A shooting star is not a star
After a fun (and occasionally silly) voice lesson, Mr. 42 and I made it up to Solana Beach just in time to claim a medium-back spot at the Belly Up, and about twenty minutes later, They Might Be Giants took the stage. At that point, I tried to call Pokey but the phone died. CURSES!
The band included two remaining members of the Band of Dans, Danny Miller (electric guitar, keyboard, vocals) and Dan Weinkauf (bass), and Marty Beller (drums), plus woodwind miscellaney by guest Ralph Carney. John and John were both in particularly excellent voice, despite this being the last stop on their west coast jaunt. There were also cameos by puppet avatars, including a bit of James Cameron mockage.
I can't remember the whole set list, but They opened with a song from the new album ("Meet the Elements"), then immediately jumped back to John Henry ("Subliminal"). They played all the big hits ("Istanbul (Not Constantinople)," "Birdhouse in Your Soul," "Particle Man," "Anna Ng," "Don't Let's Start"), a bunch of woodwind features ("Cowtown," "Shoehorn With Teeth," "Hearing Aid" (really!)), and loads of other great tunes, old and new:"They Might Be Giants," "Fingertips," "Back to Skull," "Take Out the Trash," "I Live in a Dump," "The Mesopotamians," "James K. Polk," "Alphabet of Nations," "Damn Good Times," "Where Your Eyes Don't Go," an instrumental "Famous Polka," and an old-school rendition of "Why Does the Sun Shine" with specially altered electronic drum set.
Interestingly, there were two confetti cannon moments, and neither was in "James K. Polk." And one that was more of a confetti hurricane that kept going and going to the point that people stopped cheering because we were getting confetti in our mouths. Pretty awesome!
No "Dr. Worm," though, which was a surprise. I was particularly thrilled that they did "What is a Shooting Star?," which is a pretty little round about meteors and meteorites that I heard on Dial-A-Song YEARS ago and have been patiently waiting to appear on an album. Alas, I have yet to reach my goal of hearing "Nightgown of the Sullen Moon" live. It's true, they obliged me with "Kiss Me Son of God" and "The World's Address" last time, and one shouldn't be greedy.
All in all, a great live performance by one of my favorite bands. There aren't many 80s bands that have consistently been producing great music ever since, but they always were unique. I'm really happy that they're finding a new audience with their kids' albums (which we own because they're just as, if not more so, consistently excellent than their wide-release albums).
Unfortunately, all of that squee has been thoroughly deflated by Dumb People this morning.
My dentist's office is incompetent. Not the dentist, thankfully, just the office help. They did fine with my fillings, which are outlined as being covered in my basic policy, but this wisdom tooth extraction has been a pain, and I haven't even had them extracted yet. And given their dumbfuckery, I might not be getting them extracted on Friday after all.
Not long after setting up the appointment for the extraction, I got a letter from my insurer notifying me that they needed additional information from my dentist before they could approve my wisdom tooth extraction, which is supposed to be on Friday. I called my dentist the following week to notify them of the letter and asked what was going on. They said they'd call my insurer and me back. They didn't. I called them again last week. Same thing. I called the insurer today and found out that they'd requested new x-rays because they couldn't read the ones they'd received from the dentist. I think it's perfectly reasonable of the insurer to make the dentist show that there are, indeed, wisdom teeth to be removed before saying they'll pay for it. I called the dentist AGAIN to tell them what the insurer said. At least this time the receptionist said she'd kick it up to the office manager, but for eff's sake, what can they do when my surgery's in two days and I don't have time to come in today? The oral surgeon comes in only two days a month. I'm certainly not going to have the work done if my insurer hasn't said they'll pay for it.
Of course, given the incompetent work of the office thus far, it's altogether possible that the x-rays are actually fine, they just scanned them badly or sent the insurer pictures of cats in Halloween costumes. So it's possible that they'll figure that out and the work will be approved after all. Given that they've not shown the least amount of willingness to do their jobs thus far, it's not very probable.
I have taken out my annoyance on someone deserving, at least. A passive-aggressive customer service rep, annoyed that I was trying to circumvent the script that wasn't helpful for me because I'm not a purchasing agent, ordered me to the company website in search of a tracking number that she knew perfectly well didn't exist. She will be getting a talking-to from her supervisor, with whom I had a nice conversation.
And then another vendor, who told me I'd be receiving a product yesterday, was wrong. The item is on indefinite backorder.
"Wow," said one of the guys in the lab, upon hearing that neither of his items were likely to arrive soon. "Sounds like everyone's checking out early for the holidays."
