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Entries in They Might Be Giants (87)

Monday
Jan032011

A Blue Canary in the Outlet by the Light Switch.  Really.

IMG_4647.jpgI don't do a lot that is not kids-music-focused here, but I think you'll understand why I've made an exception for this item. It's the Blue Canary Night Light, and, yes, it's an homage to They Might Be Giants' super-catchy "Birdhouse in Your Soul" from their album Flood. (An album which, I might add, was released more than 20 years ago. Pardon me while I feel old.)

But not only is it an homage, it's a darn fine nightlight. I am a happy customer, and it occurred to me that the Venn diagram of people who read this site and those families who might, for many reasons, want a Blue Canary Night Light could be sizable. I also liked simple statement on the website -- "We needed a night light for our daughter a few months ago, and really wanted a blue canary night light, but couldn't find one. So I made one!" That sort of attitude merited further investigation. So I got in touch with Brock Tice, the creator of the night light, who kindly answered a few questions. So read on to find out what it takes to manufacture a nightlight, Tice's favorite TMBG album, and a picture of the nightlight lit up while, yes, in the (OK, my) outlet by the light switch.

Zooglobble: When did you first hear Flood?
Brock Tice: I was introduced to TMBG when my sixth grade (read: around 1995 or '96, can't recall for sure) drama teacher did a class on the song "Birdhouse in Your Soul". I also heard "Particle Man" around that time on Tiny Toon Adventures along with their amusing illustration of the song. After that it was a while before I heard more of Flood, but in college with the advent of Napster I ended up listening to a lot more of that album. I also really loved "Why Does The Sun Shine", which is not on Flood.

Regarding the nighlight's creation, you written that you "needed a night light for our daughter a few months ago, and really wanted a blue canary night light, but couldn't find one. So I made one!" How long had you been thinking a blue canary night light would be a cool idea? (Was it since before your daughter was born?) What pushed the idea from "that'd be cool" to you investigating manufacturing techniques?
I had thought on and off since college (2000-2004) that a blue canary night light would be pretty cool to have, but from time to time I'd search the Internet and stores, and not find anything. A combination of having a daughter and wanting a night light for her in 2008, plus a second reading of Tim Ferriss' 4 Hour Work-Week inspired me to try building the light, with the eventual goal of selling it to others if it worked out well.

How long did it take you from concept to production?
Once I decided to give it a go, it took me about three months to hand-made production. I drew up a 3D model in Blender (a free and open-source modeling program), had the first prototype printed by Shapeways, and found some LED night lights from Walgreens. It was another year beyond that before I went to mass production.

IMG_4655.jpgWhat did you learn along the way?
The first prototype had legs, was much too small, and the night light base was not satisfactory. I ended up making a larger prototype, but the guys at Shapeways told me the legs kept breaking off during printing, so I nixed the legs. They made it sit kind of funny anyways. Then, when staying at a friend's cabin, I found that they had some LED night lights with much better bases, so I went on the hunt and found them for sale. Once I had the shape all settled, I had to learn how to make silicone molds and blue-dyed resin castings. At that point I had a night light I was happy with for my daughter's room, and I started selling hand-made lights from the website.

Over time I learned that my time was the biggest expense in making the lights, that packing and shipping also took a lot of time, and that my method of pouring the canaries by hand was too sensitive to temperature and humidity to allow me to get the consistent quality I wanted. I ended up selling a lot of 'seconds', birds where the finish didn't turn out right, for half-price. This prompted me to learn about the world of manufacturing, and I went to a manufacturing fair in Minneapolis.

The night lights are now manufactured in China, and I've had some potential customers express displeasure about this. I tried to have them made in the United States, but it turns out that unless I was going to order by the semi-truckload, nobody here wanted to make my lights. At that manufacturing fair I found a company that would get the whole product sourced and manufactured for me at a reasonable price, and they ended up sourcing from China. I had to pony up for quite a large order, though by no means a truckload, and they arrived in October. To handle the overhead of packing and shipping, I turned to Amazon Fulfillment. It adds a few dollars of expense for every light sold, but it's well worth it for me, and people get the benefits of ordering through Amazon directly, like free shipping.

What's next for you, night-light-wise?
Many people have expressed interest in lighthouse pictures. Since I live in Minnesota, near many beautiful lighthouses on the Great Lakes, I've been looking around for a good lighthouse to photograph and sell photos of. I'm not sure if this is going to be worth doing, it's still under investigation.

Friends and family who don't get the TMBG reference ask me why I don't make lights in other colors, or with other things on them, but I don't really have any interest in that.

What's your favorite TMBG album?
I really like The Spine, but I must say that Flood remains my all-time favorite. It may be largely because of the nostalgia and because it's the album I know best, but I really like more than half the songs on the album, which is a high percentage for me (compared with most albums I like).

Monday
Jun142010

Monday Morning Smile: "Alphabet of Nations" - They Might Be Giants

Everybody's all World Cup this and USMNT that -- including me -- so I thought I'd make this particular Monday Morning Smile... well, not quite soccer/football related, but at least pretty global. How many 2010 World Cup squads are mentioned in this song? (Answer after the jump.)

They Might Be Giants - "Alphabet of Nations" [YouTube]


Those making both TMBG's and FIFA's cut include:

Algeria
France
Japan
Uruguay

It's unclear whether West Xylophone failed to make it out of CONCACAF or Africa qualifiers.

