Mink Car

Here's my signed, sealed Mink Car CD from eMusic's "TMBG Unlimited" service in 2001. Some people received unique autographs, mostly from John Linnell after he started to get bored of signing his standard moniker. Two people were even blessed with two-year-old Henry Linnell's "autograph", which was really just a scribble. I've always been very happy that I got one of the weird ones. Mine reads "Dieter Linnell":

Of course, I bought another copy. Here's my insert signed at the Mink Car instore. It was a little bit awkward for me when Flansburgh signed this because he was asking for each person's name and then writing it in big block letters. When it came to me, he instead wrote his own name. The impression I had at the time was that was that he recognized me from the 60+ TMBG shows I had attended at that point, but still did not know my real name, and was possibly embarrassed to point this out.

(click to enlarge)

As you may know, John Flansburgh had the cover modeled after himself. He lay down on the floor to demonstrate what the guy on the cover should look like. Then a photo was taken and turned upside down. Really, John? Shorts?

This week's live MP3 is:

Triboro

Performed at the Mercury Lounge in New York City on 11/6/97. TMBG used to use this fun instrumental to start the show, and usually introduce the band. Near the end you can hear me ask a friend if they smell pot. After the song ends, John Flansburgh comments on the pot smell, as well. This is presumably the moment that he refers back to at a show a couple of years later while telling the story about their recurring pot-smell nightmare.