Family podcast, net neutrality album

They Might Be Giants' Friday Night Family Podcast updates again today. This episode starts us off with puppet Linnell and the broom introducing "Even Numbers" from Here Come the 123s. After the video, Linnell and the broom perform a rendition of "I Am Not Your Broom" from TMBG's first album for kids, No! Closing out the episode, puppet Flansburgh joins Linnell to give a goodbye chant.

After a few weeks of delaying, the Disney Music Block Party Tour website is finally up and running. There, you can get all of the information you've been looking for including who's playing where, how much tickets cost, and other details.

A while back, there was word that They Might Be Giants would be contributing to an album in support of net neutrality. While TMBG and other acts were mentioned as on the compilation, there wasn't any other information about the project. Today CMJ has posted an article with more information about the album, which is titled Rock the Net: Musicians for Net Neutrality. According to the article, the album will drop on July 29 and we see from the track listing posted that the opening track will be They Might Be Giants' "We Live in a Dump." ClickZ has posted an album cover as well. Both articles link to the Rock the Net website which currently has zero information about the album.

Tour dates, gift ideas, and more jokes

After a few weeks of delaying, solid information about the Disney Music Block Party Tour is finally coming out. The tour runs from the end of July to the end of August, but each artist is only playing select dates. Head over to This Might Be a Wiki for more info on which dates TMBG will be playing and for ticket links.

John Flansburgh has made a list of gifts he recommends for Fathers' Day over at Etsy.com. The site specializes in handmade items and Flans' list includes objects from TMBG collaborators the Chopping Block and Hine.

Lastly, another "May Day" segment starring the puppet Johns has made its way online. The video contains the segment's song and jokes from Flans and Linnell. Remember, the They Might Be Giants Family Podcast updates on Fridays so subscribe to the iTunes or web feeds to get the newest episodes automatically.

"E Eats," "Apt. 4" on podcast

The newest installment of They Might Be Giants' Family Podcast is online with two great videos. The episode starts with the puppet Johns taking questions from viewers in a segue to their first video, "E Eats Everything" from Here Come the ABCs.

The broom from last week's podcast introduces the next song in the lineup, "Apartment Four" from Here Come the 123s. Rounding out the podcast, John and John sing us goodbye and for the first time we see a credits screen at the end of the episode.

Podcast 35A released to joyous praise

TMBG Podcast 35A has just been released for your listening pleasure. There is a great collection of songs on this podcast, including the new instrumental "No Left Turn," a demo of "Subliminal," and Dial-A-Song fan favorite "Rock Club" (or something like that). Not even half of the songs hidden inside the podcast, there are still more to be heard in 35A.

You can download the podcast on iTunes and the web.

"May Day" and "Davy Crockett" videos

In last week's Family Podcast, the Johns introduced a new segment in which they sang a short song and told some jokes. YouTube user SpookyBanter has gotten a hold of a new installment of this "May Day" bit and posted it online. In it, puppet Linnell and the broom from the segment tell some jokes to the tune of The Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends."

No actual video of this next one yet, but TMBG's MySpace blog points out that a fine video for "Ballad of Davy Crockett (In Outer Space)," their contribution to the Disney Music Block Party album, is in the works. There is still little information about the upcoming tour the album is part of. The website will allegedly launch tomorrow with more information, and while dates are starting to leak out, nothing has been confirmed.

Flans interview, radio takeover archive

A new TMBG newsletter was released, echoing a MySpace post, and in it a new show is announced for Milwaukee, WI in late June. Two previously announced shows are taking place this weekend in Kansas City, MO and the Kansas City Star has an interview with John Flansburgh. As the Jiggle Jam Family Music Fest is They Might Be Giants' Saturday show, the interview stays on the children's music topic and asks about the intent behind their first children's album and how kids' shows differ from regular shows.

Back in January, John and John took over radio station Y Rock and played a bunch of their and their crew's favorite songs. An archive of that hour is finally up on the Y Rock website for streaming. You can find the setlist on the site as well under 9 pm.

Finally, from the fan side of things, a new Theynow was released with some covers and live music and check out Hine's latest art project, 9 Practical Applications for The Else.

"Zeroes" podcast, TIME, radio interview and songs

They Might Be Giants' Family Podcast is back today with "Zeroes." Sung with the help of Hannah Levine, who also sings "One Dozen Monkeys," the song describes the many uses of the zero while the video features several birds, such as the one on the Here Come the 123s cover, helping to demonstrate.

After the video, the puppet Johns sing a quick little song and tell some jokes. I think it's great to see little songs like this in the podcast where they won't necessarily be taken so seriously and are a fun little diversion. The video ends with the podcast's goodbye song.

They Might Be Giants were profiled by TIME concerning their children's work. The article is mostly an overview, but you may want to check it out, if only for the excellent photo of the Johns and their puppets.

