Holy shit, this Hocus Pocus song is so fucking stuck in my head. Damnit.

Oh, man, psyknife's basement was so comfortable—obviously: we (okay, I and hobbitgrrl) slept in way, way late. I only had a chance to admire in passing the calico cat with the huge tail (I was quite taken with that tail) before we ran out the door to get on our way to Cleveland.

I had really needed that long sleep, too; the previous day I had been too tired to get really excited about anything, but today, completely refreshed, I was able to look forward again to another show and meeting up with cptmoll and k1cup. We got to cptmoll's just ahead of a torrential downpour and picked up k1cup just as it finished, and the rain didn't come back while we were outside, so we were pretty lucky with the weather, apart from its being once again stiflingly hot. We heard some of the soundcheck through the glass doors of the Odeon, got some food, and then got the line started. Some other people had actually arrived while we were off having an after-dinner stroll, but they had inexplicably chosen to camp out across the street, so we managed to maintain our position at the head of the line.

The crowd definitely built a lot faster here than it had at any of the previous three shows. We were right near the door so we would get a wonderful wave of air conditioning each time it opened; then after a while every time it opened band members would come out, including, of course, Dan. He was talking on his cell phone but when he saw us he smiled and nodded, and when he was done with his conversation he came over to us. And there was Dan Miller standing in a circle of five women—that memory amuses me, for some reason.

So he expressed wonderment yet again at our extreme devotion and we started talking about our trip. I said we had been lucky that hobbitgrrl had friends everywhere we went that we could stay with. "Except St Louis," unsupervised amended, prompting Dan to ask what we had done in St Louis. When we told him we'd stayed at a hotel, he looked quite chagrined that we had actually spent money on this trip, and told us "Next time, every three shows you go to, you get the fourth one free." "Seriously?" I asked, and he said yeah, seriously, and we were all like "whoo-hoo!" He's just impossibly sweet.

Also I asked (rhetorically) if they were ever coming back to Chicago, and he told us they'd actually been in Chicago a couple months ago, but at a private show promoting Absolut vodka. So the audience was a bunch of bartenders and waitresses and it was in a train station and there were trains going by during the show and...apparently not the greatest performing ambience. I was thinking that next time they play that kind of private show he should invite us; we'll be happy to fill out the crowd with some enthusiasm.

Then Dan went off to continue his business and k1cup and cptmoll and I went off to try to find a place to buy some water. We went up this crazy hill (okay, most people probably would not have found it so steep, but I live in the Midwest) and around the corner and discovered a little supermarket which, most importantly, was very well air-conditioned, so we dawdled there for a while cooling off (which is why it took us so long, hobbitgrrl; that's what we didn't tell you at the time :P ) before stocking up on beverages and fruit and returning.

There were signs posted up around the entrance declaring that no cameras were allowed, and I was still a little paranoid after my Indy experience, but I got my (and hobbitgrrl's) camera in with no trouble although the guy made me leave my bottle of water behind. Then when k1cup came in she said the guy had actually seen her camera in her bag but had said nothing and let her bring it in. So I felt pretty safe after that.

Ah, it was nice and cool in there, so the wait was relatively pleasant, except for the obnoxious drunk dudes behind hobbitgrrl. I don't understand how people get so drunk even before the show starts. I guess they come in that way. Anyway we waited. I kept looking around for John who I knew would be there, but didn't see him. Eric had also said he might come, but I didn't see him either.

Out came Corn Mo. They had started the night before in Detroit putting a little TV onstage playing the Here Come the ABCs DVD before the show, taking it away before Corn Mo arrived, but tonight Andy, whose job I guess it was to remove the TV, hadn't come back yet (we had seen him leaving earlier in a cab with Dan and a very large, apparently empty suitcase. Mysterious!) so the DVD played throughout Corn Mo's set. It was very distracting. Corn Mo was still keeping his raps really short, although he did have a long, amusing dialogue with his microphone which wouldn't stay upright: "I like you, Mr Microphone, but not in that way," etc.

When They came out, Flans announced that they were the opening band "They Must Be Giants" for the venue songs set. No special additions to the set this time. Linnell's been playing a little future of sound under the spoken intros though. Dan was wearing an OK Go t-shirt. And that's about all that I have to say about that.

Two sets of TMBG in one night is actually super cool, although I suppose two sets of waiting in one night is not so much fun. But the break was pretty short and they came back out with their new Istanbul. It would turn out to be a great night; and they had plenty to say. After Damn Good Times they passed on to Alphabet of Nations and as Dan put down his guitar and crossed the stage to the keyboard Flans said, "Ladies and gentlemen, you thought that was the only dimension to Dan. But wait—there's more. What about the keyboard-playing Dan Miller? What makes him unknowable is that you don't know what instrument he's going to grab next. He's like the Barbara Mandrell of They Might Be Giants. Soon he's gonna be mixing front of house and doing the lights; later on he's gonna be running the spotlights. At the end of the night, he drives the bus to the next show."

