On They Might Be Giants and Not Being Too Old to Go to a Show

I recently saw an ad from one of my favorite bands (They Might Be Giants) looking for people to join their secret fan club. I am technically not allowed to talk about the club (haha, inside club joke), but one of the many perks were two "free" tickets to any one of their upcoming shows. I looked up to see where they were going to be playing and I saw Albany (which is close to where I live) was one of the stops on their tour. Doing a little math, comparing the cost of  two tickets and all the other stuff they were offering versus the cost of the membership, it ended up being an easy decision. I joined!

The last time I saw the band, a good 5+ years ago, it had been at the Egg, which is a fantastic venue located in Albany so I assumed that this is where they were going to be playing. TMBG even sang a song about this venue called, surprisingly enough "The Egg," Why would I think the concert would be anywhere else, right? .... right? <Fill in phrase about assuming and asses and me and you, etc.>

Later, as more details came out, I noticed the tour posters and such said they were actually playing at the Upstate Concert Hall... which is not in Albany but Clifton Park (which is 20 miles north of Albany.) This concerned me. I had never been to the UCH before and had heard mixed opinions about it. Some people told me it was good, but it really depended on what band was playing. Others said that it was just a big bar, there was no seating and it got very hot, especially with a lot of people packed in it. 

Now this last bit was a bit distressing. I am not that old (44) but the thought of standing for a couple of hours with my wife, with a ton of people crushed into us in a sweltering, confined space did not appeal to me. I almost talked myself out of going. The tickets were basically good forever and I figured I could just wait for the band to perform in a location where I could sit my lazy ass down. I decided to just suck it up and go and let me tell you, I am very, very , very glad I did.

Just to give a brief history of my concerting experience. My first show was Guns N' Roses opening for Aerosmith late in high school (88'-89' ish). Next I saw the Violent Femmes at my college before  "Blister in the Sun" was a hit for them and that was pretty much it, until I got divorced a little over 5 years ago. Then I saw a friend/co-worker's band play a couple of local bars, went and saw Cake, Weezer (It was also supposed to be Blink 182, but they had to cancel at the last minute) and TMBG the first time. All of the latter venues all had seating, so my wimpy ass was fine.

Fast forward and now I find myself and my wife at the show. We got there really early and got pretty close to the stage (maybe 3-4 "rows" back). The place was not as bad as I had heard... actually it was pretty cool! The temperature was not overwhelming, though I could see it being bad in the middle of summer. The band played two sets and my wife and I dropped back after the first set to cool down a bit.

I can't even begin to tell you how fun it was. I got to annoy the people behind me with my amateur film making (though I covered the back of the camera with my hand to try to minimize the glowing screen, I'm sure the people behind me were like, "All right Spike Jonze, that's a wrap!") I also got repeatedly jostled by the happy, dancing, were-so-in-love couple next to me. My wife kept getting hit by the girls hair, so I think she may have had it worse. We also had the periodic tall person drift in front of us which just made me enjoy the experience all the more.

I never really went to the dive bars and shitty venues to see bands. I don't drink so I never really went to bars in general. This concert made me feel that I was getting to experience a little of what I missed, especially considering I was there with a beautiful woman. Not only was the music great but so was the crowd. Then again, I really wasn't expecting it to be that bad. TMBG is not a death metal band and is known not only for their alternative/indie rock but also their kids albums (they did not bust out with "The Hot Dog Song," but I am sure it would have been hilarious if they had) so there was no mosh pit or really aggressive personality types. It was just a very mellow crowd enjoying an awesome band.

The band was promoting a new album which was good for the people around me because I was unfamiliar with the lion's share of the songs they played so the crowd was spared my awful singing. That is by far my biggest fault as a concert goer. I'm a wanna be singer and I am terrible at it! Despite the many new tunes, they played most of their big older titles for all us long time fans and it took me back to college where I was first introduced to They Might Be Giants.

I will never be a reviewer because I like everything. I am not a musician so I wouldn't even notice if the music was off, unless it was really, really noticeable, so I will just say they sounded great. The light show was good, the volume was good (I was not deafened by the sound) the band was hilarious and really had great onstage banter. Everything was just, in a word... awesome. When the show ended, I could not believe how much time had passed. It went by too quick. But you know what they say about time flying when fun/a good time is involved.

