone actually bought the
album. oh well, he gets lots of points for trying! seth tells someone
carrying a matchbox 20 Cd that monopuff are "a wacky band who sound like
matchbox 20 only better!" i think thats awesome. helped steve carry out the
box of doom and i took a cue from the new album title and ripped down a shrine
style cardboard billboard for the show. s'got a cool photo stuck in the
middle. thats about it- a good way to spend an hour but nothing all that
special. flans didnt seem in a hurry but he didnt seem terribly thrilled to be
there either (not saying he SHOULD seem thrilled.)
gonna drop by Acme tomorrow... for anyone who cares the opener jennifer jackson
isnt all that great. saw her open for dewan once and she sings at losers
lounge a lot. just immemorable singer-songwriter folky stuff. but she's got
an accordionist! gotta wear somethin' smarmy. last time i get to sneak into
an 18+ show. totally rockin'! cya there
waiting for the rain...
~liz
Kevin Sullivan
>gonna drop by Acme tomorrow... for anyone who cares the opener jennifer jackson
>isnt all that great. saw her open for dewan once and she sings at losers
>lounge a lot. just immemorable singer-songwriter folky stuff. but she's got
>an accordionist!
Aww, I hoped we could get off without an opener this time. I guess I
should be thankful Double Dong won't be there...
> gotta wear somethin' smarmy. last time i get to sneak into
>an 18+ show. totally rockin'!
Look on the bright side you still have 3 years of sneaking into 21+
concerts to look forward to!...see you tomorrow:P
-Kevin-
Crow...@mindspring.com
The Tinkertoy World: A Tanya Donelly Information Page
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~~~The Smashing Pumpkins~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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~~~They Might Be Giants~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Yer Pal Paul
Thanks again for another insightful report from the field Liz (if you can
call Midtown Manhattan "the field"). You know that *I* appreciate your
efforts. And frankly, with all the controversy I've heard here recently
regarding so much off-topic activity, everyone else should be glad to hear
some real news as well. But, sadly, this thread will probably get less
attention than the Spork Thread.
A-hem. Whatever. Forget I said anything. I don't want Mr. Strangl
referring to me as Gramps, or Mr. Knudsen claiming me to be a preschooler
on acid.
Only about 20 people there huh? Man I feel sorry for Flansy. That has to
be somewhat of a humbling experience. When I saw the first incarnation of
MP in Boston about 2 years ago, the crowd was also quite underwhelming.
Maybe 50 people. It was cool and all to be so friggin' close without
effort, just standing there, five feet from Flans without being smooshed up
against some stage barrier, but I felt kinda sad anyway. It was at this
concert where, after Flans introduced the band, I couldn't quite make out
who he said was on bass. So I asked Alice "Who on Bass?" and Flans
overheard me and said: "I SAID HAL CRAGIN ON BASS!"
(heh).
Anyway, I hope there's a better turn out for tonight's show, for the sake
of Flan's ego. Are you going to this too Liz.
--
Yer Pal Paul
Not back on that old Time is Money kick, still on it.
Homer j251
> When I saw the first incarnation of
>MP in Boston about 2 years ago,
I need to ask you Paul, before I implode from curiosity, what part of Bah-ston
are you from?
To keep this on-topic, me likes Monopuff, but not as much as They Might Be
Giants.
Caitlin :P
Yer Pal Paul
Homer j251 <home...@aol.com> wrote in article
<199806180459...@ladder01.news.aol.com>...
Well Caitlin (and if I've failed to mention, it's nice to have you back.
Care to explain your absence young lady?), how can I answer this question
without veering hopelessly off-topic. Maybe with generous TMBG historical
references and Little Known Facts:
Actually I'm originally from the town where the band They Might Be Giants
was first played on commercial radio (Don't let's Start on KROQ FM), which
would be...that's right, Los Angeles, California. Shortly after graduating
from college a few years ago I moved to the metropolitan area where John
and John of TMBG grew up, which would be...right again, Boston,
Massachusetts. I actually work in one of only four (or five?) cities where
John Flansburgh's side band, Mono Puff, has performed live. It's near
Boston, right across the Mighty (polluted) Charles River, and it would of
course be...yes, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Very good. (My office is near
the Alewife T Station). I live about 30 miles west of Cambridge, and twice
daily drive through the actual town where John and John met each other,
grew up and went to high school (and whose name might have been a partial
inspiration for their second full length album), and that town would be, of
course...yes, yes, yes: Lincoln, Massachusetts! And now the toughie. The
town that I actually live in, is the real world inspiration for a fictional
town which is the setting for the weekly newspaper column "Tales from
TriTown" in The Worcester Phoenix written by Sally Cragan, mother of TMBG
and Monopuff bassist Hal Cragin (true BTW, she has even mentioned Mono Puff
and Hal in her column*). And this town would of course be...come on
now...take a guess. Did you say Leominster, Massachusetts? No? Too bad,
cuz that's where I live.
Hopefully, this has kept Caitlin from imploding.
Now I suppose you're all going to try and stalk me, which is OK. I like
being stalked.
--
Yer Pal Paul
Not back on that old Time is Money kick, still on it.
*See http://www.worcesterphoenix.com/archive/tritown/98/05/08/tritown.html
for the installment of her column where one of the recurring characters is
repeatedly mistaken for the drummer from MonoPuff.