Mightier than Words
By Alex Palmer
April 12, 2003 9:00 p.m.
They Might Be Giants has tried its hand at TV theme songs,
children’s music and an homage to dead president James K.
Polk. Maybe it was only a matter of time before the band gave
literature a shot.
Well, TMBG isn’t publishing a novel or a poetry
collection, but it has teamed up with Dave Eggers, best-selling
author and editor of McSweeney’s Literary Journal, for the
music-and-literature event, “McSweeney’s vs. They Might
Be Giants.” This multimedia performance will be on April 24
at Royce Hall.
The performance features several authors reading selections of
their works, as well as a slide show of images meant to compliment
the readings. All of this will be accompanied by They Might Be
Giants’ music, which is meant to specifically fit each visual
and literary work, creating for the audience a sort of multisensory
experience of sounds, images and words. If that sounds strange or
confusing, that is exactly what the artists are going for.
“All of us were really interested in doing something
beyond the regular boundaries of a rock show or lecture,”
said John Flansburgh, the singer and co-founder of TMBG. “We
want this show to really be a “˜happening,’ in that old
school, ’60s sort of way.”
TMBG first joined up with Eggers when the band did some music
for McSweeney’s “Art & Music” issue. The
journal came with a disc by the group, which featured music
inspired by the journal’s writing and artwork. The idea was
for the reader to read through the journal with the accompanying CD
playing in the background.
“It’s a cool, sort of psychedelic experience to read
a book while you listen to music inspired by that book,” said
Flansburgh.
That artistic venture grew into the “McSweeney’s vs.
They Might Be Giants” touring performances. The traveling
multimedia circus first performed in London to a strong reception.
This inspired them to perform more shows in New York, Philadelphia
and several other major cities, with Los Angeles as their most
recent target.
But the “McSweeney’s vs. They Might Be Giants”
performances are just the latest jaunt by the band, whose
unpredictable career has become only more unusual in recent
years.
TMBG is probably best known for its catchy, but weird songs
about shoehorns and particle men, and especially for their
pre-grunge hits “Birdhouse In Your Soul” and
“Istanbul (Not Constantinople).” But TMBG has been
plenty busy since its first big successes, touring almost nonstop
since the beginning of the ’90s, and consistently releasing
new music.
In an apparent attempt to reach out to younger audiences,
TMBG’s latest album, “NO!,” is actually a disc of
children’s music featuring songs like “Bed Bed
Bed” and “Where Do They Make Balloons?” TMBG has
even tried taking a few dates off of regular touring to do
specialty shows just for kids, though apparently they did not go
particularly well.
“The thing is, I enjoy the creative part of writing for
children, but I really can’t say that I have a natural
affinity for performing for children,” said Flansburgh.
“Maybe I just enjoy swearing on stage too much. I really feel
like Krusty the Clown up there.”
In addition to their attempts at children’s entertainment,
TMBG has also taken on several television projects. TMBG is the
band who sings the “You’re not the boss of me
now!” theme song to “Malcolm in the Middle.” In
addition to several other projects, Flansburgh has most currently
been putting together music for the Learning Channel.
“All these different things really just give us breaks
from the road, or ways to do something more fun than the same rock
show over and over,” said the singer. “I wouldn’t
be doing this if I wasn’t having a really great time doing
it, and I think that comes out in the kind of music we
make.”
