Bookstores can be magical places for the young and old alike, but pack one wall-to-wall with They Might Be Giants fans of all ages and you have yourself a full-fledged party! At 4:00pm on Thursday, November 12, 2009, John Flansburgh and John Linnell – better known for the past 25 years as They Might Be Giants – hit Amoeba San Francisco’s neighborhood bookstore The Booksmith for a free mini-show and signing in support of their latest children’s book/DVD, Kids Go! and CD/DVD Here Comes Science.


Back in 1986, the two Johns became the quirky accordion-slinging kings of college radio with the release of their self-titled debut album. However, their intergenerational appeal was cemented in 2002 with their first children’s album, No!, which presumably enjoyed the good timing of their original fan base’s own baby boom. No! was followed by 2005’s Here Come The ABCs and then 2008’s Here Come The 123s, which won the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Musical Album for Children. Here Comes Science is TMBG’s 14th studio album and fourth album for kids. Their first foray into children’s books began in 2003 with the book-and-CD combo Bed, Bed, Bed. Kids Go!, a sing-along story book illustrated by Pascal Campion, is just their second book, but given the Johns’ unstoppable energy, prolificacy, and apparent popularity, this is probably just the beginning of their publishing career.

Join They Might Be Giants and The Booksmith for a mini-concert, reading, and signing in celebration of KIDS GO!, a sing-along book/DVD with illustrations by Pascal Campion. Other TMBG CD titles will also be available, provided by Amoeba. Free event! All ages welcome! Thursday, November 12^th at 4pm at The Booksmith in San Francisco.

Exene Cervenka, the legendary singer of X, performed at Amoeba Berkeley this past Saturday in support of her new solo record Somewhere Gone (out now on Bloodshot Records)! While the instrumentation of her latest LP is closer to that of her other X side project, The Knitters, the melodies and darker lyrical content still shine through on the new folksy record. Somewhere Gone features the late Amy Farris on strings as well as Cindy Wasserman and David Carpenter, from the band Dead Rock West on backing vocals and bass, respectively. The album also features a cameo from Flat Duo Jets' Dexter Romwebber, though Wasserman and Carpenter were only transfers from the record to the live performance.


Exene and her band played a 45 minute set of songs, mainly from the new album, though they did sprinkle in some unrecorded material throughout. Unlike solo sets from Frank Black or Paul McCartney, there were no rearranged X songs. Rather, the in-store focused on the material Exene had written over the past 4 years while living in rural Missouri.

Also while in Missouri, Exene has focused on her visual art, which has been showcased recently in galleries in Southern California, where she now resides. The album cover for Somewhere Gone is one example of the collage style art that Exene produces.

Another spooky Amoeba San Francisco Halloween has come and gone...thank goodness we have photographs to help us always remember the good, the bad, and the ugly!

We kicked things off with mood-setting DJ sets by DJ Tay and Miz Margo, Taylor in some creepy garb and Margo a dead ringer for Abbey from NCIS!

Well, 09.09.09 has come and gone, and we here at Amoeba San Francisco partied like it was 1964! Beatles Day was enthusiastic and joyful, as customers and employees came together to celebrate probably the most significant band the world has ever seen. If you missed out on the action, allow me to describe some of it for you!

Before the store opened, there was a line of customers waiting on baited breath to get their hands on the mono box set -- I sold the last copy at 11:30, so they went fast! The limited edition box set includes the first 10 Beatles album in their original mono glory, plus all their mono-mixed singles on a disc and many other special goodies. A customer and I had a conversation about how very different the mono mixes of Beatles songs and albums are, including different "oinks" on "Piggies!" Beatles die-hards say you haven't heard The Beatles yet if you haven't heard them in mono, since most of their records were originally mixed and released in mono! And those die-hards were finally satisfied yesterday, at last grabbing every Beatles album in mono in one giant swoop with the new box set.

DJs took to the Amoeba stage from 11am on, playing their own mixes of The Beatles music from the early years to the end, and including sets of covers, b-sides and solo career cuts. It's amazing that we could play only Beatles/Beatles-related music from 11am-6pm and cover so much territory -- considering The Beatles were only around and recording for less than 10 years, the amount and breadth of the music they created is mind-blowing.