"If a pizza parlor or a super market can sponsor a team, why can't a rock band?"
Good question--and one that They Might Be Giants guitarist John Flansburgh asks on his band's website today announcing the news that he and partner John Linnell have decided to sponsor some Seattle WA Little Leaguers after finding out that a team of bat-toting tots has been named in their honor.
Seeing pics of the kids sporting T shirts emblazoned with the cover of their 2002 kids collection No! on the front and a band logo on the back has apparently so juiced Flansburgh and Linnell that the two are now offering to sponsor ten teams teams all across the country. (Info can be found on their website.)
Of course, doing something kind of hip and unusual is nothing out of the ordinary for the Brooklyn-based indie pop rockers, who back when they were starting out in the early '80s came up with the novel idea of promoting themselves with "Dial-A-Song," whereby callers to the band's answering machine would hear a new song virtually every day. The service became so popular that the duo kept it going until (believe it or not) 2006, and even named a best-of in its honor (the 2002-released Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants).
Probably best known for the hits "Birdhouse In Your Soul" and "Istanbul (Not Constantinople"), as well as "You're Not The Boss of Me," their theme for TV's Malcolm In The Middle (the theme for Jon Stewart's The Daily Show is also theirs), TMBG's little league affiliation makes plenty of sense for the quirky duo, since they've been releasing children's music for over a decade and just this year took home a Grammy for Best Musical Album For Children for '08's Here Come The 123's.
You don't have to be a kid to listen and enjoy They Might Be Giants, though. You know those really funny songs used in the Dunkin' Donuts ads the last few years? Yes, fans of "Pleather," "Fritalian" and "One Billion Degrees," that's They Might Be Giants--bless their little puppet heads.