The band throws in a couple extra countries in this classic live rendition:

Wednesday
Jun022010

Life Is Good (Festival) Is Very, Very Good

LifeIsGoodKids.jpgExcellent, even. That's a festival lineup for you: Laurie Berkner Band, Dan Zanes and Friends, and They Might Be Giants. Not to mention The Sippy Cups. (Unless, of course, the "Dane Zanes & Friends" text isn't a joke and it's just a Dan Zanes tribute band.)

What lineup? It's for the Life Is Good Festival 2010, a charitable event to be held Sept. 11 and 12, 2010 in suburban Boston. Here's the kids lineup. Man, if that's the kids lineup, I shudder to think what the adult stages would be. (U2, Bruce Springsteen, and Beyonce?) No details yet on ticket prices, schedule, etc.

Thursday
Apr012010

They Might Be Giants Reveal Plans for Next Kids Album

TMBG_Autumn_De_Wilde.jpgWhen we last heard from They Might Be Giants, they were enjoying the success of their latest CD/DVD set for kids, the excellent Here Comes Science. They were working on their next adult CD. There wasn't even any discussion about the next kids album.

But now, in a Zooglobble exclusive, the band reveals their next kids album, coming out sooner than you'd think:

Tentatively called Here Comes Political Science, the album continues the band's exploration of academic fields beyond the ABCs and 123s. This time around, they'll be offering up ditties about Western Eurpoean parliamentary systems and unicameral legislatures, all wrapped up in the 2-minute pop nuggets the Grammy-winning band is known for and targeted at kids ages 4 through 10.

We talked briefly to John Flansburgh by phone yesterday, during which he revealed the surprising background to the album and a little bit about the songs (along with a tracklist).

The album itself will actually be released on the new C-SPAN Records label, yet another way in which the cable channel is expanding its reach. "We've been really happy on Disney Sound," says Flansburgh, "except for having to put that Higglytown Heroes song on one of the disks. But we'd been writing these slightly more political songs -- for kids -- and weren't sure if they were up Disney's alley."

"At about that same time, C-SPAN came to us and asked if we'd do a theme song for them and mentioned they were starting a record label. Seemed like fate was talking, if you subscribe to that sort of superstitious bunk. So we asked Disney if they'd be willing to let us release an album with C-SPAN, and they were totally cool with that. We're still with Disney -- hopefully we'll be recording another kids' album for 'em in 2011. 'Here Comes Colors and Shapes,' or some crazy stuff like that."

When we wondered if maybe the They Might Be Giants songs might be a bit too liberal for the non-partisan C-SPAN (Flansburgh, after all, in 2004 helped put together Future Soundtrack for America, a various artist collection whose proceeds went to liberal organizations like MoveOn.org), Flansburgh said it wasn't a concern. "They [C-SPAN Records] actually have already signed up [Sen.] Orrin Hatch and have negotiated distribution rights with [Rep.] Sonny Bono's estate. So they kinda needed us to balance things out." Flansburgh stresses, though, that the political aspect won't play a big part of the songs -- "Mentioning political leaders by name probably renders most of songs way out-of-date within a decade -- one person's Barack Obama is another person's Gary Hart. But a song about the history of the initiative process in the Western United States? Now that stuff never gets old."

As for videos -- yes, this will be another CD/DVD set -- Flansburgh says they've already got animation and live-action stuff in the hopper. He says he's particularly excited about the Deeply Felt Puppet Theatre's version of "Tea! (Party!)," though admits he's probably biased because he's lead puppeteer Robin Goldwasser's husband.

Expect a release date of October 12, 2010, in the last month before the 2010 midterm Congressional elections, along with a tour supporting the album. State capitols will be on the itinerary ("Maybe Linnell will open shows playing that State Songs album that's, like, totally forgotten") and maybe even Congress. "I'm really excited about that possibility," says Flansburgh. "Maybe we'll write songs for all those statues sitting there in Congress sent there by the states. And who knows, maybe Higglytown Heroes will do an episode on the local parliamentarian -- Disney knows where to find us."

Track listing (with selected notes):

1. One House Is Enough: About Nebraska's unicameral legislature
2. Question Time
3. Instant! Runoff! Voting!
4. Tippecanoe and Tyler Too (prev. released)
5. The Ballad of Davy Crockett (on the City Council)
6. James K. Polk (prev. released)
7. George W. Bush: a reworking of "James K. Polk," a la "The Sun is a Miasma of Incandescent Plasma" off Here Comes Science
8. Where Do My Taxes Go?
9. Social Security Trust Fund Blues
10. Structure of My Deficit
11. The Veil of Ignorance: John Rawls, y'all!
12. Tea! (Party!)
13. Theme from "Washington Journal"

Photo credit: Autumn DeWilde

Monday
Mar222010

KidVid Tournament 2010: TMBG vs. Johnny Bregar

It's the first day of KidVid Tournament 2010 matchups, and it features matchups from the Ella Jenkins Region . In this contest we have the top seed, They Might Be Giants' "Meet The Elements" from their Here Comes Science CD/DVD set matched up against "Shoo Fly Pie" from the Johnny Bregar's Dragonfly album.

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below, but the official results are based on the poll at the bottom of the page. One vote per person, please. Votes due by midnight tonight (Tuesday) East Coast time. And, as always, play nice!

They Might Be Giants - "Meet the Elements" [YouTube]

Johnny Bregar - "Shoo Fly Pie" [YouTube]