Miniskirts

July 3rd 2006 by E..

They Might Be Giants came waaay too early of Friday to set up for their Free At Noon concert…I was there at 7:00, along with several other staff and interns…the band wasn’t there until about 10:00 or 10:30, so I really saw no reason why we had to be there 3 hours in advance, considering that it took about 40 minutes to bring all of the stuff they needed in from their truck…if that didn’t get us riled up enough, I invite all of my readers who are good at math to consider this: the cooler a band is, the bigger the chance that their crew is going to be a bunch of inconsiderate dicks…now, I love They Might Be Giants, and I bet that I always will, but that was one of the most unpleasant experiences working with a band that I have ever had…and it really wasn’t the band’s fault, as far as I can see, because we hardly talked to them…I helped John Linnell, Marty and Danny get into the venue, and answered a few questions, but that was it…apparently, the crew asked for very little in advance, such as technical things they need, or maybe that they might need people to help them during the show…it turned out that they needed 2 people to work spotlights during the show, so Steve (one of the Production interns) and I got volunteered…It would have been fine, but they didn’t let us know about this in advance, and they guy who was ‘directing’ us on the spotlights was doing a really lousy job…we had headsets with microphones so that the three of us could talk to each other…he said that he wants us to turn our mics off during the show to minimize noise in the headsets…that made sense, but he kept talking all during the show, just saying things and asking us stuff, as though he forgot the last thing he told us…not only that, but he kept missing his cues for when to tell us to turn the lights on and off…now, I know all of They Might Be Giants songs, and if I hear the intro to a song, I know when certain people are going to come in at different points…however, how do I know that he wants people to be lit up at those moments?…so we had to hear things like “Oh, sorry, I missed my cue” or “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention there”…well, maybe if you weren’t clogging up your concentration with mindless questions and observational statements, you would catch when you’re supposed to do your JOB!!…Later that same day, The Dresden Dolls were in the studio, and they were really nice, even though they were running really late…I got Amanda, the lead singer and piano player to sign my copy of their first album, and she was really cool about it…listen for the broadcast of that session, since Lynn and Melanie (the best Programming interns ever) snap their fingers on one of the songs…

I know what you’re thinking, “Quit complaining…you get to meet famous people at all, so you should be happy for that.”…and you’re right…but just because these people are “famous” doesn’t make them any better than I am…they are people just like me, and they were my age at one point, working at a regular job…there is no reason why “celebrities”, let alone their freaking tour crew should belittle the knowledge and abilities of another human being…it’s whole human issue thing, and I’ll be glad to tell you about it if you ask, but I have better things to write about now…

Last night, I took the train to XPN to help out with Gene Shay on The Folk Show…in case you did not know, The Folk Show used to follow the Kids Corner Music Hour, which in turn followed Mountain Stage (a two hour long showcase of several musicians focusing on folk, roots, bluegrass, and singer-songwriters)…Gene has been asking for years to have his show be backed against Mountain Stage, because the same people who listen to that program would be more likely to listen to his than Kids Corner…well, Gene got his wish starting this week…the Kids Corner Music Hour has been moved to Monday nights, and the Folk Show follows Mountain Stage…I’ll get to where that all comes into play in just a minute…When I got on the train at Elkins Park, it was really nice out…not to hot, not too humid, just very nice…when I got off at 30th Street, which is only about a 20 minute ride, it was thundering and lightning and pouring rain…I got to where I would leave the building and called Gene, who was already at XPN…I told him that I was going to wait a few minutes until the rain died down a little before I run over to XPN…he says, “Okay, be careful, but just try to get here before 8:00.  Oh by the way, there are three cute girls in miniskirts upstairs who are seeking shelter from the rain” (because World Cafe Live was closed for the holiday, the whole building was locked, so I would have had to call Gene again so that he could let me in the building)…I said “You’ve go to be kidding”…”I’m just tellin’ you what I see up here…three cute girls in miniskirts trying to stay out of the rain”…”I’ll be right over”…I ran in the pouringest of pouring rain from 30th Street to XPN, which, needless to say, is not a lot of fun…When I get there, sure enough, there are three cute girls trying to stay out of the rain…they ask me if I can get inside, so I call Gene to open the doors…He does and I run into the bathroom to get some towels for us to dry off…we had to keep them in the little vestibule area, since we couldn’t have them wandering around the building, what with the bar and cash registers and all that good stuff…When we went downstairs, I pointed out “Gene, you lied to me…only two of them had miniskirts”…It was pretty funny, and eventually the rain died down and the girls left…I had to lock the doors behind them, after which I told Gene that I will never let hi make me lock cute girls out of our building ever again…

Regarding the change of scheduling…We noticed the increase in audience immediately…actually, it may have been because of the rain and/or the holiday, but we got about 15 phone calls during the show, where we usually get less than 2…it was really neat…I answered the phone, and corrected some mistakes that Gene made, and helped with the guest set performer, Joe Jencks…it was pretty cool, and I am ready for a good relaxing rest…

I wrote chords to “Eye To Eyeliner (Cheer UP)”, and a melody is in the works…Twilight Zone marathon on SciFi…Digital Cable coming next week, just in time for me to leave home in a few weeks…oh well…

E.

Lyric of the Time (in honor if Robert’s Land Of The Lost…sorry for not calling, like you said, I fell asleep, but I did hear about half of the show!):
Should have taken warning
It’s just people mourning
Running, hiding, lost
You can’t find, find a place to go
Red Skies at night

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