Women Who Behave

I'm giving up my ambition to write a real review of the TMBG show. Too much time has passed. HOWEVER, I went to Comic Con this past weekend, and many things happened.

Friday, I did not attend, though my friends did. I, instead, went to class and work. In class, Chris Blackwell came to speak to us. He's the man who founded Island Records back in the day to promote Jamaican music in England. This was Bob Marley's record label. Super awesome. Then work, where nothing extremely special happened. After work, I headed up to Penn Station to pick up Mr Bill Remmers. He spent Friday and Saturday nights at my apartment so he could go to Comic Con both Saturday and Sunday. When we got back to the dorm, we set up his bed and got his stuff settled. We decided what we were going to get up to the next day: how early, when to meet his friend, etc., then headed next door to watch Val's brand new copy of Firefly and hang out. Much later, we finally went to bed.

Saturday we headed out around 8:45, to meet Bill's friend Ryan at the train station around 9:15. We ended up missing him, but getting to the Jarvits Center at the same time, so we all picked up our tickets and got in the underground line to enter the main floor. Bill was excited when we ran into Colin Baker. Shortly after, they left me waiting in line to meet the guys from Cyanide and Happiness to further wander. I then got a call from Jayme and Rachel saying they were in line for the Penny Arcade panel already. So, I hurried down to join them. On the way I ran into the lovely Emmy (binsybaby) and said a quick, and slightly awkward hello. A bit of the way through the Penny Arcade panel, it was decided that we weren't gong to get into Robot Chicken unless we left early to grab a spot in line. I decided I was more familiar with Robot Chicken than Penny Arcade, so was the one to leave and get in line. I there ran into Mike (aka TDK), and befrended the people in front of and behind me. In front was a journalist who reminded me a bit of Sarah Vowell (I think her name was Kristin) and a guy who does camerawork for reality shows and his friend. They were really fun to spend about an hour talking to as we waited to get in. I took pictures during this panel. Seth Green is fucking hilarious, and Breckin Meyer isn't very much less so. They kept rambling on instead of getting to next questions, and just generally dicking about. It was great. My favorite was when all five guys on the panel had their cameras out taking pictures of Dark Anakin standing next to the guy who dressed up as the chicken. After, I met back up with Jayme, Val and Rachel. Rachel wandered off to watch the Jedi performance, and Val and Jayme and I decided to leave for an hour or so to find cheaper food for lunch. On the way out, I spotted Neil (trapezzoid) and went over to say hello. He recognized my screenname (I have been semi-creepily commenting on his journal since like 2003 or 2004 now...), and gave me a hug in greeting. That was awesome, mainly because I love hugs and don't get them enough so it was awesome to get one from someone I was meeting in person for the first time. I do feel bad though, as I did not say hello to the beautiful and talented Ming. I was too preoccupied with saying hello but not imposing and getting back to my friends who were waiting to leave. So, we headed to Subway/Taco Bell for lunch. Upon returning, they headed to stand in line for the Venture Brothers panel, and I went back into the exhibition floor for a bit. I bought a petticoat skirt and nifty colored contacts (non-prescription so I have to either wear them with my glasses or be blind) before realizing there was nothing left to do on the exhibition floor and they wouldn't get out until 7:45. So, I went and got in line for Venture Brothers, and they eventually let everyone in. Bill and Ryan came to join me, and we hung out until the end of the panel. Then we escorted Ryan back to Penn Station before heading back to my dorm. There I switched out my Comic Con stuff for recording stuff and left Bill to take a nap while I went back up to campus for a recording session. We had the last session of the night, then the first the next morning. It made it nice not having to completely normal everything at midnight.

When I got home, I woke up Bill, decided I was not ambitious enough to wake up and try to get Joss Whedon autograph tickets at 7am, and went to bed. In the morning, we left around 8:40, and then Bill accidentally dropped his wallet on the subway as we were getting off so we had to take care of that a bit before heading back to the studio. We ended up being about half an hour late, which Doug luckily didn't mind. They'd gone ahead and continued vocal takes and were just starting to set up for ambient guitar sounds. The bass was waiting for me, because we decided that Doug kept coming up with basslines just slightly too complicated for the song. I'd barely changed what I'd played when we tried tracking it live two weeks previously, and the writer liked how simple I was keeping it. So, I plugged Doug's bass into two DI boxes and recorded several takes. With just the basics (guitar, bass, and vocals) the song sounds kinda Moldy Peaches-esque, but we're putting lots of ridiculousness on top of it. It should turn out pretty well.

