They Might Be Giants

On Saturday, October 2, They Might Be Giants performed a free concert at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.. We have been listening to TMBG for a few years. I think we got their kids CD “NO!” shortly after Maya was born in 2002. That was my first introduction to this lyrically quirky, but musically accomplished band. Though, I do think I remember hearing of them back in the days when MTV showed music videos.

In the summer of 2004, I was in Portland, Oregon for work. Rebecca and a nearly two-year old Maya were with me and one night we went to a Taste-of-Portland event in a field along the Columbia River. I randomly picked up a flyer while we were sitting and eating and saw that TMBG were playing a free concert that night at eight (how do these guys make any money?). I hustled Rebecca and Maya back to the hotel room and made it back in time to stand only ten feet from the stage. I could see that the space was pretty packed with adults, but since I was only familiar with their kids music, I wasn’t sure what to expect. TMBG came out smoking and didn’t stop rocking – who knew an accordion could be an integral part of a rock and roll band!

That show hooked me and I exhausted the BMG Music Club TMBG catalogue. So we’ve now got about six or eight TMBG CDs – not including the three kids TMBG CDs we have. Honestly, there is not much difference between their grown-up records and their kids stuff. Compare “The Edison Museum” with “James K. Polk”.

Maya and Jonah have also come to dig their music. A few years ago, Friday night was a really big deal in our house because that was the night a new podcast was available on the TMBG website. Each podcast contained one or two songs off the much anticipated release of their CDs “Here Come the ABCs” and “Here Come the 1, 2, 3s”. Of course, we got the CDs as soon as they came out and even now I often find myself singing “Pirate Girls Nine” or “Pictures of Penguins Painting”.

Fast forward to last Saturday. We’d been psyching the kids up all week for the show and they were pretty excited, talking about what songs they most wanted to hear (“D is for Drums” for Jonah and “Where Do They Make Balloons?” for Maya) but Jonah still managed to fall asleep on the way to the Kennedy Center. The show was set to begin at six and since it was free, I anticipated a lot of people. We were able to get some friends to the Kennedy Center by four p.m. so when we showed up at 4:30, we went right past about two hundred people to the front of the line where our friends were. In that way, we were some of the first people let through the doors to stake our spot. There were some stairs along the right hand side as we approached the stage and we claimed that spot so the kids would be able to see over peoples’ heads. So, there I am again, ten feet from a free TMBG show. It’s the only way I’ll see them.

The hard part was waiting for about an hour before the show started. But when it did finally start, Maya was bouncing up and down to the music with a smile. “It was worth the wait!” she said while clapping her hands to “Clap your Hands”.

About halfway through the show, which was a mix of kids stuff and regular stuff (really, no difference! Compare “Nonagon” with “Dr. Worm”) confetti got shot into the crowd. The kids loved it. They spent most of the rest of the show pushing the confetti that was on the ground into piles, picking up the piles, and throwing the confetti back into the air. The band shot confetti into the crowd during a few other songs and this made the piles that my kids picked up bigger and better.

After the show, while we waited for the crowd to thin out so we could do the same, Jonah proclaimed that it was the best day of his life. What did he like about it? The confetti. He wants to know if stores sell it.