He is not wrong. I wish I were one of those people.
Less Frustrating Days to All,
Lib the Wrathful
The band included two remaining members of the Band of Dans, Danny Miller (electric guitar, keyboard, vocals) and Dan Weinkauf (bass), and Marty Beller (drums), plus woodwind miscellaney by guest Ralph Carney. John and John were both in particularly excellent voice, despite this being the last stop on their west coast jaunt. There were also cameos by puppet avatars, including a bit of James Cameron mockage.
I can't remember the whole set list, but They opened with a song from the new album ("Meet the Elements"), then immediately jumped back to John Henry ("Subliminal"). They played all the big hits ("Istanbul (Not Constantinople)," "Birdhouse in Your Soul," "Particle Man," "Anna Ng," "Don't Let's Start"), a bunch of woodwind features ("Cowtown," "Shoehorn With Teeth," "Hearing Aid" (really!)), and loads of other great tunes, old and new:"They Might Be Giants," "Fingertips," "Back to Skull," "Take Out the Trash," "I Live in a Dump," "The Mesopotamians," "James K. Polk," "Alphabet of Nations," "Damn Good Times," "Where Your Eyes Don't Go," an instrumental "Famous Polka," and an old-school rendition of "Why Does the Sun Shine" with specially altered electronic drum set.
Interestingly, there were two confetti cannon moments, and neither was in "James K. Polk." And one that was more of a confetti hurricane that kept going and going to the point that people stopped cheering because we were getting confetti in our mouths. Pretty awesome!
No "Dr. Worm," though, which was a surprise. I was particularly thrilled that they did "What is a Shooting Star?," which is a pretty little round about meteors and meteorites that I heard on Dial-A-Song YEARS ago and have been patiently waiting to appear on an album. Alas, I have yet to reach my goal of hearing "Nightgown of the Sullen Moon" live. It's true, they obliged me with "Kiss Me Son of God" and "The World's Address" last time, and one shouldn't be greedy.
All in all, a great live performance by one of my favorite bands. There aren't many 80s bands that have consistently been producing great music ever since, but they always were unique. I'm really happy that they're finding a new audience with their kids' albums (which we own because they're just as, if not more so, consistently excellent than their wide-release albums).
Unfortunately, all of that squee has been thoroughly deflated by Dumb People this morning.
My dentist's office is incompetent. Not the dentist, thankfully, just the office help. They did fine with my fillings, which are outlined as being covered in my basic policy, but this wisdom tooth extraction has been a pain, and I haven't even had them extracted yet. And given their dumbfuckery, I might not be getting them extracted on Friday after all.
Not long after setting up the appointment for the extraction, I got a letter from my insurer notifying me that they needed additional information from my dentist before they could approve my wisdom tooth extraction, which is supposed to be on Friday. I called my dentist the following week to notify them of the letter and asked what was going on. They said they'd call my insurer and me back. They didn't. I called them again last week. Same thing. I called the insurer today and found out that they'd requested new x-rays because they couldn't read the ones they'd received from the dentist. I think it's perfectly reasonable of the insurer to make the dentist show that there are, indeed, wisdom teeth to be removed before saying they'll pay for it. I called the dentist AGAIN to tell them what the insurer said. At least this time the receptionist said she'd kick it up to the office manager, but for eff's sake, what can they do when my surgery's in two days and I don't have time to come in today? The oral surgeon comes in only two days a month. I'm certainly not going to have the work done if my insurer hasn't said they'll pay for it.
Of course, given the incompetent work of the office thus far, it's altogether possible that the x-rays are actually fine, they just scanned them badly or sent the insurer pictures of cats in Halloween costumes. So it's possible that they'll figure that out and the work will be approved after all. Given that they've not shown the least amount of willingness to do their jobs thus far, it's not very probable.
I have taken out my annoyance on someone deserving, at least. A passive-aggressive customer service rep, annoyed that I was trying to circumvent the script that wasn't helpful for me because I'm not a purchasing agent, ordered me to the company website in search of a tracking number that she knew perfectly well didn't exist. She will be getting a talking-to from her supervisor, with whom I had a nice conversation.
And then another vendor, who told me I'd be receiving a product yesterday, was wrong. The item is on indefinite backorder.
"Wow," said one of the guys in the lab, upon hearing that neither of his items were likely to arrive soon. "Sounds like everyone's checking out early for the holidays."
He is not wrong. I wish I were one of those people.
Less Frustrating Days to All,
Lib the Wrathful