After the session, I headed back up to the Jarvits Center. Bill had left earlier to meet the lady who found his wallet on the subway up at a church coffee. I'd loaned him $20 for a cab, and said I'd meet him back at the Jarvits' Center. I found him at Colin Baker's booth again, and we wandered around for a bit. He left me in line for funnel cake and went to get me a spot in line for the Fringe panel, as he had to leave to go to the last showing of Equus before the panel started, but I really really wanted to go to it. That is the most ridiculously badass show on TV right now. I was unable to get into the Dollhouse panel just before it because of my session and not getting in line in time, but the Fringe panel I was determined to go to. I left during the Q&A because I wanted to be home in time to watch the Grammy's pre-telecast. First, I went to check out the kids area and then stopped by the Penny Arcade booth to say hello to the fellow Seattleites. I got home around 3:30, and accompanied Val, Jayme, and a very high Ryan to Burger King. I left them there to get soda, and then came back in time to catch about three awards before the Best Children's Album category. As I predicted when I saw the nominations, TMBG won. It was awesome, though as soon as they started walking towards the stage I went "Wait, where's Flans?!" I thought it was really adorable how Danny jumped in to say something too though. Then I went next door with the soda, and we watched more Firefly. Then for some reason we ended up watching almost all of the rest of the televised Grammys. I kept trying to mute stuff that sucked, and a couple times people protested because they actually liked it, so I unmuted it, but I still seem to have gained the reputation of Music Nazi from that, as last night watching Leno and waiting for Conan, Duffy was the musical act and Sean asked if I could not mute her as he actually liked her. I hadn't even reached for the remote. But yeah, everyone in the room was yelling at the TV in outrage while we had it on mute when the Jonas Brothers performed with Stevie Wonder. We all were upset that he was introduced as Stevie Jonas, and whenever they jumped onto the platform he was playing on we yelled at them to get away from him. It was fun. Radiohead with the USC marching band was awesome, as was Paul McCartney with Dave Grohl. I absolutely love that song, so I had to get up and dance for most of it.

So, that was my weekend. Lots and lots of fun. I'm so tired now though. I really wanted to take a nap this afternoon, but I had to get some stuff done.

One hour left of class for the week. I'm currently sitting in it. :) Topics:The Island Record Story focuses on the decade of the 60's, specifically what was going on with Island records, and generally what was going on in English music and US and English music in general.

Thursdays are ridiculous. Yesterday I got up to the department by 9:30 for Studio. That lasted until 3:15, and during breaks I started frantically skimming the articles we had to read for Artists and Audiences because there's a quiz on them every week. Then between 3:15 and 3:30 we all quizzed each other as we headed down three floors to the A&A classroom to meet Christgau and get our essays back. Well, most people got theirs back: he hadn't finished yet. That was over at 6:20, so I ran to Subway for dinner and then was back at the department by 7pm because Doug and I had a session from 7-1. Luckily we got a lot done and were able to break down early, so I ended up leaving the department at 12:45 and would have left earlier except that backing up the session took forever.

The session was really fun though. Doug's friend came, and we're doing a medley of I think three of his songs. We recorded everything but the vocals of the first one yesterday: Doug on drums, his friend on guitar, and me on bass. We were gonna have to wait for Fox to get there to play bass, but the part they wanted was really laid back and quite simple, so I volunteered myself. I'm not a great bass player but I took guitar lessons for long enough with Carolyn taking bass lessons right before or after me that I picked up the basics. So that was fun. And yet tricky because we didn't have anyone sitting thre working Pro Tools. So we'd go in after a few takes and stop it, listen, decide we should do a couple more takes, have someone make a new playlist and hit record, then go out and have Doug count us off before each take. We got enough in that he should be able to piece together a perfect take of each section, since I don't think we got any perfect takes.

I also finally have a project partner for the second project. Now I just have to find someone to work with for the mix project. Also someone to record/mix for each of those projects. I actually had a brief thought regarding the mix project. Hey patnode, do you have any songs recorded you want me to mix?

After class I'm off to Girlie. I'll be there for the conference call I helped to set up on Wednesday, and whatever else they'll bet getting up to today. Hopefully not another mailing. Those aren't horrible, but they're boring and take forever. Afterwards, Val's gonna meet me up there and we're gonna go up to the Met for an hour or so. Then it's grabbing the air mattress from Gillian so that Jon (capitalq) and Doom have a place to sleep when they show up at my place after Tim and Eric tonight.

Tomorrow is TMBG at (le) Poisson Rouge in the evening, and hanging out with Jon and Doom all morning.

Sunday is the Super Bowl.

Next weekend is Comic Con.

When am I doing homework/studying? Fuck if I know.

There was still snow everywhere, so it was still pretty but the roads were better sanded. So, I was able to venture out and spend most of the day with one of my favorite people. Maybe next time we'll venture outside more, Dave. :P

Also, these videos, found by dayle_:

Particle Man w/ I Love To Sing Bridge
and
Why Does The Sun Really Shine?
performed on some Philadelphia radio station.

I like the baby guitar, and this particular rendition of "I Love to Sing", and the wtf? reverb on PM. Then the falsetto backup, and the "Forget that song!" at the end of WDTSRS.