The only thing I will say negative is (not specifically about TMBG, but concerts in general) that I really hate the concept of the "encore." I was already getting tired and hoarse from a long night of screaming and clapping and then you have to do a bunch more to get them to come out and play a couple of more tunes. You know they were already planning on coming out again and then they make you do it again. I wish they would just say that "We are going to do two encores tonight. We will say thank you and good night and duck down a little bit, pretending we ran of the stage. All of you just do one round of rhythmic clapping and we will pop up after it crescendos. You cheer. We play an extra song or three. We will do it all one more time and the show will end."

When my wife and I left the show we were both pretty wired, but weary. In younger days we probably would have hit Denny's or something, but being old folks with kids, we had to get home. My sister was watching the little ones and we figured she would like to get home at some point before dawn. Over all it was a great experience. With having kids and dealing with the regular day to day of adult life, it was nice to jump in the time machine and act like our younger selves. My wife and I have been friends since college, but have only been married for a short time. We missed a lot of these wild crazy nights, but if this concert has shown us anything, we aren't too old to make new memories and rock on! Now if I can only convince her to go see GWAR when they are in town next....

ps. In case you don't know who GWAR is. Here is a photo (though their lead singer just passed last year, I am using a photo with him in it. Miss you Dave!)

           

On the Album That Changed My Life

I love music! There is no other way to say it. I love it so much that I really believe that I was a famous musician in a past life, but a truly despicable person. If you believe in reincarnation and the whole Karma thing, this statement makes perfect sense because the level at which I love music, is only surpassed by how badly I perform it. As the saying goes, I couldn't carry a tune in a basket.

I also lack the ability (or maybe it is just the energy) to learn an instrument. I may have mentioned this before, but after I left my first wife, and before I started really dating my current (and God willing, last) wife, I bought a guitar and decided I was going to learn how to play it. Heading over to my local library, I found a book entitled something like "Learn How to Play the Guitar in Three Easy Steps". What they neglected to say was that step two was learn and memorize hundreds of chords. It was like those activity books that we had as kids, when they showed you how to draw Barney Rubble in four steps. It started with a couple of circles, next a lot of lines and Shazam! Done! There needed to be at least 6 more boxes to actually do it.

I am not sure why, but I was thinking back on the music I liked as a kid, and what I listen to now. There is a significant difference and I have to say there was one album that jumps out at me as THE ALBUM that changed my musical preference. Before I tell you which one it was, let me tell you about my musical choices when I was younger.

In several blog posts I have mentioned my parents' large album collection. That is where I began listening to music. It was mostly 50's and 60's stuff with lots of Beach Boys, The Animals, The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel and stuff like that. I remember having a music class in school and we were supposed to bring in an album that we liked and play a song. The other kids brought popular music of the times, but I remember bringing in the soundtrack to American Hotwax. I also remember being embarrassed because it was unlike anything any of the other kids were listening to.

I was also a product of the early 80's and remember listening to the radio a lot as well. Some of the top 40 music I listened to back then, I still enjoy today--some just makes me shake my head in disbelief. I can even remember hearing myself exclaim "I don't think there is a single Duran Duran song that I don't like." I'll let you judge whether that statement is groan-worthy or not. The Steve Miller Band's Abracadabra also was a song I loved and when it first came out and it takes me to a week spent at Black Lake, NY. I could run down a long list of bands that I enjoyed and share the memories associated with them but I will try and stick to important ones.

When I started junior high school, my musical taste did take a turn, to some degree. I think as soon as you got to 7th grade at Argyle Central School, they gave you your locker combination and a copy of Aerosmith's Greatest Hits. That was the album of choice, it seemed, for my class. That, and AC/DC, seemed to be regulars on field trips and such. I enjoyed them, but I also found I liked nontraditional music as well. I remember our class was going to Canada for a field trip and of course someone was playing the required listening in the back of the bus. My friend brought his boom box (I miss boom boxes, it was a much simpler time) and he had a tape that he had gotten recently by some guy named Falco. We listened to it in our seat, and to quote McDonald's, I was loving it! I talked him into slowly turning the volume up, little by little, because I wanted others to hear this awesome music. I think I got to about volume level 3 before the first "Turn that shit off" came from the "cool" kids in the back. It went off.

