About the Show
Posted by Bryan at September 21st, 2007
Theynow is an audioblog (or “podcast”) for fans of They Might Be Giants, one of the most prolific rock bands of the last 30 years. Its purpose is to update you on Their music, current events, the things Their fans do, and their spheres of influence, for example John Hodgman, Sarah Vowell, and The Daily Show.
Listen to a recent episode of the show through your browser to see if you’ll like it.
What I Might Do On The Show
When appropriate, the show might consist of any of the following:
- Lyric interpretations / deconstruction
- Unreleased songs (unless given permission, I won’t play any TMBG recordings that are currently for sale)
- Tour dates
- Merchandise news
- Pop quizzes
- Interviews
- Covers of TMBG tunes
- Music inspired by TMBG
TMBG has always seemed particularly Internet-friendly, so I am not terrified of angering the band by exploring this grayish copyright area. They way I figure, it’s all good advertising for Them. In fact, I’ve spoken with Their management, who told me that the band was happy that I was doing this show.
If you have an idea for the show, e-mail me at info AT theynow.com
Schedule and Format
I have no schedule. Blogs have no schedule. The magic of syndication frees us from the need to schedule things.
The show length is determined by the amount of content I have on hand at the time. I seriously doubt the show will ever run for more than an hour. As Linnell said once during a concert, “This next song is two minutes long. All of our songs are two minutes long.”
In general, my goal is to do a show as soon as I have enough to talk about, and soon enough that those topics won’t be stale by the time the show is released.
Why Am I Doing This?
Foremost, I am a fan of the band. I am not a superfan (which is to say that I don’t collect bootleg albums, stand around hoping for autographs and I resist learning details of the personal lives of the band members), but they are my favorite music group, and have been since 1989. I’ve seen them in concert more than 15 times. For some of you, that’s excessive. For others, I’m sure it seems trivial. That’s kind of how I want it.
It’s also a sort of “proof of concept” I wanted to explore after writing this weblog article about How Not to Podcast.


I, too, am a huge fan of They Might Be Giants and have been since a college roommate handed me a beat-up cassette of Lincoln back in 1990. When he told me they were selected as the Top College Band of 1989 (or something like that) over U2, I laughed. Then I listened to the tape. Have you ever had one of those moments when you realize your whole perspective on music has been irreversibly altered? That’s what happened when “Ana Ng” started roaring into my ear canals. Nearly 18 years later, I have almost everything by them, and thanks to the Johns entry into the realm of children’s music, my two daughters are huge fans as well.
Take care, my fellow fan of the twin quasars of rock.
David
David Lissauer