14 March 2010 - They Might be Giants

On Saturday we went to a concert by They Might be Giants. I've been listening to TMBG for more than 20 years, but until Saturday, I'd never seen them live. This is us in front of Carnegie Hall (the original one in Pittsburgh, not the one in New York). Inside is the New Hazlett Theater, which was the venue for the show. The theater only seats about 400 people, so it was a very personal setting for a concert like this.Chances are good you've heard something by They Might be Giants. One of the two lead vocalists for the band, John Linell, sings the Other Father Song in the movie Coraline, and the band also performs You're Not the Boss of Me from the TV show Malcolm in the Middle. They were very fan friendly.

Although they started off as an alternative rock ensemble, they have more recently gotten into doing kids music too. This concert was a "family show", and if you have kids under age 10, I would strongly encourage you consider going to one of their family shows. The tickets were only ten bucks for kids and $20 for adults. Their kids albums try to teach numbers, letters and science. Even if you don't have little kids, their music is really great. The kids really liked Seven, Meet the Elements, Roy G. Biv, and I Never Go to Work:

On Mondays, I never go to work,
On Tuesdays, I stay at home,
On Wednesdays, I never feel inclined,
work is the last thing on my mind.
On Thursdays, it's a holiday!
And Fridays I detest,
Oh it's much too late on a Saturday,
and Sunday's the day of rest.

They used a huge confetti canon throughout the show, much to the delight of the kids. They had an absolute blast.

We were joined for the concert by our friends from our ward, the Prines. After the show was over, we went out to dinner at a place called Primanti Brothers, which is a sandwich shop that is very popular around Pittsburgh, but didn't turn out to be very popular with us ;-). This is the Prine's daughter Hannah, who is one of Jessica's best friends, with Madeline and Emily trying on sombreros at a Hispanic market in Pittsburgh's Strip District which is where we went to Primanti Brothers.The weather has been much warmer lately, and our big snow has melted. Joanne took this photo out the car window as we were driving through Pittsburgh. This is the Allegheny River, right at the edge of the road. Later on Saturday, the river flooded onto the street, but the flood waters crested on Sunday afternoon and began to recede, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. So we had a fun weekend. Hope all is well.