An Awkard TMBG Show

MORNING OF MAY 2, 2012

I saw that my favorite band, They Might Be Giants, would be doing a previously unannounced show in Chattanooga, TN. In real life Chattanooga is a couple of hours or so away, but in my dream I was thinking of it as more like five hours away (closer the actual driving distance for Nashville). I initially couldn't justify driving quite that far for a band I've already seen live so many times, but somehow, at the very last minute, I decided to attend.

The show was being held as part of a music festival inside an airport-like facility. I vaguely remember them playing a song (I don't know which one), and then making some banter on the stage. Flansburgh began explaining how they originally didn't want to come to Chattanooga, listing all the reasons why they looked down on the town. Then he explained how actually visiting the town had won them over and changed their minds. I was kind of shocked to hear them handing out such a backhanded compliment to a city they were playing in (not really their style).

After this I have a memory of sleeping in my car in the parking lot of the airport-like venue where the concert had been. Early in the morning, I walked back inside. For some reason I had to hand my phone to some kind of official, uniformed woman. I sat in a waiting room until she eventually brought the phone back to me.

The lady explained that the phone "should be working" for now, but this brand of phone was known to have many problems, and I needed to buy a new phone as soon as possible. I was disconcerted, because I have no desire to drop money for a nice new phone right now.