What are kids like, as an audience?
They're really tough. They're not as formal in the way they listen to stuff as adults: adults all face forward and they don't talk when we're playing, especially when we're playing something quiet, and then when the song is over, they applaud. But for kids it's completely not that, especially very young kids — you're just a part of what's going on in the room. They're talking right through the whole show, they're not applauding necessarily, they're making a lot of noise, they're either acting like you're not there or like it would be appropriate for them to come up and talk to you while you're playing. I mean, I love kids, believe me, but as far as the dynamics of a show, it's really challenging to do that kind of a performance.
Much of the press about They Might Be Giants presents this idea of a typical fan: this McSweeney's-reading, creative, overeducated type.
Do you think that you have a "type" of kid fan?
I wouldn't even say we have a typical adult fan; I mean, we attract a lot of people in the normal concert-going age, but we have, apparently, an unusually wide range of ages. We're not a band that establishes your identity as a member of a particular culture. Like, we're not telling you how to dress, really. [laughs]
How involved are you in the Brooklyn parenting culture?
I would say that, to the extent that I just am friends with parents at our son's school, that's pretty much it.
"Karen had this impulse to go out and smoke while she was pregnant, just to piss people off."
I mean, we lived in Park Slope for a while, and I have to say it was, I think, for both my wife and I, a point where we felt like there was something slightly stifling about the culture of parenting. Karen had this impulse to go out and smoke while she was pregnant, just to piss people off.
It seemed really doctrinaire, like people have this very — especially people who don't have kids — seemed like they had this really hard-line attitude about what you were and were not supposed to do.
Yeah, I think there's a fine line between being supportive and being oppressive.
Being a Nazi, yeah. [Laughs] But now we've really benefited from having lots of kids around. Henry's got friends who live on our block; he's got a lot of old friends from his school and his preschool and other places. That's very important. I tend to under-appreciate the importance of a network of kid friends and potential playdates.
I'm expecting my first baby in three weeks, so I want to know: what most surprised you about having a kid?
Well, I think we were sort of prepared for all the clichés, you know? Everybody goes on about how you're not going to get any more sleep, and all that, so you're kind of over-prepared for that stuff in some ways. Oh, this was a really weird thing — I had a fantasy before he was born, I was thinking that I would recognize him when I saw him, just 'cause I feel like, you see your family resemblance so much in everybody else, and you're so used to your family members looking kinda like you. And I just imagined, you know, when I saw him he would be this utterly familiar person. And in fact, he was a completely new person, and that was a very weird experience. Now, of course, it's gone the other way — he's probably the most familiar person in my life.
©2008 Gwynne Watkins and Nerve Media
About the Author
|
|
Related Articles
|
|
Babble editor Gwynne Watkins is a Brooklyn-based writer whose work has appeared both online and in print. She is a consulting editor at Nerve.com, as well as a playwright and a lyricist. Her most recent show, the children's musical Space Pirates, premiered in May. |
|
|
-
by Sarah Hepola
On why his son won't eat meat or be a child actor.
-
by Aaron Burgess
The rock icon and dad on his newest baby: Kidzapalooza.
-
by Justin Clark
"I don't have a mental manual of how I'm raising my kids."
|