Okay, the stars are just aligned perfectly right now or something. Maybe it's the luck of the slightly Irish, or the Welsh or something. :P

So, this weekend is just kinda fucking amazing. I'd planned with Alan lat week to go to the Whitney and the Met yesterday, Friday 4/11, in order to be able to write our Writing the Essay pages on the exhibits we were supposed to go see. There was some really cool stuff at the Whitney Biennial. Here's the background: for our last Writing the Essay paper we're supposed to pick an artist in any medium, and write an 8-10 page paper about them in cultural context. Due to obvious current obsessions, I picked TMBG. We're also supposed to try and get an interview with our artist, because it would be helpful to whatever our argument may happen to be. Earlier in the week, I had received my final "I don't think I can help you. Good luck with your paper." e-mail from TMBG's publicist.

Anyway...so my friend and I are talking about the ridiculous busy-ness that is taking place next weekend what with needing to finish a MIDI song, probably going to Comic Con on Friday, the concert I've been helping to plan for Earth Week on Saturday, Cinderella either Friday night or Saturday night, and the two TMBG shows on Sunday. So, we arrive at the Whitney. As we walk in, I do a double take and attempt to contain my amazement by merely clapping a hand over my mouth. Alan turns to me and goes, "Uh, what the hell?" I go, "Oh, that's only John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants standing right next to the entrance of the Whitney, looking like he's waiting for someone."

"You just got denied your interview by the publicist, right?"

"Yeah..."

"This is a better way to make connections. Go get your interview." Alan physically pushed me back towards the entrance. I looked back at him, expecting him to be following me to lend a bit of support, but he'd veered towards the tickets line. Good thing Fridays are fee at the Whitney, I'd feel bad if he'd had to actually buy me a ticket.

So, I walked up to Mr. Flansburgh, and proceeded to make an awkward fool of myself. Especially for someone trying to be a professional in the same industry as him. Oh well, I'll do better next time.

"Um, excuse me." Flans turned to look at me. "Hi, I, um, I'm a fan." He obviously wasn't expecting this, and took a moment to realize what I meant. "Oh, Hi. I'm John." He extended his hand and I say "Michelle." as I shake it. I had a moment of Well, um, of course I know your name is John! Why are you introducing yourself?

"It's nice to meet you." He says, probably ready for me to leave now and continue waiting for whoever.

"Actually, I'm writing a paper about you guys right now."

Flans looks intrigued. "Really? Why?"

"Well, my professor said to pick an artist and write about them, so..." I shrug.

"Huh, well okay."

"Yeah, we're supposed to take an artist and basically put them in cultural context while forming some argument about them."

"Oh, that's kinda cool. What class is this for?" Flans still seemed to think it was odd that anyone would be writing about They Might Be Giants.

"Writing the Essay, but since I'm in Tisch at NYU it's a bit more arts geared overall. Also," I put on a hopeful look, "I was wondering if I could maybe get an interview to supplement the paper."

"Oh, yeah sure, that'd be cool."

"Awesome!"

"Were you thinking over e-mail? Or...?"

"Oh, uh, e-mail, in-person, phone...anything really."

"Well, let me give you my e-mail address and go ahead and contact me."

I dug around in my giant purse that doesn't look like it should be so large, pulled out my notebook and found a pen. I handed it over after opening it to the last page, and he wrote down his name and two e-mail addresses, explaining that he checks different ones in different places, so to go ahead and e-mail him at both. He also spelled out the beginning of the address aloud, in case I couldn't read it. This may actually have been a problem, so I'm glad he did. I'm also highly amused by what he uses as his e-mail address, but I'll be a good professional and keep it a secret. As I take my notebook back once he finishes, I say "Thank you SOO much."

"No problem."

"Well, I guess I'll be seeing you in a couple of weeks."

"What? Where?" He seemed confused. I had a moment where I thought he'd forgotten about his own shows the next week, but realized it must be because I didn't have a kid with me, nor do I look like I'd be likely to have a kid at my age.

"Oh, at the Town Hall shows."

He kinda laughed at me. "But those are little kids shows!"

I just grinned at him. "So?"

Flans shrugged, "I guess it's just not my cup of tea. Nice to meet you. Just remind me that you're Michelle from the Whitney when you e-mail and I'll know who you are."

"Alright thanks."

I walked back to the ticket line where Alan met me with a ticket, and we headed up to look at the Biennial exhibit. Later, I spotted Flans walking around with a woman I assume was Robin Goldwasser, his wife. I also spent the rest of the time we were at either the Whitney or the Met randomly grinning and dancing or skipping or, just oozing joy. I believe I kept Alan quite amused. Had I had Jon's phone number before this morning, I would have texted or called him right away. But I couldn't, so I had to wait until I got back to my dorm around 9:30 (It happened around 6:15) to tell Elyssa the good news. We had earlier been talking about how I'd jinxed getting the interview through Chris from Girlie Action by telling too many people about the possibility, so I knew she'd be excited at my luck as well.

Now, I just have to think up a good amount of questions for them. If you think of one that might be good, go ahead and let me know, because I'm having a bit of trouble and I should probably send the e-mail ASAP. In other news, the rest of this weekend is awesome because I'm visiting Jon at Stony Brook for the night, and tomorrow night I'll be helping Erik in my program shoot a music video. Then this Thursday I might get to dance onstage with my friend's band in order to get into the 21+ show. I'm not sure, I need to talk to Richard about that.