Several audio-only videos of TMBG on radio station WNRN have been posted to YouTube. A two part video from last year has an interview with John, John, and Marty on the drums. Part one covers working on The Else and an in-studio performance of "Contrecoup." Part two has them discussing their reasons for releasing The Else online a month before its retail release and they play the previously linked "Star Hill Music Hall."

Also uploaded by the station are several in-studio performances from way back on September 12, 1997. The songs include "Cowtown," "New York City," "Older," and what is possibly the very first performance of "Doctor Worm." They're interesting arrangements and are all well worth listening to.

They Might Be Giants join children's tour

With three kids' albums under their belt, They Might Be Giants are no strangers to the younger crowd. Yet even though their first kids' album, No!, came out in 2002, most of the kids' shows they've performed have been either small scale bookstore shows or conveniently the same day and place as a later, grown-up concert. That seems like it's about to change as TMBG joins the Disney Music Block Party Tour this summer.

The tour brings together the Disney-related artists who appear on the new, aptly named Disney Music Block Party album as well as other special guests. In addition to the concert stage, the tour stops will include Playskool centers, arts and crafts stations, and dance and music making sections to keep yourself busy while They Might Be Giants aren't playing.

All of the related websites are still under construction with the main tour page launch recently bumped eight days to the 20th, the day the Block Party album is released. The tour page on the main Disney site also includes what will eventually become links to a podcast and other downloads.

Additionally, it's mentioned that the Disney Music Block Party album will be sold on iTunes. So if you want to hear TMBG's "Ballad of Davy Crockett (In Outer Space)" without getting the entire CD, you should be able to do so.

TMBG "Get Up and Go" with PBS

This summer, PBS will begin airing a music video called "Get Up and Go" between shows. The music in this video is by none other than They Might Be Giants. The spot is part of a campaign to get kids thinking healthily and getting active over the summer months. In addition to appearing on television, an extended version of the video will be played in movie theaters before certain showings. This extended version will also be made available for download on the PBS Kids Go website and will be accompanied by a "printable and customizable dance sequence."

This isn't the first time TMBG has worked with PBS. A few years ago, they were part of the "Share a Story" campaign and similarly contributed a song for a music video.

A smaller recent appearance is in an article on children's music in The Globe and Mail today. While the article focuses on Barenaked Ladies' new kids' album, They Might Be Giants are mentioned and John Flansburgh has a quick word on the type of children's music he grew up with.

Lastly is a recording of the Star Hill venue song live on WNRN before a show at the venue. And while the concert may have taken place last year, the audio-only video was just uploaded yesterday.

[As a side note, I haven't been linking to concert videos in a while mostly because I'm not sure how I should go about it. If anyone has any smart ideas on how to collect them in one place, go ahead and shout.]

New Dunkin' commercial, Facebook songs

A new Dunkin' Donuts commercial has started appearing on TV and the donut and coffee company has posted the TMBG scored spot onto YouTube. Called "Moving," the song is sung by John Linnell and is one of the more unique Dunkin' songs in the lot.

Also online recently are songs posted to They Might Be Giants' Facebook page. The current songs are "Birdhouse in Your Soul," "Particle Man," and the original version of "Older." They'll probably be changing them out every once in a while as they do with their MySpace songs, so check it out and then check back with it.

Family Podcast returns

They Might Be Giants' Friday Night Family Podcast is back today after a week off. This episode begins with a reminder that Mothers' Day is Sunday, so remember to make your mother a card! "Alphabet of Nations" from Here Come the ABCs is then introduced and shown.

The second video of the episode is for "High Five!" from Here Come the 123s. Sung by drummer Marty Beller, this was also the first video from the first podcast nearly half a year ago. The puppet Johns close out the podcast as usual with a quiet goodbye song.

New song on Disney compilation

They Might Be Giants are taking part in a new Disney compilation, titled Disney Music Block Party, which is set to come out at the end this month on May 20. Their contribution is "Ballad of Davy Crockett (In Outer Space)," a new take on an old classic. You can hear a brief sample of the song on the Disney Music page for the album.

More importantly, today is John Flansburgh's birthday! Go wish him a happy birthday on their MySpace or Facebook pages.

Facebook, Sims songs, and covers

After having Friday off from the Family Podcast you may be in need of something for this week. Theynow has come to rescue with an excellent cover of "Siftin'" in its most recent episode.

In addition to being on MySpace, They Might Be Giants have started a Facebook profile and are posting discussion topics and pictures on the site. If you have a Facebook account, be sure to go over and participate.

Finally, back in February, two TMBG songs were included in The Sims 2: Free Time expansion pack. One was a version of "Take Out the Trash" sung in the gibberish language of the series and the other was a recording of the main theme song for the game. Someone has posted both songs to YouTube for people to hear, so if you're interested, check those out while you can.