This was the fourth time we had seen
TMBG and the first time in our new home of
San Diego. It was great to go to the large, green, shiny UCSD campus and see a show as if we were really cool college kids who got to walk our of our dorms to see one of our favorite bands.
I remember a couple of things pretty clearly about this show. Firstly, PCH and I had these stupid temporary paper licenses that the State of California had issued us when we went to the DMV to declare our new statehood.
That whole experience in itself was a pain. We were used to waltzing into the DMV in Nevada and rarely waiting in line to do anything. However, San Diego was much bigger, so it was not so straightforward. We had to take written driving exams, which seemed kind of silly. Are California’s roads (or Oregon, or any other state, for that matter), really that different than Nevada’s? Because of our proximity to California growing up, we had both driven many, many miles there anyway. In order to take said exam, you had to make an appointment. That was not bad really, convenient not to wait in line. However, after we passed our tests and went to get our licenses, we were asked for our birth certificates. Which, of course, we hadn’t brought with us…so after taking a test and waiting in line, we were dismissed and told to bring our birth certificates back to prove that we were born in the US. Of course, I guess the fact we had Nevada drivers’ licenses already meant that we didn’t have birth certificates.
We finally did go back with our birth certificates, took our pictures and expected our new California licenses. Then we were foiled again. Since California had those fancy credit card licenses (looked pretty fancy to us at the time, but I guess everyone has them now), they had to make them somewhere and mail them to us. So we were left with our only ID’s as these cheesy paper temporary licenses. Not too handy for buying booze or getting into clubs.
Anyway, as I remember it, we still had these cheesy licenses and we were worried about not getting into this show. I can’t remember if it was an over 18 or an over 21 show (seems rude for it to be over 21 when it was on campus) but in any case, the did ask for ID. But they did let us in anyway. Thank goodness, since we were both well past 25.
The second thing I remember was that we were super geeky and waited for the two Johns to come out after the show. Several other people were there too, so when we saw them and realized what they were doing, we decided to hang around with them. Finally, after much waiting, John Flansburgh came out. PCH shouted out to him that Ellen said hi (I think that was her name – a woman he worked with who had lived in New York and had known him at one time) – and he did respond to that – but then he quickly left – without stopping to sign any of the other fans’ stuff. Mind you, it wasn’t a lot of fans, maybe like 5-7 people total – so we thought it was kind of rude. I was disappointed, and for many years after that I just didn’t feel the same about them.
I remember virtually nothing about Frank Black, other than he was bald and angry looking. Many years later I saw him in Portland and it turned out to be one of my favorite shows ever. Now he lives in Portland, but I never ran into him at New Seasons or at Powells. Too bad.
This was the fourth time we had seen TMBG and the first time in our new home of 
