I listened to a bunch of early 90s TMBG bootlegs this past week. So amazing.
Tag accordion
I had the chance to see They Might Be Giants play at the Newport Music Hall this past saturday (2 mar 2013)! I took my sister along with me. The opening band, Vandaveer, was a bad fit for the audience. The frontman for the band was annoying (he was “trying way too hard”, as my brother would say) and the music was really unappealing. On top of that, all the usual Newport unpleasantness abounded—lame acoustics, dirty, sticky surfaces, generally terrible logistics.
But TMBG was freaking wonderful! They played a lot of songs from their new album Nanobots (“You’re On Fire”, “Call You Mom”, “Circular Karate Chop”, “Insect Hospital”, and “Nanobots”) and they all sounded very tight! We did “Battle for the Planet of the Apes” and a new thing where the Johns would take turns shining a high-powered flashlight in the face of a random audience member and would then make up a nickname for him. And of course there were lots of great tunes. I particularly enjoyed hearing “Whistling in the Dark” with full band + accordion performed literally in the dark.
The band is so vibrant and technically proficient and imaginative and fun. It’s a really heart-warming, satisfying experience to see them perform. My only complaint is an enduring, long-term one: more accordion, please.
Originally reposted from
tmbgareok
This is my new accordion, purchased this past friday at a local second-hand shop. It was a fairly good deal and it sounds great and it is beautiful: pearloid white with sparkly gold accents and baby blue bellows. White accordions have always been my very favorite, and I’m so excited to have found this. When my sister saw it, the first thing she said was, “This looks like such a Nigel accordion!” and I completely agree with her. It’s just right.
Background: I’ve been playing accordion since may 2011, when I picked it up out-of-the-blue. Until lately, I’d been playing on a much plainer, older accordion which was wheezy and inarticulate. This is a step up for me.
From the concert archives: a few weeks ago (9 mar 2012), I went to see Buckwheat Zydeco play at the Athletic Club of Columbus with Ian and my accordion teacher (who also happens to be Ian’s old piano teacher). It was fun to go to a show at the Athletic Club because it was really fancy and exclusive-feeling. I took this picture during the first song, after which the big open space became filled with people “dancing”. Most of the audience was white people over 50 who’d had too much booze. So, as you can imagine, the dancing was dreadful. It was fun nonetheless. I didn’t know most of the songs they played, but that was okay because it was more of a jam thing anyway. Songs lasted a very very long time.
As an accordion player, I found Buckwheat’s accordion totally amazing. In person, it looks gigantic—definitely larger than a normal full-size. He spent about half the time playing accordion and the other half playing Hammond B-3, which was equally cool and amazing.