I don't think I've mentioned yet that I'm so not tired of Alphabet of Nations yet, if only for the crazy faces and gestures Linnell makes during it. Then before Bastard Wants to Hit Me Flans had an unwontedly pensive moment:
JF: We love performing in this place. It's a square with a stage at the end. When you're in a rock band you try to appreciate the simple things, 'cause they're not always there. I feel like we've spent a quarter of our life standing behind a pole waving at the audience on the other side of it...and I'm not referring to our stripping past.
audience: Take it off!
other part of the audience: Keep it on!
JF: Yeah yeah, don't worry about it. Dignity. That's what my mother always said to me.

Now go listen to Snail Shell if you want to hear how it sounds nowadays. What is that percussion instrument, a wood block? A computer-generated wood block? Whatever it is, I like it.

Linnell declared, "¡Una, dos guitarras!" during Birdhouse and then at the end of the bridge shouted something that sounded kind of like "¡Vamos! ¡Me gusta! ¡Aïe!"

They shot off the cannons during It's Kickin' In again.
JL: It's theoretically possible to have more than one confetti cannon so we could blow it off at different times during the show. We only have these, we can't repack them during the show, it's too complicated, so we're trying to figure out the exact right place to put the confetti cannon during the show. Right now we're settling on this last one—
JF: I like to think it's a work in progress and god's not finished with us yet.
JL: Right.
JF: You want to see multiple confetti cannons, go check out No Doubt.
JL: That's right. I think god is finished with No Doubt, actually. I don't even know what that means.

Linnell messed up the end of Experimental Film (Flans and Dan kept doggedly singing "yeah!" until Linnell decided the song was over) but didn't explain until a few songs later.
JL: The reason I messed up Experimental Film, I was allowing my thoughts to wander really far away from the show—well, not exactly. This is what I was thinking, I was thinking, the mic stands are tightened so well and so professionally that my usual thing of moving the mic stand with my lips, like this (demonstrates, mashing his mouth all over the mic), if I need to move it over here, was not only not working, it was making me look like a weird idiot. I just started thinking about that and I forgot where I was in the song. And I apologize for that.

Before Drink! Flans introduced Dan:
JF: This next song features Dan Miller on the acoustic guitar. He tortures us with his perfection. (Dan plays a weird chord.) The sweet torture of Dan Miller's acoustic guitar...This is a very sad song about a very messed-up person. Quit looking at me.
And when it was over, he came back to the same subject:
JF: The impossible, cruel perfection of Dan Miller's acoustic guitar playing, ladies and gentlemen. It's an honor and a privilege to share the stage with this man. (Dan shakes his head and laughs.)

After Ana Ng:
JF: I forgot to mention at the top of the show that we use strobes in this show. But I guess those people have passed out by now.

Flans introduced the band as they got ready to play Mammal:
JF: Danny Weinkauf on the super-bass! Dan Miller, leaving the stage! Danny Weinkauf on the mega-drums!
us: No, Marty Beller! Marty Beller!!
JL: Marty Beller.
JF: Didn't I mention Marty Beller on the super-drums?
us: You said Danny!
JF: ...Didn't I mention Danny?
Then there was some random yelling of requests.
JF: It's always odd when people request Istanbul when you're already played it. I just wonder if it's like the super-drunk guy in the back, or somebody who came in late.
JL: Or, they just like the song.
JF: There you go.

James K Polk appeared in the first encore—that was one we hadn't heard yet during our little tour (nor Mammal for that matter). It was pretty neat because we got something different at every show (including, I believe, the kids shows the next day). And they ended with Hocus Pocus which is now stuck in my head again...damnit.

After the show I did see my friend John again, and I got setlists again, and hobbitgrrl had her exciting conversation with Danny about paleontology. Then I went over to tell Dan I was thinking of going to Lebowski Fest (I'd been thinking about going since I heard they were playing there, but it was only over the course of this week that I started seriously considering it), and he warned us that it was basically a freak show. (I just thought it was kind of nice that, if he thought those people were freaks, then by implication, my friends and I were not. :P) I was very excited to find the bottle of water that the security guard had compelled me to abandon was still in the same place I'd left it; and after a visit to Corn Mo's merch table we were out the door. It was a damn fine night.

Get your pictures and such here. The mp3s are ready too.

* foreword
* St Louis
* Indy
* Detroit
> Cleveland – Odeon
* Cleveland – KidsFest
* Lebowski Fest