At this point, I was at a bit of a crossroads. What music was going to define me? Was I going to fit in and listen to what everyone else was listening to, whether it be the Top 40 stuff, or the prescribed classic rock of my peers? It was around this time that THE ALBUM appeared to me and redefined my musical taste for years to come. Sifting through my parents collection I found an album that caught my eye. On the cover was this guy swinging a sword or something. He had a shield and was glowing with motion blur all around him. I read the title: Black Sabbath Paranoid. I played the album and instantly fell in love.

I played that album countless times, over and over again, for months. I was a little partial to side one, but that may have been a bit of laziness on my part (you had to flip albums over when they were done, this being directed at anyone under a certain age) but all of the songs were awesome. (Well, Planet Caravan was my least favorite, and there was a skip on the beginning of Rat Salad that I always would forget about. To this day, when I hear that song, I am always surprised when there are only two little riffs before the song starts in earnest. I would hear at least 4 before I bumped the player.)

Heavy metal was to become my music of choice. Paranoid was my gateway drug to progressively harder music. Being geographically isolated, I didn't even know about Punk Rock music until I got to college, but for the later years of High School, it was Iron Maiden, Anthrax, Judas Priest, Pantera, Megadeath, etc. I never grew my hair long and you could not tell I was a heavy metal lover, but I was. I arrived at college with a collection of hair metal bands and a stereo/dual tape deck/record player combo, ready to rock out with my roommate. Unfortunately he was from India and played classical Indian music on his violin. This tale I will leave for another time.

College would be my next big musical shift as I discovered Punk rock. I didn't even realize this genre existed. The Ramones, the Dead Kennedys, The Descendents, Black Flag -- all of these bands I discovered when I became a DJ at the school radio station. For the sake of not making this a novella, I will tell you all about my radio show at KSLU, the only K in the east, another time. My big hair band collection started collecting dust as my new favorite genre took its rightful place.

I brought punk rock home with me, much to my parents' dismay. Not only because the singers tended to liberally use profanity in their songs, but also for my tendency to crank the radio up to the point of ear-splitting volume, but forget to turn it down when I got out of the car. Surprise! Punk both made me feel happy and sad when I bought an album: one album could have 20 something songs on it -- now that is getting your money's worth! Then I would realize the album was only 30 minutes long, and feel a little cheated. Punk rock and the emotion in the music was something that helped me through some rough times and helped punctuate the awesome times. I can remember sitting under the stars on a deserted bleacher, with the Descendents telling me that "my day will come, someday I'll be the only one" in reference to that girl I was pining for (it never did, by the way). When I got dumped by my very first girlfriend, it was Suicidal Tendencies telling me that "You can't bring me down!" 

As I have grown, I find myself realizing I never stopped liking the bands I listened to in the past. Today I love just about every kind of music. I still sing along when Hungry Like the Wolf  comes on, as well as The Trooper by Iron Maiden. My musical tastes have even broadened as I discovered Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Loius Prima and other musicians that I would never have given a second listen to in my youth. I just love music, in any form (except Justin Bieber -- I'm just saying).

Despite the broad range of music I like, I find I gravitate to 80's and 90's punk bands like NOFX, Pennywise, The Descendents, The Ramones, etc. Because I listen to these bands, I am actually passing the torch on to my kids. Nothing makes me happier than watching my kids sing along to the Blitzkrieg Bop on Rock Band or singing along with my CAKE albums in the car. Even my two year old surprised me with her own rendition of I Will Wait by Mumford & Sons. It's my job as a parent to make sure that they realize that there are a lot of different styles of music and that they should feel free to listen to whatever they want, to hell what anyone else says. Except for Barney -- that shit has got to go!

Just in case anyone asks you, or you are trying to hack my account and this security question comes up, my favorite band is Bad Religion. And if you are in Glens Falls or Hudson Falls and the weather is nice and some yahoo is blaring really fast, loud and obnoxious music out of there car, it's probably me.